It seems that some of us do have a heart that goes beyond living for the music, or the money to be made from it. This is great, particularly regarding the meaning, thoughts and intent on releasing this digital only album – thanks to the vision of Hiro Ishioka, KSS’s A & R man also behind the recent success of instalment 2 of Toyko Calling series. Full of poignancy; lyrics flow with sincerity that is undeniably driven by an innate faith as demonstrated on Diviniti’s soul electro stacked ‘The Reason’. As is Kenny Bobien’s inspirational and emotive falsetto signature mark that makes sound the basic of the original hymn ‘Let Us Adore Him (Come O Ye Faithful)’, adding a sense of meaning so strong even this MP3 generation can get to grips and fall in love with it. Equally gorgeous and made for those deeper house dance floor gatherings is the instrumental percussion consortium of ‘Silent Night’ – so well produced by industry house keyboardist Eric Kupper, it’s never sounded so fresh. Sparkling and glittering not only to set disco lights off all over the place, but made with the season in mind – to be cheerful, as the Afro rhythms and jamboree come alive in piano playfulness on Jihad Muhammad’s ‘It’s Holiday Time’. Noticeably, there tracks that might only get airtime during the holidays, whereas some have been so cleverly crafted and worded it won’t matter what day or time they’re played. That said, with so many stand out tracks including those of DJ Spen, Joi Cardwell, two vocal offerings from Chris Bran aka Ananda Project and the opening from Stephanie Cooke reminding us why and what we get into spirit of it all for; Jesus, family and peace. We can all indeed be spoilt for choice; Christmas can be in the house all year round.

Marcia Carr

Fourteen cuts tracking vibes and differing yet collective sounds have set an overall tone quite distinctly British, yet fittingly encompasses of these individual acts hereditary roots; spanning genres of jazz, reggae, gospel, Afro, funk, drum & bass, soul and so much in between. This long awaited follow up (the label’s this LP) showcases the talented troupe of DJ’s, vocalists, MC’s and producers birthed out of the now 6 year old club night: Broadcite Basement Sessions. An air of political incorrectness is broached on the smoothly inspirational but almost flippant flow of Leon Williams featured on the Ceramic (aka DJ Magic) produced hi hat sparked and rolling sythn patterned broken track. His big bass line track ‘Body Shock’ bounces and jumps up with masses of hi hats and drum kit loops, a huge puller for club floors. Magic’s third contribution ‘Feel The Rush’ ably assisted by the blued-eyed Black man Colonel Red is an intelligent broken creation. ‘That Touch’ (Tempo) hints at seedy bedroom talk with blended minimalist tech house. Contrastingly, Soundbwoy Killer gets tech-twisted with a slightly darker dub element set off by lashing beats and a suitable MC vox sample. Method Unique’s bashement club rhythms and popular key synths of ‘Superstar’ could easily make the UK Top Ten chart. Should that prove to be hampering for anyone’s underground charismatic style, two class offerings from up and coming young bucks called Souled; a jazzy tech beat laden ‘What Reason Do I Have To Go Back’ or the vocally energised soulful house offering ‘Waiting’ featuring Incognito’s Joy Rose are guaranteed to please any discerner of the good groove. Speaking of which, Altered Natives assembly of techy effect inserts, some inspired booming beats and the odd, unmistakable grunts from the late James Brown on ‘Tribute’ rounds up this session, that is insightful, inclusive, brimming gloriously with optimism and quality (except for a couple of tracks with unnecessary expletives) reflects a part of club land which is all about community, talent and contribution with soul feeling – the UK album market needs more projects like this.

Marcia Carr

The title is the Arabic translation of the word ‘metaphor’ with the brothers this time joined by percussionist Yousef Hbeisch. Terrific at this year’s Womad and developing all the time, weaving intricate improvisations around traditional music, from their Palestinian homeland. Superb musicians and CD.

Graham Radley

Another terrific new young band rooted in tradition but exploring the future with equal enthusiasm. Songs by Karine Polwart (thaney) and Ar Williams (Fishing In The Morning) sit alongside material sourced in Scotland, Cape Breton, Ireland and Galicia. Very good.

Graham Radley

To celebrate one of the world’s finest musicians as he approaches his 80th birthday, next year, Network put together this 2 CD package of old and new. Djivan Gasparyan gave his first public performance on the duduk (Armenian flute which was mainly played by shepherds) 60 years ago, He has gone on to tour the world , play on many film soundtracks (Gladiator etc) and win many awards including the Womex Lifetime Achievement Award. There are several exclusive new recordings here but I think my pick would have to be the 2005 recording with Michael Brook featuring Djivan plus Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – pure magic.

Graham Radley

11 remixes of 7 tracks opening well with Yossi Fine’s dubby 3rd Bass Remix of ‘Ma Hine Cocore’. The tracks all let the original shine through but take them in very different directions- so the purists likely to be up in arms but that’s their loss. My two favourites are DJ Center’s funky jazz take on ‘Sangare’ and Nickodemus’s afro funk take on the same track. Adventurously good.

Graham Radley

Double CD of some of shenai master Bismillah Khan’s most important recordings between 1959 and 1989. The first CD is “with Party” whilst the second has two tracks from the 1959 film “Goonj Uthi Shehnai” plus some collaborative work with V.G.Jog and with Vilayat Khan. Superb, Indian classical music at its finest.

Graham Radley

Re-issue of two CDs originally issued in 1968 (Vol 1) and 1979 (Vol 2) with tabla player Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh the inspiration and motivation behind the project. CD one has 10 tracks which looks at different drums in turn starting with the Pakhawaj which is played against the background of a tabla ensemble, other drums featured include khol, mridangam and dholak. CD two starts with a talba ensemble piece and then features drums from different parts of India including Dhak, Sree Khole and Tasha. Guests include Anindya Chatterjee, Sanjay Mukherjee, Ustad Bafati Kan and Anup Parsad & Party. Excellent.

Graham Radley

Compiled by Jazzanova and Erik Ott ‘Nueva Vision’ shines the spotlight on Cuba’s EGREM/Areito label between 1971 and 1989. Across 17 tracks it covers a variety of styles including jazz dance delights such as Chucho Valdes’ ‘Triton’ and ‘La Sombra’, the latter of which has an air of Bossa Tres’ ‘Imprevisto’ about it, mellow jazz-fusion with Emiliano Salvador’s ‘Angelica’ and Orchestra LA 440’s ‘Y No Me Ire’ and full on Jazz-funk in the shape of Ricardo Eddy Martinez y Expreso Ritmico’s ‘Mi Conga es laque es’. Psychedelic folk-funk is represented by Grupo Tema IV who serve up ‘Tema 4’ and ‘Yayabo’ and there’s also the superb 2-step soul cut ‘De tu amorme enamore’ from Yo, tu, el y ella. Also available is a 6 track 12" for the vinyl junkies.

Andy Allen

Originally released in very small quantities on the private Numu Numu label in 1981 ‘Fearless Warriors’ was the debut recording by Life Force, an Atlanta based group founded by Joe Jennings and Howard Nicholson. Thanks to Sonorama this spiritual jazz-fusion rarity now gets a welcome reissue. The set sits somewhere between Pharoah Sanders and Jeff Lorber’s early material and features the solid mid-tempo grooves ‘Wow’, ‘Sister Bea’ and the brilliant title track plus the bright and breezy ‘To Pharaoh With Love’, an awesome jazz dancer which should find favour at nights such as Messin’ Around and The Jazz Rooms.

Andy Allen