Lewis II
Lewis Taylor

If sheer talent was any measure of success Lewis Taylor would be a megastar and women all over the world would be throwing their knickers at him. He has a rich, expressive voice that you can compare to Marvin Gaye without being laughed out of the room, and while most other artists would kill their grandmothers for one song as drop dead gorgeous as "Into You" he has released two albums bursting with such gems. No mere retro-soul loverman, Lewis constructs (virtually on his own) a lush and complex sound that owes as much to Brian Wilson and Jimi Hendrix as it does Marvin, hallmarked by a slow-burning sexuality that erupts into orgasms of fiery guitars and multi-tracked vocals. I'm no believer in conspiracy theories but maybe D'Angelo is paying someone to keep him off the radio.

Soul Makeover
Nicole Willis

Recording her album in Barcelona and releasing it on a Free Jazz label based in Finland, Nicole is clearly a bit of a round peg in the square hole of modern R&B. This former Acid Jazz singer who's worked with the diverse likes of Curtis Mayfield and Leftfield has taken some solid funk, jazz and disco grooves and filtered them through a blender of modern off-beat electronica to produce a thrilling mixture of spacey funk and ambient soul that sounds like a collision between Chaka Khan and Brian Eno. Anchored by some memorable hooks and Nicole's pretty voice, the album is both earthy and futuristic at the same time with an adventurous spirit that is a joy to the ears – there's not a repetitive hip-hop style groove to be found and, shockingly, not a single song with the word "booty" in it. [Official Site]

Suburban Light
The Clientele

It's hard to believe this record hasn't been sitting in a tatty cardboard box in a junk shop for the past 30 years, the whole thing feels frozen in time and covered in dust. Not only do The Clientele sound like a cross between the fragile folk of Nick Drake and the jingle-jangle of The Byrds, they smother every song with a thick fog of analog echo that gives it the hazy air of a soundtrack to some grainy old documentary about the Summer Of Love. These delicate little flowers of songs would probably crumble if someone opened a window and let some air into the room, and when Alasdair Maclean sings a line as cringe-inducing as "Why do humming birds hum?" you wonder what drugs he's doing just so you can avoid doing them yourself. It's all very nice and atmospheric but I think The Clientele probably spend way too much time sitting in Hyde Park contemplating the cosmic beauty of a raindrop on a blade of grass.

Since Then
Ian Pooley

A lot of dance music producers seem to have caught the Brazilian bug lately with samba and bossa beats cropping up all the over the place. And why not, the stuff just oozes warmth and sex and mixes with House music as smoothly as Piña does with Colada. Producer/DJ Pooley must have taken his bucket and spade to sample the delights of Latin America himself judging by the warm and sunny vibe of this album. Like the girl from Ipanema going down the disco, this album has one foot on the dancefloor and the other on the beach, with bouncy dance beats that skip along on the feet of some breezy Jobim-esque acoustic guitars and sultry vocals. If Thievery Corporation's last album was remixed by Masters At Work the result would be something like this.