Brokenbeat / Nu Jazz Recommendation July 2013

Review: A modern day Scott-Heron, without the myriad of demons on his back, Grammy-nominated jazz singer Porter has such a distinctive voice, charm and band command. He clearly lends himself well to edit culture (as proved by the huge success of the many "1960 What?" versions in recent years) and this 7" from Expansion is no exception. "On My Way To Harlem" is straight up narrative jazz with fantastic attention paid to the subtle samba and solemn horns. "1960 What?" speaks for itself; far more authentic to the original than the other versions that have popped up, if you've not already got a favourite edit - Jazz & Cole have the answer.

Review: The Man sees certified UK soul legend Omar return with his seventh studio album and first in seven years! Finding a perfect home on the long running Freestyle Records, the man known as Omar Lye-Fook sounds in fine form on this thirteen track long player which features guest spots from fellow UK icon Caron Wheeler (of Soul II Soul fame) German funk troupe Hidden Jazz Quartett and bass player to the Gods Pino Palladino. Anyone that caught lead single "The Man" will find the rest of this album as much of a joy and pleasantly there are a few concessions to Omar's interest in Latin sounds which give The Man a bit more bump!

Review: As well as being an incredible album title, Girl & Robot With Flowers was a true delight as a stand-alone long player with reprises, narratives and twists throughout. Taking the tunes out of context for a remix EP may have proved challenging, but Jazzman have enlisted the right skills to create four enticing pieces of floor-ready burnage. We kick off with a Greg Foat original (the Latin-licked "Part V") before dropping into jazzy, echo-chamber deep house from Linkwood, breezy subaquatic lounge from Vakula, smoky trumpet croons from Francis Dosoo and sleazy, woozy space travelling big beat. An accomplished remix collection.

Review: One of the richest, soulful voices in the European jazz, Biondi regularly works with the likes of Incognito. The High Five Quintet complements his delivery well with a Pimptones style soft-jazz structure but plenty of rhythmic welly. For a little more house and a little less jazz, flip for Opolopo's remix. Weighty and club-ready but with Mario's full vocal still intact, it's yet another notch in Opolopo's award-worthy remix bedpost

Review: New Zealand multi-instrumentalist Wild Bill Ricketts cherry picks four highlights from his last album West Wind. The quality and range of Ricketts' cosmicity and jazz-honed soul is of such calibre that an entire album re-release wouldn't go amiss, but for now we'll be more than happy with this. Highlights include the Bob James-underwater bubbles of "Riki Riki" and the Curtis Mayfield-in-space croons on "West Wind Side". Gorgeous.

Review: With a current tour including a date at London's Brixton Academy, it's safe to say that this New Zealand seven piece are big news. This could have something to do with the universal good times vibes of their output. Here, the self-proclaimed 'heavyweight soul providers' are back with album number three and it sees them delve pushing their sound deeper into the realms of Afrocentric, dubby electronica. Highlights include the brassy, sunny ska of the title track, "Blackbird", the electro-funk of "Silver & Gold" and the pulsating digital disco of "Never Moving".

Review: DJ Catalist comes with two remixes of classic vocal jazz tunes: "Baltimore" is Lorez Alexandria's "Baltimore Oriole" and "Crazy" is Billie Holiday's "Crazy He Calls Me". Successful reworkings of classic, familiar songs with contemporary reworkings. A lot like the "Verve Remixed" series.

Review: Released with some able assistance from Ninja Tune, Kid A is the latest hot prospect to join the dreamy, fuzzy soul collective like Vondelpark, The Weeknd, Raffertie et al. Washed-out and woozy, Kid A's mourns cut through each mix with clarity and emotion. Fancy more 4/4 'oomph'? Flip for Eliphino's deep house rub. Fancy more tripped out emphasis on the beat structure? Check Dolor's ambient-meets-fractured space soul rub.

Review: Jazz & Milk come through with Broken Chords For Broken People, a wonderful debut mini album from the unheralded GTA Hoffman, neither a new computer game, nor a novelist, but a tight Jazz formation of three musicians. Beni Brachtel, aka Bartellow (guitar), Lukas Rabe (keys) and Gabriel Hahn (drums) combine, offering a taut take on the live jazz sound that's poised at a hip swaying 120BPMs and touches on earthy R'n'B grooves, wooden house and analogue elevator-minimalism. "Levitate" is a bonafide dusty house gem that could easily find a home on Theo Parrish's new Wildheart Recordings and the fact it's followed by the low slung funk rock of "Kleine Mausestory" and "The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog" demonstrates the diversity on offer here.

Review: Prolific Monkeytown resident Siriusmo makes a welcome return to Modeselektor's patch after the widespread success of his 2011 LP Mosaik. The same love for full-bodied electro synths abounds, played out with that playful energy and a knack for combining a sense of humour with serious studio skills. Just look at the Daft Punk baiting disco funk of "Congratulator" for proof of how Siriusmo can easily straddle the sublime and the silly, or get twisted up to the delirious ghetto swagger of "Cornerboy". Whenever you need a breath of fresh air and a little fun in your ears, you can always turn to Siriusmo to blow away those tedious notions of serious mood pieces and drop some dirty ass beats.

Review: His first new Inner Science material in over two years, here we find Masumi Nishimura diving deep into the ambient beat pool with seriously spacey results. "Between Whiles" recalls early Four Tet material, all bubbles and reoccurring motifs that linger in the background. "During A Given Moment" comes with a touch more drama, albeit a cosmic style of drama. With twinkling arpeggios and slurring beats, it's the soundtrack to a steamy robot love scene in a movie from the future. "Come Through" ends on a much more upbeat note with the same sleepy loops and sparkling melodies but placed over a more solid 4/4.