Artist: FRANCOIS K.
Title: DEEP AND SEXY
Label: Wave Music
Link:http://www.wavemusic.com
Root: US/ Deep-Tribal House
If you are Kraftwerk, Cesaria Evora or Dido and you want your song to be a sure shot international dance hit, you get it remixed by Francois K. This french national has been playing the New York music scene since 1978, as A&R, producer and DJ. Created in 94, his label Wave Music has delivered substantial and stylish dance gems to club audiences worldwide. Detached from hype and trend, its latest showcase Deep and Sexy, unfolds its 12 tracks of smoldering latin flavored house in a flawless mix, weaving together bass lines engineered for the ultimate booty shaking experience, and constructing hypnotical tribal rhythm guaranteed to take your body and soul for a spin. With classic hits like "Earth is the place" by Verna Francis and Blue 6's "Sweeter Love", the lavish production has plenty of atmospheric overtones to satisfy the lazy lounge heads, and enough spice to raise the fever pitch out in clubland.

Artist: RINOCEROSE
Title: MUSIC KILLS ME
Label: V2
Link: http://www.v2music.com
Root:France/ Rock-House
Rinocerose rocks the House. This 3 guitars, bass, percussion, sax, flute (and an occasional kazoo) outfit displays every classic demeanor of a great rock band. Yet while citing such influences as AC-DC, the Rolling Stones and The Cure, Music Kills Me plays like the perfect soundtrack to a "fun in the sun" St Tropez vacation. The trick is clever: use every possible guitar approach to replace the electronic bleeps of traditional dance production. On their second full length, the "Guitaristic House Organization" drops all genre pretense and gets funkier and looser, flirting with disco without shame. While head-banging guitar riffs mingle with psychedelic flutes, sampled vocal hooks and vocoder effects provide the human element. The fun Rinocerose communicates in their tracks is a departure from the more serious attitude of their critically acclaimed beginning, and has the merit of creating a great variety of flavors from the original recipe, without the left over taste of a repeat performance.

Artist: VARIOUS
Title: TRAVELER 02
Label: Six Degrees Records
Link: http://www.sixdegreesrecords.com
Root: Global/World Music
San Fransisco's own delivers its 4th. annual degustation platter to the hungry mouths of the world music aficionados. All hits, no miss, Traveler 02 hikes down the roads where musical adventures unravel with protagonists mixing, matching and fusing influences from the 4 corners of the planet. More than a "sampler" or "best of", the 10 tracks in this collection are either original or offer exclusive remixes, from the socially and politically conscious hip-hop of Michael Franti & Spearhead, the eastern influenced Downtempo vibes of Dzihan and Kamien out of Vienna, the arabic-indian dub of Moroccan expat DJ Cheb I Sabbah, the Chicano flavor of Los Mocosos, the nuyorican beats of Ron Trent's Batidos, as well as a few new names from the 6 Degrees roster. All participate in creating an extraordinary kaleidoscope of forward thinking musical culture, ever changing, evolving, and mutating. Where this road goes nobody knows, but here the journey matters more than the destination.

Artist: THE HERBALIZER
Title: SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES
Label: Ninja Tune
Link: http://www.ninjatune.net
Root: UK/Hip-Hop
The UK hip-hop scene, climate oblige, has been stirring clear from the "thong song" stigma. Instead, it has refined itself into something far more soulful, jazzy and bluesy than it's state side counterpart. On its 3rd. full length, the UK collective of musicians, dj's and mc's known as the Herbalizer taint their conscious rhythms with the campy spirit of 50's TV horror shows in the vain of the "Adams Family" and "Monsters". A pure stylistic exercise, where the MCs are every bit as sharp in tackling society's shortfalls and absurdities with great flow and tongue twisting skills, juxtaposed to what sounds like funked up, retro soundtrack filled with dramatic clichés, an overabundance of horn sections and cajun funeral style muted trumpets, symphonic string arrangements, spooky theramine melodies, gothic organ spells and lamenting choirs, some sampled based, other played live. This joint functions because no matter how "wicked" things get, the Herbalizer breaks it down to the beat, the vinyl scratches and the rhyming. Still, the voodoo that they do is what gets to you.

Artist: VARIOUS
Title: THE FUNKY 16 CORNERS
Label: Stone Throw records
Link: http://www.stonesthrow.com
Root: US/Funk-Soul-R&B
For every James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, there are hundreds of unsung heroes who participated in the funk revolution of the late 60's and early 70's, playing somewhere in a ghetto, or on mainstreet USA. In this time capsule documentary, these often self-financed and self-produced priceless vinyl jewels testify to the unprecedented spirit of entrepreneurship which existed in black american music during that era. This labor of love compiled by Egon at Stone Throw records doesn't stop with the record. The label's web site offers artwork and photo references, as well as detailed profiles and interviews with the many performers from the 22 tracks of 16 Corners. As a conclusion and reflection on how these long lasting funky influences are still reaching us today, turntablist extraordinaire Cut Chemist slices it up nicely in an 8 minutes medley that becomes a classic in itself.

Artist: FOUR TET
Title: PAUSE
Label: Domino Recording
Link: http://www.dominorecordco.com/
Root:UK/Ambient Electronica
As genre defying as some early Pink Floyd, Brian Eno or Harold Budd releases, Pause truly doesn't sound like anything else in existence, but it's beauty and simplicity intoxicates all of our primordial senses. The work of Kieran Hebden, member of UK famed post-rock band Fridge, Four Tet's second album draws from the acoustic fabric of the world and transcends the organic nature of sounds by some mad scientist studio tweakery, in compositions that blend together acoustic guitars, harps, zither, the sound of running water, a children playground, typewriter keys that cleverly become elements of percussion, all of which seemingly wrapped up in some mysterious celtic dreamscape. Layers upon layers of intricacies and sonic textures paint a surreal and beautiful world of light and shadow, crisp and precise, but also just as hazy, a travelogue of sorts, for an alternate reality in parallel with our own.

Artist: ROYKSOPP
Title: MELODY A.M.
Label: Wall Of Sound
Link: http://www.royksopp.com/ and http://www.wallofsound.com/
Root: Norway/Dance-Ambient Electronica
Already a huge critical success overseas(album of the month in Face, Musik, Ministry Of Sound, etc..), Melody A.M. is an recording of crystaline splendor and subdued emotional fervor. Just as one can determine what constitutes "latin" vibes, you listen to enough music from the arctic circle( Bjork, Gus Gus, Sigur Ros, Kings Of Convenience, Abba, yes Abba...) and you start to grasp their commonality: a musical sensibility that mirrors the natural elements from these parts, at once cold, stern and nostalgic, yet warm at heart, candid and downright mystical. So is Royksoop's music, which mixes the light heartiness of imaginary cheery television jingles from the 70's with swooning keyboard layers and swathed electronic textures, which gives it a more obscure undertone, an ethereal quality. The album ranges from catchy upbeat house tunes, twisted breakbeat frenzies, to more ambient soundscapes which make MELODY A.M. as suited for headphone exploration as for dance floor mayhem.

Artist: ATJAZZ
Title: LAB FUNK
Label: Mantis Recordings
Link: http://www.mantis-recordings.com/ and http://www.greengalactic.com/
Root: UK/Jazz-Downtempo Electronica
A familiar name to the title listings of the famed Naked Music compilations both for it's downtempo gems and it's remixes, AtJazz is the work of Martin Iveson, a brit whose recording career began designing music and sound effects for Tomb Raider and other leading video games. An obvious choice of name for an outfit which, while delivering all the bells and whistles of the finest downtempo, broken beat and latin flavored deep house, also tastefully samples and resurrects Coltrane,Miles, Dizzy and countless others. This fusion is owed in part to the tight collaboration with "pure" jazz head Pete Wraight, known for his participation to Matthew Herbert and Charles Webster productions. Labfunk is the perfect midnight snack for a sexy after-hours encounter, a smooth and sophisticated musical love affair for a passionate audience.

Artist: KINGS OF CONVENIENCE
Title: VERSUS
Label: Astralwerks
Link:http://www.astralwerks.com/
Root: Norway/Folk-Electronica
Versus is the gentle electronic reworking of the original Kings Of Convenience album "Quiet Is The New Loud", also found on Astralwerks. "Acoustica" could very well become a word for mass consumption; a strange and tasteful collection of reinterpretation of these folky norwegian Simon and Garfunkel, by artists such as Four tet, Royksopp, Bamboo Soul, Lady Tron, among others. Always mellow, the quiet shuffle of the new injected beats, the ingenious knob twiddling cut and paste skills of the remixers accentuate, sustain, reshape but never overwhelm the essence of the original work, leaving it soulful with introspective lyrics, nonchalant motifs and a vibrant organic feel, true to its source. Fans of Badly Drawn Boy, Air and Zero 7 are sure to find this northern treat quite delectable.

Artist: BATIDOS/ RON TRENT & JAY RODRIGUEZ
Title: OLAJOPE
Label: Six Degrees Records
Link: http://www.sixdegreesrecords.com
Artist: RON TRENT
Title: REFLECTIONS/ELECTRO-FUNK-JAZZ PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE
Label: R2 Records
Link: http://www.r2records.com/
Root: US/ Electro-Funk-Latin Jazz
Combining Latin Pop with Soul and early disco era vibes, west-african percussion with Techno and House drum programming, Batidos generates an instant acquired taste for warmer climates. The work of famed New York "Giant Step" resident DJ Ron Trent and Jay Rodriguez, formerly of the urban latin acid jazz outfit Groove Collective, Olajope blends past, present and future influences with a seamless ease. Rodriguez' sax, flute and other woodwinds play perfect counterpart to pianist Chucho Valdez flowing afro-cuban riffs, and star percussionist Eddie Bobe beat maestria. Perhaps the most extraordinary achievement of Batidos is the least noticeable: Ron Trent's flawless studio programming and the restraint with which he let's every element find its place in each composition. On Musical Reflections, Ron Trent leaves the multi-track console, puts the needle on the record and mixes it up. Electro-Funk-Jazz is exactly what's on the menu, playing down a 16 track set including Batidos, and like minded artists AtJazz, Larry Heard, Curtis Harmon, James Mason, to name a few. Extending the Afro-Cuban, Puerto Rican, Columbian and Brazilian influences in soul and dance music beyond the boundaries of time, style and genre, Ron Trent makes the case for the musical future of a new generation of pan-american artists.

Local Spotlight
Artist: YESTERDAYS NEW QUINTET
Title: ANGLES WITHOUT EDGES
Label: Stone Throw records
Link: http://www.stonesthrow.com
Root: US/Jazz-Hip Hop
Won't you take me to...Funky Town...actually, make that Oxnard...(?!), home to Madlib, one of the most influential and innovative hip-hop producer in America today, and Peanut Butter Wolf the executive mastermind behind Stone Throw Records, a label host to Breakestra, Quasimoto and other multi-talented black artists. Yesterdays New Quintet is an unapologetic mad blunted jazz ensemble that doesn't even try to make references to Hip-Hop. The album, much like Miles Davis' Columbia recordings, is the result of the equivalent of 36 CDs worth (according to Peanut Butter Wolf) of jam, cut up and sliced back together by Madlib. The quintet, comprised of Amhad Miller on vibes, Malik Flavors percussion, Joe McDuffrey keys, Monk Hughes bass, and Otis Jackson Jr. sometimes on the drums, sometimes behind the keyboard, is a hybrid, part Roy Ayers, part D'Angelo, all as smooth, smoky, improvised, bluesy as the be-bop, birth of cool jazz era. A strong highlight is the downplayed cover of Ramsey Lewis' "Sun Goddess", once immortalized by Earth Wind and Fire on their 1975 live album "Gratitude". Yesterdays New Quintet stands as an involuntary tribute to Miles Davis' 1972 "Around The Corner", a record ostracized by fans and critics alike, then heralded as visionary. Now it's Madlib's vision which falls under the scrutiny of his peers. Some are already calling it genius.