Gina and I recently talked about a cover version of Anita Baker’s classic “Sweet Love”, which can be found on singer Gretchen Parlato‘s newest album “Flor”, her first for UK-based Edition Records. The review will follow soon – I’m still waiting for the vinyl version of the album which has been postponed. We talked about…
Here’s the finest compilation of 2020: I know this is out on the market since about six months, but I had difficulties obtaining the vinyl version. After several postponements and after selling out a couple of times, my black vinyl version finally arrived (there’s also a white vinyl edition for the avid collector). Thanks to…
Here’s another real vinyl highlight from the magnificent guys at Futuristica Records. French singer, songwriter and producer LaNote (Caroline Marks) releases her new album “Rebirth” with accompaniment and production work by her former band member As Valet who was with her in the group Electric Conversation, sort of the epitome of indie future soul. They…
During my years DJing in various Berlin clubs, one of the songs in my soul/disco sets was “Saturday”, an energetic disco club anthem, very polished and thick, sung by Norma Jean Wright, a background singer who worked for Luther Vandross, Sister Sledge, Randy Crawford, Aretha Franklin, Will Downing, and a lot more. It wasn’t as…
In the latest “Late Night Tales” episode, one of my favorite soul singers and songwriters and musicians, Jordan Rakei, is in charge of compiling a bluer than blue set of 17 songs on double-vinyl. Jordan has assembled some tracks from friends and label mates, like Alfa Mist, Snowpoet, Fink, Joe Armon-Jones, or Bill Laurance. And…
Incognito mastermind Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick and influential DJ and Brownswood label head Gilles Peterson got together for this Brit Funk project Str4ta, recalling the early 80s when bands like Freeez, Touchdown (remember “Ease Your Mind” from 1981?: delicious!), Hi Tension, Light Of The World, or Atmosfear made maves not only in the UK, but overseas…
About the song “Here It Comes” from the new album “Music” by Benny Sings (Tim van Berkestijn), the Dutch artist says: “The lyrics are about me as a young boy, living on the streets in Dordrecht with my skate crew, and feeling life presenting itself, and feeling excited about it. A time full of hope…
This is going back to the good old days when a new LP was always a major attraction, especially in the case of Gatefold LPs. Credits and lyrics printed on two pages, instantly making it a premium product. And the content correlates. UK-based singer Myles Sanko, who was born in Ghana before moving to Cambridge,…
During a period when The Guardian asks if you should get rid of your CDs and a phenomenal resurgence in sales of vinyl nobody expected, I have come across dozens of reasons in the past month why CDs are dead. Three of those reasons for not hanging on to my CD collection: Number One: the…
If you need your vocal jazz pure and hip, look no further than “Old Friends”, the new album by singer Mark Winkler and longtime friend, pianist David Benoit. Having known each other for 37 years now, you might think that they are using some sort of safety net for their joint collaboration (they have worked…