Back catalogue: Broken Beat/Nu Jazz/Nu Soul

Review: When Toronto-based and ever versatile label Do Right! released 'Required Listening' - a raw, diverse and stunning compilation of sounds by artists from Toronto
- critics and music lovers around the globe took notice. 'Required Listening Volume 2' promises to keep up that standard of quality by featuring fresh tracks from
the West Coast, to the East Coast, with some stops in between. Vancouver's Cobblestone Jazz, a band comprised of world-renowned techno producer Mathew
Johnson, programmer Tyger Dhula and keyboardist Danuel Dante who are known for their hype live shows and their jazzy, minimal techno sound heard on the
track 'Creator'. Johnson's own tracks have received critical acclaim and have been caned by Laurent Garnier, Richie Hawtin and Tiga. Cobblestone Jazz have
been steadily creating a buzz around Europe, and were recently featured on Gilles Peterson on BBC Radio 1. Also representing the West Coast is 8-member band
1 Luv along with vocalists Amaila Townsend, Deanna Teeple and Dawn Pemberton. Their groovy, soulful, jazzy house track 'Starz' explains why this band was
discovered by uber-crew Jazzanova and was featured on their 'Secret Love 2 Folk' compilation and how their music has been finding its way into the crates of
people like Phil Asher, Osunlade and Benji B. 'Starz' is taken from 1 Luv's debut album 'Neophilia' on Sonar Kollektiv.

Review: Ltd B's good recent run of form continues with another dive into lush deep house realms courtesy of ICTV. First off the mark is 'Hit The Floor' with its US garage-inspired drums and some old school hip-house vocals. 'Orange Mood' is a steamy one with romantic melodies soothing the soul and some smart vocals adding a tough of firey soul. 'Adrift' then picks up the pace with some high-speed jungle breakbeats and 'Dazzling' sinks back into loved-up late-night sounds with expressive vocal yelps. Last of all, 'Sunset Recall' takes things down into blissed out realms with dusty drums and wispy pads.

Review: The Frosted label is back with more brilliance from Inland Knights in the form of this newly remastered version of the classic 'Figure It Out.' It was first put out back in 2013 as the first release on the label and remains a vital tune from the British pair. On the flip, Mark Farina is one of those hallowed producers who always has his own unique sonic signature, most famously under his Mushroom Jazz alias. His edit brings plenty of depth and broken beat lushness with noodling guitar riffs and spoken words making it a backroom gem.

Review: Prolific producer Inkswel becomes Inxxxwel for this new outing on 7" via the always excellent GAMM label. It's a two-tracker that is packed with hip hop, funk, soul and opens with 'Chill' - a Space Funk rework alongside Leonard Charles - which echoes the work of the great J Dilla as well as having some lush 90s r&b overtones. On the B-side, things get pitched down into New Jersey house territory with more sultry r&b tones on the excellent 'Hanna-Mi-Dia' (Inkswel Jazz Cigarette Mash Up) which features vocals from Blu & Ta'Raach. Two red hot jams, for sure.

Review: While the Melodeum label is based in Chicago, many of its releases take cues from rubbery tech-house, minimal techno and early 2000s style German 'digital disco'. There's a flavour of the latter sound, pioneered by the Force Inc label, on 'New Chapter', the lead cut from Iron1's first EP for the imprint. All elastic beats, jazzy synth-bass, playful samples and dreamy chords, it's tech-house-funk for the nu-disco generation. The Argentinian producer opts for a spot of tech-house/synth-jazz fusion on flipside opener 'Gossip', before going deeper and woozier on the sample-rich deep house funk of 'Jameson'. As debuts go, it's impressively assured and genuinely ear-catching.

Review: Ilija Rudman shows his class here with two edits for the always-on-point Brooklyn Highs label. He turns his hand to an original by Soul Men aka Black Moses and Part 1 will her you lost in a reverie. The meandering, stoned, slow-motion funk licks, gentle drums and wallowing chords all wash over you like a soothing breeze. The Higher Ground mix part II introduces buttery male vocals that drip with eroticism and soul. This one should come with a pregnancy warning.

Review: Pete Cunningham's hybrid electronic/acoustic jazz collective Ishmael Ensemble has been right at the forefront of innovation when it comes to those sounds. For his latest project he links up with lyricist and MC Rider Shafique. They first met some six years ago when Cunningham was struck by "his powerful way with words." As such they got in the studio, Cunningham embraced a more bass heavy sound to his style and drew on his love of the likes of dub kings King Tubby and Adrian Sherwood. Coupled with Rider's voice and you have a superb new record.

Review: Some expansive, cinematic, orchestral spiritual jazz for you here, from the trio of talents that Fumio Itabashi, Kuniyiki and Henrik Schwarz. While the latter two are generally better-known for their deep and sometimes tech-tinged house and ambient productions, the original mix of 'Watarese' (featured here on side B) is a dense, immersive jazz soundscape laden with evocative Japanese vocals, improvised piano, moody orchestration and definite nods towards vintage free-jazz. Spiritual Life supremo Joaquin 'Joe' Clausell provides the remix and, somewhat predictably, steals the show. His take is gently rhythmic, sun-splashed spiritual jazz full of hand percussion, fluid piano motifs and rubbery double bass.

Review: Maverick Japanese producer Yasushi Ide's 2020 album Cosmic Suite was widely heralded and critically acclaimed. It now gets a welcome follow up with a second volume that features an a-list of international artists including Don Letts, Josh Milan, Japanese diva UA, Afrika Bambaataa and many more. As such all sorts of sounds from dub to house, broken beat to Afrobeat, freeform, jazz, post-punk and more feature. It is a future-facing collection of cuts all masterminded and conducted by Ide from his Grand Gallery HQ in Tokyo.

Review: Ishmael Ensemble's third album, Rituals, marks a major evolution for the Bristol-based group. While often associated with the 'new UK jazz' scene, their fusion of live instrumentation and electronic elements extends far beyond that label in truth and now this release pushes their sound further than ever. It blends spiritual jazz, dub, experimental, and electronic styles into powerful, swirling soundscapes that work as well on the head as they do heel. The tracks are more notably song-focused and accessible but still deal in a psychedelic mix of textures, colours, and moods. Rituals is a truly boundary-pushing work of great ambition and is this vital group's best work to date.

Review: Jeremie Moussaid Kerouanton, simply known as iZem around our circles, is a new face on the downtempo scene, and one which we'd very much like to see more of. Luckily, he's returned with his debut album, and it's on the incorrigible Soundway label; we probably mention it often, but it is one of our meccas when it comes to the leftfield end of the spectrum. This is a proper album and, by that, we don't mean that it sounds good and that every track is amazing; we mean that it works as one single body of music, a real 360 degree view of iZem's point of view. The tracks are as varied as the sounds in them, and from Eastern vocals to improvisational tribalism and subtle waves of deep house, we feel that this is the sort of LP that'll appeal to many different sorts of collectors. The house-heads will like it for its sensibility to other genres of music, the balearic fiends will find it naturally welcoming, and the folk fans will find plenty of inspiration. Don't miss out on this, it's a keeper.