The sad part is that Ibrahim died three weeks before the final recording session for this but thankfully his final wish and dream, that his beloved bolero album be completed has now been realised. From the very first note Ibrahim’s voice grips you emotionally, music that is not beyond making you shed a tear as it gently dances with you. There’s a superb small group behind the great man which includes Roberto Fonesca and Cachaito Lopez. Wonderful.

Graham Radley

Teressa Edwards was born and raised in Trinidad but now resides in England. Her My Space page states that this is both her debut and second album so I’m a little confused! Whatever the case may be ‘Days Ahead’ is a solid R&B/soul set which showcases Tersessa’s sweet honey voice perfectly. She particularly shines on the nu-soul orientated tracks ‘No More’ and the title track, a simple but effective mellow groove with warm key chords.

Andy Allen

Soul DJ Andy Davies kick starts his new Streetsoul label in fine style with this Chicago rarity which he discovered on acetate whilst working at John Anderson’s Soul Bowl record shop during the mid 90s. After airing ‘Joy Trip (Part 1)’ on his radio show the track caused a huge buzz amongst the soul fraternity and has eventually resulted in this release. ‘Joy Trip (Part 1)’ is a majestic string fueled two stepper of the highest order but the album packed full of quality tunes covering northern, crossover and funk styles plus a great version of The Lovelites’ ‘Get It Off My Conscience’.

Andy Allen

Nomumbah are Sao Paulo based trio Ale Reis, Rafael Moraes and Andre Torquato who drop their debut long player for Osunlade’s Yoruba records. ‘Love Moves’ is a beautifully produced album of deep house grooves incorporating heavy doses of Brazilian soul and jazz. Their version of Lo Borges’ ‘Tudo Que Voca Podia Ser’, which initially appeared on Osunlade’s ‘Ibara: River Crossing’ compilation is exceptional, as are ‘Outono’ with it’s squelchy bass and electro keys noodlings and the jazz-funk/broken-boogie flavour of ‘I Can Fly’. ‘Love Moves’ is really strong throughout though and deserves your full attention.

Andy Allen

These two compilations are essentially a selection of best of tracks and remixes from Shaun Escoffery, Geoffery Williams, Blood and Driza. I thought I had just about everything on Oyster, like Jazzanova’s blinding remix of “Let It Go” which once heard will be stuck in your head for days. The good news is that they’ve been holding some treasures back, like 4Hero’s remix of “Let It Go”, DJ Spinna’s remix of “Space Rider” plus Karizma and Spen’s remix of “Days Like This”. Others have been released as singles, but it’s great to have them spread over two cds. It must have been a pleasure going back through the Oyster Music catalogue to put these together. I’ve heard on the grapevine there’s even more to be un-released stuff, so hopefully that will see the light of day soon. What a great label.

Simon Harrison

The internet has been great for previewing tracks before buying, making life so much easier that queueing up in a record shop each week, whilst you wait for a wanna-be scratch pervert, or even for working out what you want to buy before entering a shop. I listened to “Neophilia” when it was released in Japan in 2006 but the sixty second previews did not give this album justice. I really should have known after their “Black Sunshine”. The highlight of this album are the songs with Amalia Townsend, who’s been getting us all in a tizz with Opolopo and gaining a name for herself in Vancouver’s jazz scene. This is a really nice album and like all Sonar releases, you need to give this a listen.

Simon Harrison

The Bamboos are back with more of the same i.e. good quality funk for the 21st centuary. Vocalists this time include Alice Russell, Tyra Hammond, Kylie Auldist, Fallan Williams and Ohmega Watts who sound perfect with the deep organ based funk productions. "Get In The Scene" should already be an anthem on the clued-up dancefloors. If you enjoyed "Step It Up", you’ll love this. If you missed that, well it’s time to wake up.

Simon Harrison

Kindred Spirits is an exceptional record label, who always release quality but on ocasions can be quite difficult to hunt down, but with their easy to use website, we’ve got no excuse now. Volume Two of this series gives you more insight into their diversity and great artists based around the world. Included are Rednose Distrikt with a track from their forthcoming album with ace vocals from U-Gene. There’s the understated Jazzanova remix of Heavy’s “Wonderlove”, Kid Sublime with Heavy’s vocalists Nicky Guiland and broken business from Meikbar. Beat fanatics get a preview of Kindred’s sub-label Nod Navigator with tracks from I.N.T, Tom Trago and Mwesles. Plus there’s tracks from Build an Ark, Chico Mann, Rich Media, Jneiro Jarel and Nomo.

Simon Harrison

Even though Myspace gets bad press at times, it is still a great way to get your music out there to the masses and I know that was how Simon S, the man behind Futuristica, found Kira Neris aka Herve Poudoulec. Herve is based in Strasbourg and was brought up musically on radio and had a passion for many styles of music including jazz, rock and house. In 1999 Cinematic Orchestra’s “Motion” album was released, which affected us all but caused a radical change in Herve’s productions. He has so far compiled a vast library of samples, and “Behind Closed Doors” is the beautiful result of his work. This is simply a stunning album based around exceptional arrangements, samples and beats. This might just be 2007’s summer soundtrack.

Simon Harrison

2007 is turning out to be the year of the cover song, with numerous raggae, jazz, funk and house versions doing the rounds on radio stations and dancefloors. One track I’ve not played for many years is Roni Size’s “Brown Paper Bag”: a classic, yes, but every time a certain Mr Peterson plays in Leeds, he plays this track without fail. I’ve never worked out why but maybe he’ll explain one day. You&Me aka co-owner of Tru Thoughts Rob Luis and TM Juke have produced a reggae verison that has bought life back into “Brown Paper Bag”. “Floating Heavy” is a cracking album that really mixes up the styles. From drum & bass, soul, broken beat, jazz, raggae, disco, dubstep through to break beats, this will keep me happy with anthems for the rest of 2007 and beyond.

Simon Harrison