Soul Strutter: 06/27/23

Tuesday, 27 June 2023

DYVN [2023] - WAVES [urbanundergrounds] (Full Album)

Sweden based, German producer / beat maker David Nilles, under his alias DYVN (pronounced 'dive in'), appeared here for the first time last month with the single "Have A Nice Day" featuring Etienne Kabwasa Green whose album "Kabwasa Presents... Supa Heavy Funk" was posted in Feb '23.

After releasing over forty singles since 2018, DYVN released his debut album "WAVES" on Friday (23 Jun '23) which features his last four singles.

The album is full of contemporary beats, but for us the standout is probably still the single "Have A Nice Day" but "Go Time" is a nice contemporary jazz flavoured instrumental along with a coupe of others such as "Checkerboard" and the title track "Waves".

DYVN co-founded an environmentally conscious label 'Mysa Records' which donates 50% of its revenue to environmental organisations for a brighter future.

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

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

Details

Rating:	8.2
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Album
Media:	Digital
Label:	urbanundergrounds
Cat No:	None
Date:	23/06/2023
Price:	£7.99

Møkobely [2023] - Cariño - The leaves are fallin' [Self Released]

Belko Møkobely is a relatively new artist from Brussels, Belgium. He has only three listed singles, the latest single "Cariño - The leaves are fallin'" and two from 2021, but has other, presumably as yet, unreleased material on his Soundcloud channel.

Thanks to Jozef Gasper for highlighting it.

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

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:	04/06/2023
Key/BPM:	1A/95
Price:	£1

Pale Jay [2023] - Dreaming In Slow Motion [Karma Chief]

The debut album from Pale Jay, "Bewilderment" is being dropped by Colemine imprint Karma Chief on 18 Aug.

In the meantime two singles from it have been pre-released "By The Lake" (14 Apr '23 although we appear to have posted it in Dec '22, so it may have been withdrawn and reissued along with two subsequent singles) and "In Your Corner" (30 May '23) with a third, "Dreaming In Slow Motion", released today with an accompanying music video which has literally just been uploaded to YouTube.

Pale Jay's identify, both name and face, is a mystery as he wears a balaclava to cover his face. He's a trained jazz vocalist and pianist from L.A. and cites his influences as wide ranging as Labi Sifre, Carol King to 70s/80s Nigerian funk artist William Onyeabor.

He wrote all but one of the songs ("By The Lake") on the new album which contains his trademark 'dusty' soul, slow disco to Afrobeat.

We were first introduced to the music of Pale Jay via his debut EP "The Celestial Suite" in Oct, '21

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

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

Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Retro Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Karma Chief
Cat No:	None
Date:	27/06/2023
Key/BPM:	1B/79
Price:	£1

Shiva [2023] - What Does It Take / Never Gonna Give You Up [Isle of Jura Records]

Released on Friday was a double single / EP consisting of two songs with vocal and intrumental / dub versions by Shiva.

The whole thing looks and sounds retro with a late 70s/early 80s feel, so we thought we'd better check to see it is was in fact a reissue. The fact that Leon Ware, who died in 2017, features on "What Does It Take" lends even more curiosity.

We discovered that both tracks were featured on a 1983 album ":20 Minute Workout (The Original Music)", a workout recording for a TV show with workout instructions included! It was re-marketed in the US and Australia as "Aerobicise - The California Exercise Craze" .. it never reached Europe lol!

"What Does It Take" (not the Johnny Bristol written song recorded by many including probably most famously Jr. Walker & The Allstars but possibly 'borrows' some of the lyrics) is the more pop oriented side and features vocals by Leon Ware.

Both songs were written by Ira Newborn with the flip also having a familiar looking title "Never Gonna Give You Up", but is an original song and the preferred side but with a decidedly white sounding vocal from Jo Ann Harris (who was a backing singer for the likes of Bob Dylan, Bette Midler, Rita Coolidge, Melissa Manchester and more). This track is labelled as a 'cool down' on the album and is a nice modern soul stepper, which would sound even better with a more soulful black vocal, but still a great vibe

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

Details

Rating:	8.4 (for B side)
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Modern Soul / Reissue
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Isle of Jura Records
Cat No:	None
Date:	23/06/2023
Key/BPM:	8B/122 / 12B/97
Price:	£3.49

Kinsman Dazz Band [2023] - Ghetto Preacher [ECMD]

The new single from Kinsman Dazz Band was released at the end of May but last week a music video for "Ghetto Preacher" was uploaded to their YouTube channel.

The song is a social conscience message song written by Michael J. Calhoun which is compared with songs such as "What's Going On", "Wake Up Everybody", "Ball Of Confusion" and "War".

The lead vocalist is, not surprisingly from his voice, gospel singer minister Eddie B. Sands.

Kinsman Dazz Band is an evolution of the Cleveland based Dazz Band who were created as Kinsman Dazz from jazz fusion band Bell Telefunk in 1977 named after The Kinsman Grill where they played (Dazz being a play on jazz). This incarnation of the group is led by guitarist Michael J Calhoun who was an original member but left the group in 1981.

Calhoun applied to trademark both names (Kinsman Dazz and Dazz Band) between 2012 and 2014. He was initially successful but was then challenged by founder Bobby Harris who succeeded in having both registrations cancelled. However, as he is now using the name, we assume he must have now obtained the name, or has perhaps more likely circumnavigated it by suffixing 'Band' to Kinsman Dazz?

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

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

Details

Rating:	8.2
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	New Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	ECDM
Cat No:	None
Date:	26/05/2023 / 22/06/2023 (Video)
Key/BPM:	3B/98
Price:	£1

Heidi Tann Feat. Nils [2023] - Baby Come Back (Club Remix) [Self Released]

In April L.A. based Filipino Heidi Tann released a cover of Player's 1978 worldwide #1 hit "Baby Come Back". It featured smooth jazz guitarist Nils Jiptner originally from Munich.

Nils features again on a more jazz flavoured Club Remix of the song by Bruno Nesci. Heidi says that she wants to pay homage to the song she loved growing up with.

Nesci was also involved in the remix of "Good Vibes" single in Feb '22.

The single will be available on 4 Jul '23.

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

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

Details

Rating:	7.8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	New Soul / Cover Version
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	04/07/2023
Key/BPM:	N/A / 7A/80
Price:	£1

J'Cenae [2023] - Set The Groove [Self Released]

J'Cenae (aka Jacqueline Cenae Williams) is from Rolling Fork, Mississippi, and auditioned for American Idol in 2004. In 2010 she toured with the late Marvin Sease. After his passing in 2011 she started to focus on her solo career and she released her debut single "Good Stuff" in 2016.

In 2018 she was taken under the wing of Wendell B (Brown) and appeared in shows with him and in 2019 released a single "I'll Be Down In A Minute" which featured Wendell B. Her next single "I Ain't No Side Piece Lover" didn't arrive until Aug 2021 followed by an excellent debut album "Decency" in Nov '21.

Her new single "Set The Groove" is a southern soul stepper due out on Friday (30 Jun).

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

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

Details

Rating:	7.6
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Southern Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	30/06/2023
Key/BPM:	N/A
Price:	£1