soul/funk albums
Album Review : Hiatus Kaiyote soar with ‘Mood Valiant’
Hiatus Kaiyote return in 2021 with their new album Mood Valiant, on Brainfeeder/Ninja Tune. The twice-Grammy-nominated band is comprised of Naomi “Nai Palm” Saalfield (guitar, vocals), Paul Bender (bass), Simon Mavin (keys), and Perrin Moss (drums), and the new album is the follow up to their 2015 album ‘Choose Your Weapon’, which Rolling Stone described …
Album Review: Innov Gnawa – Lila; Immersive World-Soul on Daptone
Daptone, the home of soul and funk, is one of those labels whose judgement you can trust- when they’re onto something you just know it’s going to deliver. News of their release of Innov Gnawa’s debut album ‘LILA’ on April 30th may seem a bit leftfield given that the band are dedicated explorers of the …
Album Review: Delta Maid – Katie
Liverpool artist Delta Maid returns to the music scene with something to prove with her stunning new album Katie. The album, out right now, is saturated with soulful blues and charismatic vocals – it’s a bold statement of independence from Delta Maid, with the album being named after her own birth name, Katie Foulkes. The …
Album Review: Lizzo – Cuz I Love You
I’m not a Lizzo fan. For starters I’m too white, too male, too middle aged, too cis to appreciate Lizzo on absolutely every level that she deserves to be appreciated on. I am not part of her ‘intended audience’. However, the fact that when I saw the broadcast of her recent appearance at the Glastonbury …
Album Review: Marvin Gaye – You’re the Man
In case you were wondering, You’re the Man is a double album’s worth of prime period Marvin Gaye, one of the few Tamla Motown artists that could remotely hold a candle to his label mate Stevie Wonder over the course of an album in the early 70s. From crooner, to both solo star and duet …
Album Review: Nick Waterhouse – Nick Waterhouse
In my 25 years plus as a music obsessive, one of the things that has become apparent to me is that sometimes you just need to hear a certain album or artist at a certain time for them to make sense to you. If you’d played me a Nick Waterhouse album five years ago, chances …
Album Review: James Taylor Quartet and the Rochester Cathedral Chior – The Rochester Mass
The James Taylor Quartet`s career has seen many changes since their formation in 1987, from Blow Up to the emergence of the acid jazz scene in the early 90`s there live performances have influenced many artists, and have seen them collaborate with The Manics, Pogues and U2 to name a few. This new release from …
Album Review: Japan Soul “Plastic Utopia”
Japan Soul: call it dance music with a conscience, intelligent pop, whatever you like, their new album “Plastic Utopia” is a fantastic slice of intellectual soul. To reflect my eighties predilections, it’s like a mash-up of the attitude of The Clash with the music and lyricism of Heaven 17 (and even China Crisis) it is something sorely missing from …
Album Review: Harleighblu: Forget me not
If the loss of Amy Winehouse left a soul shaped heart in your record collection, and (as it happens, labelmate) Alice Russell isn’t enough for you, then the answer might just have come from Nottingham songstress Harleighblu. Her new album ‘Forget me not’ dropped today, and immediately she has forced her way to the front …
EP: Beatrice Eli – It's Over
Quite what the circumstances were I can’t remember, but when I was a student I read an interview with Barry Cryer, the comedian, raconteur (love that word) and general all around wit. The thing I picked up most from it was that he earned a decent living writing gags for comedians and radio programmes. Being …