Ease Your Mind 5th Anniversary, V Lounge, Banbury 8th May 2022 2pm-8pm

Ease Your Mind celebrates its 5th Anniversary on Sunday (8 May) at V Lounge, Banbury OX16 9AF.

Roger 'Soulsorts' Williams was due to guest but the eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed the change to the billing on the banner ad flyer. 

This is because Roger has unfortunately had to pull out at the last minute owing to a family illness. There is no truth in the rumour that this is how he acquired the name 'Dodger'. 

I, for one, was looking forward to meeting up with him but of course family comes first and we wish them well and hope for a full and speedy recovery.

It has taken two other DJ's to fill the breach (lol) with Paul Goldsmith and Kevin Healey filling the vacant slot. See flyer above for full line-up and details.

Raheem DeVaughn [2022] - From Lust Till Dawn [The SoNo Recording Group] (Full Album)

The new album "From Lust Till Dawn", from which two teaser singles ("If I Don't" and "Wait On Me / Pt2/Remix") have been pre-released in the last two weeks consecutively, is out today.

One of the standouts for me, possibly owing to familiarity, is "Memory Lane" featuring Grenique. It is a cover of a Minnie Riperton song (written with her husband Richard Rudolph and Keni St. Lewis, curiously this album credits Gene Dozier rather than Rudolph?). It featured on her album "Minnie" and was also released as a single in April 1979 on Capitol only a few months before her untimely death in July 1979 aged just 31 from breast cancer.

Other recommended tracks are last week's single "If I Don't", "Waiting For Your Love" feat. Brendalynn McKinney and the ballad "Anytime". 

There is a very strange cover of Billy Preston & Syreeta's 1979 hit ballad "With You I'm Born Again" with the vocals sung thorough a vocoder, quite what this has to do with soul music is lost on me?

I'm afraid to say that the rest of the album doesn't really 'float my boat', on first listen at least. That's not to say they're not good and if you like your urban/R&B some may appeal to you. 

Spotify has again failed to show the guest artists, so if you want to view the full track list click on album cover image.

Click icons below for further information or to connect with the artist.

Details

Rating:	7.9
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul / R&B
Format:	Album
Media:	Digital
Label:	The SoNo Recording Group
Cat No:	None
Date:	06/05/2022
Value:	£10.29

Juiicy 2xs [2022] - Farewell [Quiet Giants Entertainment]

A new single, "Farewell", is out today by Juiicy 2xs who's originally from Cincinatti, OH, but now lives in Atlanta, GA. She debuted in 2018 since which time she's released around ten singles and an album.

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Details

Rating:	8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	06/05/2022
Key/BPM:	8A/70
Value:	£1

Yola [2022] - Wateva [Self Released]

A very short single of only 1:18 was released on 4 May by Yola (Yolanda Galada) titled "Wateva". It appears to be only her third release, all this year, and the other two are barely 2 minutes long.

I believe that she's from Cape Town South Africa.

Details

Rating:	8.3
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	04/05/2022
Key/BPM:	4A/66
Value:	£1

Daniel Leon [2022] - Find A Way (Acoustic Version) [Davies Entertainment]

One of the tracks that got picked up from Daniel Leon's "Soul On Fire" album from Feb, "Find A Way", gets a new Acoustic Version. It was released last Friday (29 Apr 2022). Both versions included below for comparison. The acoustic version is slowed down a tad to 100 from 105 BPM.

I noticed that a video for the album version was posted on his YouTube channel on 4 May, stating that it's his new single, so perhaps that one will also be released, but no sign of it on DSPs as yet.

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Details

Rating:	8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul / Blue-Eyed
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	29/04/2022
Key/BPM:	9B/100
Value:	£1

Sabrina Claudio [2022] - Based On A Feeling [Atlantic] (Full Album)

Sabrina Claudio is a new name to the blog but must be pretty popular as a video for "Don't Make Me Wait"  premiered on YouTube only nine hours ago and has already received nearly 17.5k views.

She released her fifth full album since her first in 2017 today, one is categorised as a mixtape, but we won't go there! Two of the tracks from "Based On A Feeling" ("Put On Repeat" and "Better Version") have previously been released as singles this year. all released on SC Entertainment/Atlantic Records who are one of the most respected labels in soul music since the 60s, so 'someone' has seen her potential.

All tracks are dreamy, sensual neo soul songs.

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Details

Rating:	8.1
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Album
Media:	Digital
Label:	Atlantic
Cat No:	None
Date:	06/05/2022
Value:	£6.99

Lee Wilson & Jennie Laws [2022] - Gone [Self Released]

Lee Wilson was featured only yesterday on two soulful house tracks "Keep Keeping On" with Brutha Basil & Kelvin Sylvester and "Make Love" with Stacy Kidd and today has released a contemporary neo soul/R&B ballad with Jennie Laws "Gone".

He is from NYC and is a graduate of Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music and was also featured in Feb with his four track EP "Love Will Never Do".

Believe it or not, he also has another single out today with Sebb Junior "Just Got Paid" which is a thumping house tune, so he is pretty much in demand for his vocals.

Click icons below for further information or to connect with the artist.

Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	06/05/2022
Key/BPM:	3B/68
Value:	£1