Broken Beat/Nu Jazz/Nu Soul charts

Review: First he asked us to follow him, then he asked us if we wanted to find to find him. Now he's asking us to move closer... Steve Spacek's Eglo series has been a remarkable trip so far as he continues to illustrate unseen pictures with far-out, unbounded sounds and arrangement. "Mov Clsr" is the steamy dreamy soul number while "Garage Days" unravels the usually tightly wound two-step into a much spacier, dreamy affair, "Boo Boo Step" is a trip into the heart of an old BBC Micro computer while "Nano Nights" closes on a flighty 160BPM step session where lights twinkle and cascade with fluorescent fun. No one makes music like Spacek. Beautiful.

Review: It's been a long time between drinks for Outer Space, a Barcelona based six-piece who last appeared on wax in 2019 via a private press edition of their 2017 set Into The Unknown. You'll be delighted to hear that they're in fine fettle on this Rocafort Records-released "45. A-side 'Not Even Light' is a languid but floor-friendly affair, with ear-catching electric guitar melodies, jazz-funk flourishes and snaking horn lines rising above a chunky, loose-limbed funk break. Over on the flip Catalonian singer Gemma Humet handles lead vocals on 'Dead Planet', a filmic affair with subtle jazz overtones that's as atmospheric as they come.

Review: Thomas Xu tends not to release much music, but when he does it tends to be musically rich, rhythmically complex and very, very good. That's certainly the case with "Places In Time", his second EP on Steady Flight following an inspired 2017 debut on Theo Parrish's Sound Signature imprint. There's much to set the pulse racing across the EP, from the heavily analogue, synthesizer-powered, intergalactic jazz-funk looseness of "Easin", and the slipped 21st century instrumental space-jazz of "Tired A Being Tired (What Are We Here For)", to the densely layered, piano-driven ambience of "Promise 2", and the hard-to-pigeonhole eccentricity of closing cut "Let's Go See Roy".

Review: Legendary turntablist and acclaimed beat maker DJ Yoda is back with a new album Prom Nite this month. Just before the full-length drops comes this single from it on essential 7". It follows on from the well-received 'Feel Like Home' 45rpm last month and this time offers more well-conceived and carefully sought-out fusions. The a-side 'My Energy' features Eva Lazarus. It is a lovely soulful slow jam that has a breakup melancholy to it and lovely doo-wop vibes. Completing this package is the flip side 'Lesson 1956' (feat Jamie Cullum & DJ Woody) which is another great revisiting of Americana.

Review: Remote working is not new - artists have collaborated by exchanging files since Internet connection speeds allowed it - but few have pursued it more enthusiastically than Sons of the Sun, a duo made up of South East London beat-maker/multi-instrumentalist Maverick Quest and Texas-based singer and rapper JTronius. The duo initially met online and decided to spark up a Transatlantic collaboration. The results, as showcased on this fine debut album, are rarely less than inspired. Casually joining the dots between future soul, synth-powered P-funk, Afrobeat, jazz and hip-hop, it's a set that oozes musical quality from start to finish. At times it sounds a little like Plantlife or Thundercat, at other times like a hip-hop head's take on 21st century London jazz; throughout, you'll be royally entertained.