2023 Albums of the Year - Jan-Jun

As we are half-way through 2023 it's a good time to take stock of some of the best albums of the year so far that were released in January to June 2023. We were going to select 100 but, as often the case, many were one or two track only albums, so we've settled on 50. 

NOTE EPs, compilations, reissues, cover albums (i.e. Billy Valentine) have been excluded from consideration.

Most of them you will know, but links are provided so you can familiarise yourself with any you may have missed or wish to revisit.

In terms of blog views, and general popularity, October London's "The Rebirth of Marvin" is streets ahead of the others. Whilst Joe Leavy's album wasn't officially released until 7 Jul it has picked up considerable airplay before official release and has been topping the Soul Associates Top 30 for the last three weeks. 

Soul Associates Top 30 #1s (which commenced week 10 (w/e 12 Mar '23)) have included (in reverse chronlological order):  

Joe Leavy - Soul On Fire

Angie Stone Love Language

Helen Bruner & Terry Jones - 2nd Overture

Terry Walker - My Love Story

Maysa - Music Is My Soul

Will Downing - Pieces

Natasha Watt - Music Is My Life

October London - The Rebirth of Marvin

The following have all appeared in the Top 5 not quite making the top spot:

Chelsea Nichole Feat. Jeff Lorber - Love Letters 

Adi Oasis - Lotus Glow 

Claire Davis - Get It Right

Ray Greene - Stay 

Jay Lamont - Just For You

Jeff Bradshaw - Jeff Bradshaw 20

Nicola Conte - Umoja

Mike Di Lorenzo - Play It Cool

Dinner Party - Enigmatic Society 

Following on from our four part Top 100 Neo Soul series we are in the process of compiling a Top 100 for more mainstream soul releases and many of the prime album cuts will inevitably be included.

Top 50

They are not ranked in order, simply listed by reverse chronological release date. 

(*) indicates an artist  website only release

Jun

Joe Leavy - Soul On Fire [7 Jul] (*) - 8.8

Acantha Lang - Beautiful Dreams [30 Jun] - 8.2

Nicola Conte - Umoja [30 Jun] - 8.0

Derric Gobourne Jr. - Until: Summer Songs Inspired by a Hummingbird [29 Jun] - 8.3

Cynáa-Nicole - MY LIFE [24 Jun] - 8.4

Secret Night Gang - Belongs on a Place Called Earth [23 Jun] - 8.6

Jeff Bradshaw - Jeff Bradshaw 20 [23 Jun] - 8.5

Reuben James - Champagne Kisses [23 Jun] - 8.4

Karlos Edwards - Welcome To My World [20 Jun] - 8.4

R. Cory Johnson - Collages of Music And Love, Vol. 1 [18 Jun] - 8.0

Lin Rountree - The Message [16 Jun] - 8.4

Wendy Hicks - A Woman's Dream [16 Jun] - 7.8

Manuka Groove - Whatever it takes [15 Jun] - 8.4

Sipprell - Peace In The Madness [8 Jun] - 8.3

Carla Prather - The Return of R&B [8 Jun] - 8.5

Darius Ford - Maturity [2 Jun] - 8.5

Mike Di Lorenzo - Play It Cool [2 Jun] - 8.4

May

Angie Stone - Love Language [19 May] - 8.2

Bobby Harden & The Soulful Saints - Bridge Of Love [12 May] - 8.6

Kelly Moonstone - I Digress...  [30 May] - 8.5

Entice - Flavas [26 May] - 8.0

Marie Dahlstrom - A Good Life [22 May] - 8.2

Elli Ingram - Bad Behaviour [12 May] - 8.4

Brooklyn Funk Essentials - Intuition [5 May] - 8.6

Apr

Izo FitzRoy - A Good Woman [28 Apr] - 8.2

Helen Bruner & Terry Jones - 2nd Overture [28 Apr] - 8.8

Amaria - All For You [28 Apr] - 8.6

Jay Lamont - Just For You [21 Apr] - 8.4

Claire Davis - Get It Right [21 Apr] - 8.9

Ray Greene - Stay [14 Apr] - 8.2

Terri Walker - My Love Story [14 Apr] - 8.4

Dinner Party - Enigmatic Society [14 Apr] - 8.4

Mar

Maysa - Music For Your Soul [31 Mar]  - 8.6

Natasha Watts - Music Is My Life [24 Mar (*) - 8.8

Johnny Britt - After We Play [17 Mar] - 8.7

Ten City & Marshall Jefferson - Love Is Love [17 Mar] - 8.5

Tristan - Seven [3 Mar] - 8.6

Adi Oasis - Lotus Glow [3 Mar] - 8.6

Feb

The Groove Association Feat. Georgie B. - Reflections [25 Feb] (*)  - 8.6

Terrill Carter - Feels Like This [17 Feb] - 7.8

Chelsea Nichole Feat. Jeff Lorber - Love Letters [14 Feb] - 8.2

Danny Boy - Black Heart [14 Feb] - 8.2

October London - The Rebirth Of Marvin [10 Feb] - 9.5

Will Downing - Pieces [10 Feb] - 8.8

Sabrina Claudio - Archives & Lullabies [10 Feb] - 8.3

Raheem DeVaughn - Love Euphoria [10 Feb] - 8.4

Soulpersona - Soulacoaster 2023 [3 Feb] - 8.6

Jan

Massnada - Glamour [24 Jan] - 8.3

Carmen Jones - Naked [19 Jan] - 8.2

Kyle Jason - The Right Place [6 Jan] - 8.8

Copyright © 2009-2023 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

Erica Falls [2023] - Up [Self Released]

New Orleans singer, songwriter, and former lead vocalist with Galactic, Erica Falls released a new single "Up" on Friday. It's from a forthcoming album "Emotions".

She was lead vocalist with New Orleans funk band Galactic from 2015 but has recently decided to leave to go it alone. Modern soul lovers may be interested to learn that Corey Glover (of Living Color who had a modern soul anthem "Little Girl" taken from his 1998 "Hymns" album) preceded her in 2014.

Erica has performed and/or recorded with Sting, Jennifer Hudson, Joe Sample, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint amongst others and in 2018 released her debut solo album "HomeGrown".

Including her latest single, she has released half a dozen singles/EPs to date since 2011 but we think this is her best to date with shades of Lynn Davis' recent superb single "Beautiful You" which is still receiving plenty of airplay.  However, check out her double single "Dreams" / "Old Records" from 2014 and a few nice tracks on her 2011 EP "Me, Myself & Music".

This new single just oozes class and quality and we think we'll be hard pushed to find a better song this week, month or even year and this will most certainly be up there in the end of year reckonings!

Her bio has a great line "vintage soul is not about bringing the listener back to a time of authentic music, it’s about reminding them that it never went anywhere". Amen to that!

Erica has a GoFundMe page to raise funds to help her buy a van (as rental costs are prohibitive) so she can tour for the album release.

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:	9
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	New Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	07/07/2023
Key/BPM:	9B/68
Price:	£1

Copyright © 2009-2023 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

Don-E [2023] - 30 [Self Released] (Album Samples) PROMO

Veteran of the UK soul scene Don-E celebrates his 30th anniversary with a new album called "30", of course! It is currently only available via his website but may gain wider release later.

Donald George McLean broke through in 1992 with a single "Love Makes The World Go Round" which was a UK Top 20 hit peaking at #18 in May 1992.

The lead single "so sensational" was released on Bandcamp on Valentine's Day with "Digah D Bump"  (6 Jun) and three remixes of it following on 16 Jun.

Other tracks currently doing the business are "Good Clothes On", "I Got You" feat Carl McIntosh (Loose Ends) and "Out Here" feat. Omar & Eneeks. The album also contains a version of Johnny 'Guitar' Watson's 1977 hit "Real Motha For Ya".

Don-E is currently on tour with former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel.

NOTE samples only except for the two singles.

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

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

01 - Digah D Bump

02 - Good Clothes On!

03 - Joy

04 - You're The Reason

05 - Unconditional

06 - Out Here! feat Omar & Eneeks

07 - Luv u long time

08 - Real Mother For Ya

09 - So Sensational

10 - I Got You feat. Carl McIntosh

11 - Turn Around

12 - Still Making The World Go!

13 - Future

Details

Rating:	8.3
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	New Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	07/07/2023
Price:	£10

Copyright © 2009-2023 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

LaVoyce [2023] - Mad At Me [Greenhouse Records]

Demi 'LaVoyce" Hairston is from Dallas and this appears to be only her fifth single since 2018, but she has a lot of unreleased material on her Soundcloud channel.

It has been confirmed that LaVoyce is the same artist who features on the new single from MS1 Project posted earlier and by sheer coincidence we discovered that she has a new single released today called "Mad At Me"

We are told that her father was a sound engineer for Destiny's Child.

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:	Y
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Greenhouse Records
Cat No:	None
Date:	11/07/2023
Key/BPM:	1B/97
Price:	£1

Copyright © 2009-2023 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

MS1 Project feat. LaVoyce [2023] - The Summer Song [Self Released] PROMO

Brothers George 'GEO' Harrison and Mike 'DJ Blue' Harrison, otherwise known as MS1 Project, are back with a reworking of their 2016 debut single "The Summer Song". 

It features the vocals of Houston/Dallas songstress Demi ‘LaVoyce’ Hairston who by coincidence has a single "Mad At Me" released today (11 Jul). We are told that her father was a sound engineer for Destiny's Child.

The hip-hop/R&B fused single will be available on Bandcamp and main DSPs on Friday (14 Jul). The riff at the intro reminds us a tad of TLC "Creep"?

Their forthcoming album "Remedy 4 The Mind Part 2" is due this summer which follows "Remedy 4 The Mind Part 1" from 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
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	14/0/2023
Key/BPM:	N/A
Price:	£1

Copyright © 2009-2023 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

Gary Beals [2023] - All Of Me [LRK Records] PROMO

LRK Records has a new signing, yet another Canadian singer  Gary Beals  (following Claire Davis and Aphrose), and are releasing his new single "All Of Me" digitally on Friday (14 Jul).

We understand that they will also be releasing it on 7" vinyl paired with his last single "Good People, Good Vibes" which we posted last month and have included a music video for below to remind you how it sounds. 

Gary Beals hails from the predominantly black community of Cherry Brook, Nova Scotia. He rose to prominence as runner-up in the first season of Canadian Idol in 2003. His self-titled debut album was released in 2004 and he is set to release his fourth "The Melody Within" later this year. 

Click on image below for link to where you can buy Pre-Save 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 / 7" Vinyl
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	14/07/2023 / TBC
Key/BPM:	TBC
Price:	£1 / $TBC

Copyright © 2009-2023 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved