One of the great joys of collecting records is getting time to sift through piles of records in places you’ve never been before. Far too often I’ve spent time planning what record shops are in a city, well before working out what sights and places to visit. Romania isn’t one place I would have thought of for hunting jazz but Stephan Steigleder and members of Jazzanova have beaten us to it and found some true gems. The ten tracks here are the kind of music people would pay hundreds of pounds for, even though I’ve heard of none of the artists featured. This is certainly the start of something really interesting and I hope we all get chance to find out more about these artists and maybe even see a re-release of the full albums over time.

Simon Harrison

BBE have been digging through the vaults of un-released tracks and remixes to come up with volume two of the Twelve Inches of Pleasure series. Well over a year ago I was given a copy of the excellent Shur-I-Kan Remix of D’Nell’s “1st Magic” and I’m pleased inform everyone who has asked me about it, yes it’s on here. The majority of the tracks featured are remixes of Roy Ayers and if you missed out on Osunlade’s Remix of Searching, that is a must. Phil Asher’s remix of “Liquid Love” is nothing short of brilliant but he’s never put a foot wrong in the years I’ve been buying his music. Make sure you also take note of Aaron Jerome’s mix of “I Am Your Mind”, Yam Who’s remix of Ski Oakenfull’s “Heavenly” plus a new track from Ski Oakenfull “New Orleans Under Attack”. I think you’ll agree, an essential compilation.

Simon Harrison

Ninja Tune have been very busy of late but it’s one label over the years that constantly stick to what they are good at and that’s releasing quality music. OK not everything maybe your thing but if you give your attention, everything is nothing short of excellent. Amon Tobin is one such artist who may not sell albums by the truckload but he does make good quality and well produced music. Not many labels would have the balls to release this album but that’s one of the things Ninja does well. I’ve been struggling to put pen to paper and describe “The Foley Room” but it’s somewhere between Dimlite, Matthew Herbert and The Cinematic Orchestra. If the thought of that has you slavering at the mouth, you will thoroughly enjoy this ace soundtrack. There may be sections where you scratch your head but keep going because it’ll all make sense once you reach the final track.

Simon Harrison

Most of us should have seen this coming: Sonar Kollektiv have released three volumes of the ace Secret Love compilations, so it makes sense that Sascha Gottschalk and Axel Reinemer aka Extended Spirit and two members of the Jazzanova collective produce a folk style album. Even though I say folk, the productions are not a million miles away from last year’s brilliant Beauty Room album, which was also influenced by Steely Dan, rather than the fashionable folk doing the rounds at the moment. As with all Jazzanova productions, they are polished, with beautiful arrangements and lyrics. It’s not all about Gottschalk and Reinemer because Thief’s voice is something to savour and sit back and enjoy over and over again. Beautiful.

Simon Harrison

We’re only one month into 2007 and Nostalgia 77 aka Benedic Lamdin is out of the blocks with another excellent album under his belt. While some of us are still enjoying his albums from 2006, Benedic is going full steam ahead with his next idea and constantly pushing himself with new challenges. So much so “Everything Under The Sun” features wonderful vocals from Lizzy Parks and Beth Rowley, who both bring a charm and sophistication to what can be only described simply as Jazz. I can’t highlight any of of the nine tracks because they are all beautiful and you must listen to every track in its own right. This is the perfect way to start 2007!

Simon Harrison

Quick on the heels of last year’s ‘Easy Livin” LP Peven Everett drops his new set for Aaron Ross’ Soul Heaven, a subsidiary of Defected. ‘Power Soul’ effortlessly blends soul and house resulting in his best set since ‘Studio Confessions’. The singles ‘Stuck’ and ‘Can’t Do Without’ are included and are definitely the better of the house cuts, but it’s on the soul tracks where Peven really shines. Try ‘Surely Shorty’, ‘Washing’, ‘This Just In’ or the amazing ‘Futuristic’ for first rate examples of twenty first century soul music.

Andy Allen

‘A Soulful Tale Of Two Cities’ is a two disc package which brings together a whole host of legendary Philadelphia and Detroit soul artists and sees them covering classic tracks from the Philadelphia International and Motown songbooks. Disc one features the Philly artists taking on the Motown hits whereas disc two is all about the Detroit artists getting their chops around the PIR evergreens. Although the production is a touch smooth for my tastes there’s no denying the talent on show with artists such as Bunny Sigler, Major Harris, Barbara Mason, Vincent Montana Jr, George Clinton, Freda Payne, Carolyn Crawford and Bobby Taylor. The better tracks include Jean Carne’s version of ‘Higher Ground’, ‘Ain’t No Stopping Us Now from Ali ‘Ollie’ Woodson and Lamont Dozier’s take on ‘Close The Door’.

Andy Allen

After several 12" releases under their belt the Belgian duo, Jean Vanesse and Thomas Sohet, aka Spirit Catcher deliver their debut album for the Leeds based 2020 Vision Recordings. It’s packed full of quality electro-boogie house and includes both ‘Sweet Deal’ and ‘Time Emulator’ from the recent single. To these ears though the standouts are the mid-tempo grooves ‘Space Crash’ and ‘Motown Spring’, the latter featuring a rock steady bass line, atmospheric keys and dreamy filtered harmonies. Trust me this is the bomb!

Andy Allen

Bryn Griffiths is the producer behind Unity Gain Theory with partner in crime Wayne Lotek, who you may remember for his work with Roots Manuva. Of course the production is exactly what you would expect from these guys: top quality and a great selection of styles around hip-hop and down-tempo beats. My favourite tracks feature Sophie Faricy on vocals, whether it’s the lovely spoken word “Careless Talk”, “Careless” or the duo with Juice Aleem on “Grown Up”. Other vocalists include Allonymous, HKB Finn and Lyric L. whose tracks grow on you with every play. The instrumental tracks and snips make this the complete package.

Simon Harrison

When I read in the press release that Lanu is a member of The Bamboos I was expecting an album with killer funk anthems but I couldn’t have been further from reality. What we have here is some of the best house, broken beats and soul, that could be easliy be mistaken for some of the top producers in those genres. It just goes to prove it makes no difference what your background is: if you’re good you can do anything and Lanu does it with brilliance. You must check out the amazing Simon Grey featuring on keys on “Rise” and Cherie Mathieson on vocals “Runaway”. This album is certain to cause a frenzy in many scenes over 2007: don’t miss out.

Simon Harrison