M SWIFT – EVENING SUN CD £13.95
Follow-up to the excellent Morning Light, is if anything stronger and now out in the UK. The album has an Incognito feel especially with Tony Momrelle adding his Stevie tinged vocal on 'Brighter Days'. Joy Rose adds her sublime vocals on the upbeat title song.. The excellent groove laden 'Feeling' features Eric Roberson as does 'Game' – a fast dancer. The head nodder 'Set You Free' features Donna Gardier, and Vanessa Haynes excels on the soulful 'Greater Love'. There are also several tracks with soulful House undertones including the atmospheric 'Time' and uptempo 'Make It On My Own'. This superb album will appeal to lovers of the UK jazzy Soul of Incognito/ Brand New Heavies/Reel People etc and is one of the albums of the year so far.

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ROOT SOUL – ROOT SOUL CD £26.95
Fantastic good time jazzy soul and jazz funk album of uplifting grooves featuring some UK singers and some fabulous real instrumentation. The groove driven uptempo 'Spirit Of love' and 'It's The Way' ft Vanessa Freeman, there's a good uptempo cover of Mandrill's classic 'Feelin Good' and the outstanding horn and string mid tempo 2 stepper 'My Dream Came True' both featuring the soulful vocals of Leon King. 'On and On' ft Shea Soul is quality neo-soul and there some great jazz funk instrumentals 'Sky High' the horn backed 'Moog Rock' both featuring some great keyboards and 'Disco Tech Tribe' .
Overall a brilliant album with bundles of energy that will keep your spirits high.
also available 4 Track album sampler EP 12” £10.

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TUOMO – REACHES OUT FOR YOU CD £14.95
Tuomo the soul singer from Finland has matured on his second album which is more consistently good than his debut. His updated take on classic 70's soul 2009 style has shades of Al, Curtis and Marvin all over it with real instruments horns and strings. 'Firsts' is a mid tempo groover infl by Al Green, 'Love And Friendship' a catchy string laden mid tempo, 'Fear of love' a string laden ballad, and 'Head Above The Water' is very apt for these times. The killer's though are the uptempo dancer 'Sweet With Me' with swirling strings and shades of Curtis, and 'reach Out For You' an atmospheric ballad that builds to a crescendo reminds me of Mike James Kirland's classic 'Hang On In There'. Good songs with a melody, this album can be compared to Jonas recent album in terms of style and quality.

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LEE FIELDS AND THE EXPRESSIONS - MY WORLD CD £13.95 LP £17.95
Cult 70's raw soul and Funk singer, Lee cuts a new album backed by one of the tightest contemporary bands. Lee's deep gut wrenching soul vocals are superb throughout and the band and horns excel on an album of mainly beat ballads. 'My World' is fantastic a James Brown-esq mid tempo funky strutter with a killer B-line. 'Money i$ King' a funky soul stepper and the beat ballads 'Do You Love Me', 'Honey Dove' and string laden 'Ladies' and 'The Only One Loving You' are also highlights. This is the real deal, raw unadulterated soul, hard as nails rhythms, sweet as honey vocals and backing. Brilliant

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CHICO DEBARGE – ADDICTION CD £15.95
A welcome return to form for Chico's debut on Kedar, he is excellent vocally throughout.
'Oh No' is a good mid tempo groover and the mid tempo dancer 'I Forgot Your Name' has a similar rhythm to Luther's 'Never Too Much'. 'Hey U' is another good dancer , the Stevie influenced semi funky 'Do My Bad Alone' the horn backed mid tempo 'Slick' and ' I Want You' are also highlights.
Good album.

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UNIFIED TRIBE – ON PURPOSE CD £14.95
Unified Tribe have established themselves as one of the leading underground soul bands of the decade.
Their powerhouse sound with lots of real instruments and multi vocalists brings bsack memories of the great bands of the late 70's/early 80's. The uptempo cuts like 'Get Up', 'Guilty', 'Alright' , 'I Don't Wanna Be In Love' and 'Movin On' will keep the feet moving. The mid tempo 'Monkey' and 'Intensions' also groove along nicely., and check the ballads 'Living Without You' and 'I'm Sorry'. Good time soul album


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Various Artists -  The Contemporary Soul Songbook Volume 1 CD £11.95
Quality modern soul comp featuring tracks many of the top independent soul albums over the past couple of years. Highlights are the modern soul dancers Ashanti Munir 'I'm Staying Home Tonight '(remix) , Eddie Sea ft Aaron Sledge 'India', and Woody Cunningham 'Never Say Never', and the mid tempo Lenora Jaye 'Living For Today' , Tammy Harris 'Come Over', Nash Reed 'Saying Less' and Sophia Nelson 'Over'. There are also a lot of quality ballads from Antionette, Trish Andrews, Tracy Harris, Razzberry, Arlena Jane and Kola. Nice selection of sophisticated modern day soul.

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COLONEL RED – SWEET LIBERATION JAP CD £16.95
Colonel Red is a unique artist who's music has an edge to it and encompasses Neo-Soul, Broken Beat and Modern day funky grooves, whilst his voice has a raw soulfulness. His second album features some good deep head nodding grooves like 'Smiling Faces', Paper Chasing babies', and 'Shine On'. There are also some nice melodic tracks 'Soul Believer', 'Pen To Paint, 'Roaming Lion' , 'Deny' and 'The Flow'.
If you like Kaidi Tatham 2000 Black or Domu but with a more soulful feel then this is for you.

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COOKIN ON 3 BURNERS – SOUL MESSIN CD £13.95 LP £13.95
Tough Australian Funk group take a raw and gutsy route. Cult Funk vocalist Kylie Auldist adds a raucous performance on the funky 'Push It Up'. Kylie adds a more soulful vocal to the 60's styled Soul of 'This Girl'. 'Soul Messin' has a brooding vibe. Check the guitar riff and walking b line on the organ led 'Four N Twenty', slightly more frenetic is the Prestige like Jazz groover 'Tokyo Saucer'. Rootsy, dirty and gritty describes the slowish burner 'Piranha'. Throughout the standard of musicianship remains of the highest quality.

ALSO AVAILABLE

7" SINGLE

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SOUND STYLISTICS – GREASIN THE WHEELS CD £13.95 LP £13.95
The Sound Stylistics debut CD is something of a cult set among Deep Funk fans. The follow-up should re-emphasize their position as one of the tightest Funk/ Jazz bands around comprising some of the UK's greatest session musicians. Totally instrumental, the album kicks into high gear with 'Tie One On', but the blistering 'The Crisis Generator' is as hot as mustard with blazing horns, infectious guitar riffs and wicked solos. 'The Taking Of Peckham 343' has a 70's TV cop show soundtrack feel, and the summer-ish upbeat feel of 'El Nino' harks back to the days of Light Of The World/ Mass Production/ Blackbyrds. Every track is a blast as the musicians seem to have a ball inspiring each other to greater heights. Sound Stylistics whilst being their own band take inspiration from the likes of early Kool And The Gang, Funk Inc and those great Hammond Prestige albums of the early 70's. Production is superb too.
Also highly recommended Play's Deep Funk CD £13.95

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THE IMPELLERS – ROBOT LEGS CD £13.95 LP £13.95
Excellent groove led Funk from this Brighton based band, there is an infectious energy about the tunes with vibrant horns, wicked basslines and great guitar riffs. The single 'How Am I' is a fine Funk tune featuring vocalist Clair Witcher, who is very much in the Alice Russell vein. Funky instrumentals 'The Chanc', the awesome 'Taste Like Chicken' with Snowboy on percussion is on point. 'Greenwich Meme Time' is another instrumental jam featuring organ. The staccato 'Fire', the horn driven 'Just Enough Rope' and the environmental messaged 'Last Dance Of The Moai' all feature Clair prominently on vocals. This is a fine debut and is superior modern day Funk.

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