Soul Strutter: 05/22/24

Wednesday, 22 May 2024

Ava La'Rae [2024] - iswd [Self Released]

Singer/songwriter Ava La'Rae grew up in South Texas. In 2018 she moved to NYC to pursue music and released her first single that year. She now lives in L.A. and has released her seventh single "isdw" today after her last in Sep '21.

We still haven't figured out exactly what 'iswd' means after listening several times!

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Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	22/05/2024
Key/BPM:	4A/85
Price:	£1

MacKinlay feat. Lisa Oduor-Noah [2024] - Safe [Self Released]

Kenyan trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger Mackinlay Mutsembi collaborates with Kenyan singer Lisa Oduor-Noah on a classy new single "Safe".

The song features Richie Wanda (drums), Mike Onyie (Michael Onyango Awalla) (bass), Stevoh Mwanzia and Totsvi (Victor Kimetto) (keys/synth), trumpet by Mackinlay and of course vocals by Lisa Oduor-Noah.

The song title doesn't appear on the artwork as it's the first single from an upcoming album "The Love Symphony" which we are told features some of the most iconic voices of our time with a full unveiling soon.

Lisa Oduor-Noah is a graduate of the esteemed Berkley College of Music who's been releasing her music since 2019 and dropped her self-titled debut album last July.

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Details

Rating:	8.5
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Soul Jazz
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	17/05/2024
Key/BPM:	4A/64
Price:	£1

Ruby Shabazz [2024] - Thank You [Self Released] (Full EP)

Ruby Shabazz is originally from Roxbury, MA, but now lives in New Hampshire. Whilst her first official release appears to be in 2019, she has videos on her YouTube dating back to 2018.

We came across her second single, "Lite Something", in Jan and posted her latest single, "Loss", earlier this month. She has now released a five track EP, "Thank You", which features two of the singles, two new songs and an outro of "Thank You".

In addition this year, she has released a Jeff Mosquera remix of "Lite Something".

Of the two new songs, we'd highlight "That's Life" and if you missed "Lite Something" in Jan, as it seems many did, then we'd recommend that one as well.

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Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	EP
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	13/05/2024
Price:	£4.95

Zacchae'us Paul feat. COOKIE., Gregoire Maret & Milena Casado [2024] - BETTER DAYZ [Candid Records]

This year so far Zacchae'us Paul has released three singles from an upcoming sophomore album "JAZZ MONEY" due on 21 Jun on the relaunched Candid Records.

The latest, "BANANA LAFFY TAFFY", is released today which prompted us to visit the previous two "MAMA SAID" and "BETTER DAYZ". The latter, released on 24 Apr, we feel is the best of the three.

Zacchae’us Paul is a young multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter from Atlanta, GA. His new album weaves together the diverse threads of jazz music, seamlessly blending different styles. It's executive produced by Terri Lyne Carrington and features guest artists like Melanie Charles, Gregorie Maret, donSMITH, Cisco Swank and Morgan Guerin.

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Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Soul Jazz
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Candid Records
Cat No:	None
Date:	24/04/2024
Key/BPM:	1A/94
Price:	£1

Tom Bailey [2024] - OMW [Little Saigon Records]

We first encountered the music of Tom Bailey in April '21 with his superb single "Love And Happiness" (not the Al Green song). We've monitored his subsequent releases but sadly none have had the same impact.

However, his latest single "OMW" (on my way) is one of his better ones. It's his third single this year and all have similar artwork so we wonder if an EP/album is in the offing?

We are still unable to find any information about him other than his real name is Tom Bouerie and that he was be has born in France and now lives in London.

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Details

Rating:	8.2
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Little Saigon Records / Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	17/05/2024
Key/BPM:	8A/84
Price:	£1

Bro Finbad & Lemya Bessekri [2024] - Freedom [Self Released]

Whilst most, if not all, of Bro Finbad's music appears to be hip-hop, his latest single, "Freedom" with Lemya Bessekri, has a traditional soul sound.

We can find nothing about either artist, although we did find a page for Lemya Bessekri which, if the same person, suggests that she may be Algerian, so perhaps they are French based artists?

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Details

Rating:	7.8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	New Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	22/05/2024
Key/BPM:	10A/104
Price:	£1

Jimit & Kathleen Eligado [2024] - Sunlight [Self Released] (Full EP)

Tel Aviv-based producer, drummer and sound designer Roy Reemy records under the name Jimit. He seems to have been releasing his music since late 2022 and has already released six singles this year.

His latest project is his first EP, "Sunlight", consisting of three new songs along with instrumentals for each. The vocals are by Kathleen Eligado who is also from Tel Aviv but of Filipino origin born in Jerusalem.

The more uptempo title track is our choice cut.

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Details

Rating:	8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	EP
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	22/05/2024
Price:	£5.94

Blagov [2024] - That's How I Feel [Self Released]

The tenth single, all this year, from 22 yr old Russian producer Blagov is "That's How I Feel" released today. All seem to be lo-fi, hip-hop, jazz sampled based songs and credited to Roberts Lederers.

We particularly like his last release, "Follow" (7 May), a sultry jazz ballad, so have included it below.

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Details

Rating:	8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	22/05/2024
Key/BPM:	4A/90
Price:	£1

Miranda Joan feat. MAE.SUN [2024] - Butterflies (ISHA REMIX) [Self Released]

Miranda Joan DiPerno was born in Montreal but grew up in Vancouver, and is now based in Brooklyn, NYC. She debuted with a self-released five track EP "Still" in 2017 and has since released more than a dozen singles along with the release of her debut album "Windborne" (Dec '21).

Prior to the release of her sophomore album "Overstimulated" in Nov '23 she "Bada Bing!" (named after the fictitious strip club HQ in The Sopranos TV series) featuring Ben Carr (CARRTTONS).

Her first releases since the album is a remix of "Butterflies" from it ahead of headlining at 100 Club, London, on 3 Jul. (tickets below on image link)

It features MAE.SUN (aka Hailey Niswanger) from New York and is remixed by Amsterdam/London-based 23-year-old producer and multi-instrumentalist ISHA (Isha Scheenaard) who creates her own blend of broken beat-adjacent jazz-funk on the remix .Also included is the original album version.

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Details

Rating:	8.1
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	22/05/2024
Key/BPM:	10B/122
Price:	£1