Yet another corking album from the Compost stable and this time it’s from Eddy who is half of Eddy and Dus and Yannah aka Jana Valdevit. With a serious amount of musical history between them I always knew this would be good. With a mix-up of Broken beats, Jazz and Brazilian styles and top vocals from Yannah, make sure you pack this for your summer holiday because it’ll make perfect sense on a sandy beach in the sun.

Simon Harrison

As you may have gathered by the title, all of the ten tracks on Ernesto’s latest album have a blues influence. Mixing blues and electronic music may not sound good on paper but this is tastefully and beautifully arranged. Personally I’ve been hammering ‘another ten’ which featured on the 7″ single but ensure you check out the wonderful ‘Father’. Maybe more producers should move to Birmingham because it’s worked wonders for Ernesto.

Simon Harrison

This has to be one of the most eagerly awaited albums of 2005, ever since ‘Dust’ was heard last year. It is of course the follow up to the excellent ‘Cardiology’. Things kick off with another anthem in the making, ‘Landed’, but it’s not all about the big dancefloor tunes. There’s a proper mix up of styles and influences, which of course you would expect from a man of this talent. It may not grab you on first play but give it a few listens and you’ll be hooked for the rest of 2005.

Simon Harrison

Those in the know will have noticed that this was released first in Japan a few months ago but those top people at BBE have signed it for UK release. Ski had been around on the scene for years and it’s always great to hear the solo productions. For this his second album he’s brought in some heavy weight vocalists aka Amp Fiddler, Valerie Etienne, Earl Zinger and Chi Turner and they all sound fantastic. Most of the attention has been on the Amp Fiddler tracks which are ace but make sure you listen to the other vocal tracks because they are outstanding. BBE roll out another classic.

Simon Harrison

Can you believe it is five years since first hearing the groundbreaking ‘The Unseen’. How was Madlib going to follow up such a classic album? As you expect he just carries on what he does best, digging for rare samples, some of Madlib’s finest beats are here with fantastic vocals and lyrics which include guests MF Doom and Med. It may not be as instant as his debut but give it a few listens and it’s up there with his best.

Simon Harrison

Povo have been releasing quality singles on Raw Fusion for years and it’s great to finally hear their debut album. Approximately half the album is instrumental and the other half features quality vocals from Trine-Lise Vaering, Mark Linn and Ed Jones. There is the depth that you’d expect from the likes of Five Corners Quintet and Nicola Conte, where beautiful songs, modal rhythms and nu-jazz styles are all featured here. Vinyl junkies may have to swallow their pride though because the cd contains a few extra tracks including a lovely Nicola Conte remix of ‘You Are’.

Simon Harrison

Some of you may remember the single ‘All Ain’t The Same’ from 2004, which featured quality vocals from Joseph Malik. well here is the full album which features Malik on two tracks, and a whole host of guests including Alison Crockett, Def Harmonic and Jason Todd. Once the needle hit the record I was hooked, the lyrics and production are superb with some basslines from hell. When finished I was sat there wanting more. Don’t miss out on one of the highlights of 2005.

Simon Harrison

Kirk Degiorgio – aka As One – returns after what seems like minutes since his superb ‘Out Of The Darkness’ album was released on Ubiquity records in October 2004. This album is perfectly suited to Versatile records, and moves more to his deeper electronic sound but still manages to keep soul. Here features some future house classics like ‘rumours’, ‘response ability’ and ‘this precious life’ that would sit along side any Planet E and Underground Resistance release, and those are just the first three tracks.

Simon Harrison

Over a year since the first instalment, volume 2 finally hits the shops. Thirteen tracks spread over three 12″s, it looks as beautiful as all the previous BBE releases and the inner sleeve notes give you a background to all the tracks. BBE is all about the attention to detail. Roy Ayers has released so much ground breaking music over the last 30 years, it amazes me that these have been left on the shelf until now. I won’t list specific tracks for you because you need to hear them all and while you’re at it, dig out Volume 1 again.

Simon Harrison

Here we have the new project from DJ Vadim featuring MCS Blu Rum 13 and Yarah Bravo. The first taster of this new project was “Be Your Own” featuring the rather splendid Amp Fiddler remix. As you’d expect from Vadmin’s previous albums, there are plenty of head nodding beats, so much so, your neck with aching by the end of this lp. Both MCs are new names to me but both are certainly names I’ll be on the look out for for future releases because they sound marvellous. Just had a quick search on the net and it seems like I’ve missed rather a lot of Blu Rum 13 previous projects, better get the credit card out. This proves once again that if you’re after pure underground music Ninja Tune is still at the top of their game. Have you checked their forthcoming releases today?

Simon Harrison