Sorceress - Dose (2014)

 SORCERESS (formerly known as Funkommunity) is a 5-piece band from New Zealand. Their 2011 debut album Chequered Thoughts received worldwide acclaim and saw the band tour Europe and Japan the following year. Fast forward to 2014, and the band announced a new name: SORCERESS and a new studio album: DOSE.

While previous works were influenced by J Dilla-inspired future soul and R&B, the new album sees their sound evolve, fusing elements of Deep Electronic Soul, Afrobeat, and Dance Music. DOSE retains their distinctive sonic texture, but also projects more movement while going deeper into the source of the music. Experienced in headphones or a club/festival context, Sorceress traverses the boundaries between audio intimacy and the bass driven rhythms of the dancefloor.

Mark de Clive Lowe & The Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra - Take the SpaceTrane (2013)

‘Take The Space Trane’, out 4th February, is the new album from producer, composer and musician Mark de Clive-Lowe in collaboration with the Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra. Joining forces for the first time here, they deliver big orchestral jazz grooves with a nod to club productions for a modern, experimental take on the big band sound. The LP brings together bespoke compositions alongside existing cuts from across MdCL’s prolific career, plus a cover of the jazz standard, “Caravan” – all realised with traditional big band arrangements and instrumentation.

Electric Wire Hustle - Every Waking Hour (2009)

Their album, titled Every Waking Hour, is a homage to soul giants like Marvin Gaye and Donny Hathaway yet embodies an intimate knowledge of Dilla-esque Hip Hop music that sparked the neo soul movement (even though that term seems exhausted). Proving that there’s more hailing from New Zealand than the ‘Flight of the Concords’, this album is an array of excellent production thick with hypnotic melodies and boom-bap inspired drums.

Tracks like “Walk On” featuring Stacy Epps and “Gimme That Kinda” and “Again” are all diverse but maintaining a common goal: creating the absolute perfect post-millennium soul album. This record sounds like what would have happened if Soulquarians put out a full-length (how we can still dream). Stand out track “Buy Some Land, Put A House On It” starts off with heavy horns and creeps into a distorted genius of electronic sensibilities with the beauty of simple and effect songwriting. Strong melodies, strong hooks – and let the music dictate the rest.
The group’s brand of what they call ‘Future Soul’ (not sure if they coined the phrase but is befitting) is a refreshing re-interpretation of what the genre should look and sound like. During the ’70s when Motown was churning out classics from Marvin to Stevie and other places had Curtis Mayfield and more, seems to be a resurgence of that energy. It’s an exciting time for soul music simply proving that people that exclaim that there isn’t any good music out there just aren’t looking hard enough.

by PreachJacobs

EWH on MySpace - EWH official - 'Perception' video