Albert's Favourites Vinilo y CD

Review: Earlier in the year, we were full of praise for "Murmuration", the long-awaited debut album from James O'Keefe and Dave Koor's Expansions project. Famously, that album was recorded in just three days, with the duo and their musical collaborators managing to deliver a polished set despite its spontaneous, freeform roots. We're not sure if the three cuts on this follow-up EP were recorded in a similar manner, but they're certainly pleasingly loose, languid and live sounding. Check the title track "Mosaic", where impeccable jazz-funk electric piano solos ride jaunty bass and swinging live drum breaks, before tucking into the cascading jazz guitar solos, hushed drums and spacey chords of "Transcoso". Over on side B, "Mariposa" sits somewhere between the two A-side cuts, with spacey, stretched-out synth solos catching the ear.

Review: Albert's Favourites is a south London studio, production family and label. Home to several collaborations and solo projects from the creators. It was founded by the namesake's grandson Adam Scrimshire with Jonny Drop and Dave Koor of The Expansions - who indeed present the label's next release here. When they self released their first single in 2013 - the laid-back jazz funk of "Lavender", it quickly gained strong support from soul and rare-groove aficionados including Kenny Dope, Dom Servini, Patrick Forge and Andy Smith. The band have been constantly busy, playing around Europe with legendary British-Ghanaian soul singer Andrew Ashong and the upcoming talent Connie Constance. Conceived in a barn somewhere deep in Suffolk, "Breakthrough" represents a moment when the band felt they had a much clearer direction with their writing. A searing hybrid of jazz and funk with a positively hip hop backbone.

Review: Having previously impressed with a trio of singles - particularly 2013 debut "Lavender" - hopes are naturally high for this first full-length from the James O'Keefe and Dave Koor-helmed Expansions project. Predictably, they deliver in spades, serving up a set whose fluid spontaneity and meandering solos owe much to the fact that the album was recorded in just three days. There's plenty of spacey jazz-funk and fusion fun to be found throughout, from the intergalactic synth solos of "Pocket 5" and dancefloor-burning heat of "Ivory Mountain", to the daydreaming Fender Rhodes motifs and fizzing drums of killer closer "Miles Away". Happily, fine recent single "Breakthrough" also makes an appearance.