Week Ending 16th Feb 2025

Karma’s Tea follow’s on the heals of last month’s “Come Come Down” with “Soul“. While Come Come Down had more of a laid back Erika Badu feel to it, “Soul” is out and out funkier and as good as early Brand New Heavies. One for the collection without a doubt.

It sounds like Kelela’s live performance at The Blue Note was something to behold. This stripped down beauty of “Waitin’ (Unplugged)” is music at it’s very best. Great vocals, beautiful backing track and a mix that trips the line between soul, r&b and jazz. MWAH!

The good thing about looking for things means you inevitably stumble across what you’re looking for. The more good quality uptempo R&B we look for, the more we find. Crossroads feat Cler delivers “Don’t Lose The Magic“. A danceable groove that grows on you. After every listen it gets a little bit better until you find it on repeat. You could slip this into an ol’ skool playlist and no-one would notice.

The spoken word intro speaks truth to music, and Flevans makes you think you’re going to get a Nu-jazz instrumental , but “Forever” drops in awesome vocals and instantly wins a place in the “yep… i’m going to have to play this somewhere” pile.

A track titled “Spraycans & Boomboxes” can only bring to mind the 80’s, electro, and the infancy of hip-hop. A homage to the talents of Arthur Baker, Mann Parrish and Jellybean, this would get me breaking and popping if it wasn’t for the fact I’d need medical attention partway through the routine.

Weekly Top 5