7.“Freedom” – Jordan Rakei The second track off Jordan’s brilliant new album “The Loop”, “Freedom” came out in late January as the second single after “Flowers”. The loop (no pun intended) which is running in the back of the track comes full force in the highly energetic vocals, complete with a stunning background vocal arrangement….
8.“Curbs” – Jake & Abe It was during this year’s North Sea Jazz Festival when I witnessed a musician who seemed to really excel as a drummer, percussionist, and vocalist for Meshell Nedegeocello. Meshell was Artist in Residence this year and showed three very different sides of her: her latest album dedicated to James Baldwin,…
13.“Learning” – Jordan Rakei Our Album of the Year is “The Loop” by Jordan Rakei. Three songs from his best LP to date are among our favorites. “Learning” with its amazing background choir and “As”-like ending (yes, as in Stevie Wonder), is still absolutely cracking. Just this one drum beat behind the groove towards the…
16.“Today” – Relyae Brooklyn based artist Relyae, known for his “blissful melodies, uplifting grooves and addictive atmospheres”, released his utterly mellow “Unknown” EP in late September. The five tracks all ooze with a perfect neo-soul/funk/r&b blend. Relyae released his first single back in 2018 with “Be Sad” and there was also a brilliant 7-song album…
18.“Bloom” – Natty Reeves/Jackson MathodThe second track in our list by Natty Reeves came out in early June as a preview to his wonderful “Mist Over Water” EP. The soulful “Bloom” with its bossa-ish sound has some distinctive rhythmic percussion work weaved together with a gentle guitar and some very heartwarming horns, courtesy of Jackson…
19. “Live For You” – Thee Sacred Souls Thee Sacred Souls, a trio from San Diego cleverly and fascinatingly mixing old school Soul of the 60s with the more sophisticated sounds of the early 70s, released their debut album in 2022. To much critical acclaim and praise. In early October, Josh Lane, Sal Samano, and…
20.“Everlasting” – Jody Watley The year started out on a mellow, groovy note with Jody Watley‘s “Everlasting”. Her genuine and encouraging lyrics are supported by a fancy remix from Alex Di Ciò. “When I was a girl, I believed in fairytales and fantasies/As I got older, I realized nothing is ever easy/I found that sometimes…
21.“Working It Out” – Myles Sanko Soul and jazz singer Myles Sanko, born in Accra, delivered several singles from his new and excellent album “Let It Unfold”, starting in early February all the way through the year until the release of his LP in early October. All of them very personal, deep, and intense. And…
We’ve recently been asked by several of our music industry peers to come up with a list of our Top Songs of the Year. Our dear friend and regular reader Marcus came up with the idea to post them day by day, one song each day. Starting with Number 25 on December 1st and thus,…
He’s on a short tour through the UK and the Netherlands and after a stop at Groningen’s Spot on Saturday, singer, songwriter, and keyboardist Jarrod Lawson was playing LantarenVenster in Rotterdam on Sunday night. Backed by a superb rhythm section which he met in the UK a few days prior to this performance, and a…