a stunning return to form for one of the pre-eminent modern soul singers - with background vocal guests including jody watley, faith evans, lalah hathaway, shanice and the andrea crouch singers. a remarkably strong fifth solo album from a soul singer who defines the word classy. highlights are his trademark gorgeous ballads ( miss you and goodbye ), hypnotic mid-tempo grooves ( 6 am and stay with me ), and irresistibly funky dancefloor tracks (the instant club hit ghost featuring jody watley). the insistent, gospel-flavoured mountain top is unlike anything you ve ever heard, and features the legendary andrea crouch singers. the album is rooted in the classic principles of melody and poetic lyrics while embracing eighties r&b/pop as purveyed by prince and michael jackson. since his outstanding 1997 debut album for mca, rahsaan has evolved as a vocalist and songwriter, along the way writing songs for tevin campbell, brandy, ledisi, lalah hathaway and van hunt. now in 2011, with the assistance of his regular production cohorts keith crouch and jamey jazz, he delivers some of his finest work.

2011 two cd compilation including tracks from jane monheit, stacey kent, clare teal, ranee lee, maureen mcgovern, joe coughlin, and jamie cullum. the tracklist includes classic works by master composers gershwin, antonio carlos jobim, charles trenet and bill evans amongst others, the album also includes jazz covers of popular songs from the beatles, cat stevens and joni mitchell.

when it comes to being a man of many talents there are few to equal richard norris. dj, producer, musician, audiovisual artist, a&r man, author and journalist, his is a career of many twists and turns which have always seen him at the forefront of pushing new ideas forward and championing diversity and innovation. as 2010 closes richard is focusing most of his energy based around three projects: beyond the wizards sleeve, the grid and the time and space machine

kode9s grasp on the throat of bass music in 2010 is almost unparalleled. his trend setting record label, hyperdub, is in its sixth year of viral contagion, hes become a published author on the theory of sound abuse and sonic frequencies being used as weaponry in his book >sonic warfare< and his production work has mutated from an almost simplistic marriage of beats and sine waves into a fusion of dancefloor ebonics and discordant synths!

when dial records started in 2000 with a bunch of friends highly inspired by deep house, detroit techno and cologne lovetunes, nobody of them ever thought about running a decent record label. the only concept david lieske, peter kersten and paul kominek had in their mind was never to be part of any proper record business, never to be controlled by any rule or trend, always to let the record label be a part of their love for music and arts. even the dial family was never intended growing that big, almost 70 percent of the artists on the first compilation are the same on >2010<, the history starting from a small label based in hamburg turned out climbing a high mountain. touching cities like detroit, tokyo, paris, berlin, buenos aires, releasing music like contemporary classic, drones and glitches, ambient, guitar pop, singer songwriter, deep house, minimal techno, discovering arts of protagonists such as michaela meise, sergej jensen, dirk stewen, hanna schwarz, anna mšller, cosima von bonin, all this fills a decade of dial records. but still the main part is the music and as we hold the 2010 compilation in our hands and listen to the tunes of phantom ghost, isolŽe, pantha du prince, carsten jost, john roberts, efdemin, lawrence, christian naujoks, dominique, rndm, pigon, kassian- we still have this enthusiastic feeling that wants to tell us: this is only the beginning

its a brighter, more immediate sound than before warmer, too, with the singers voices positively glowing inside intricately woven electronic nests. but theres no lack of nuance. every track is a delicate balance of intimate delivery and cosmic sonics, underscored by a faint sense of melancholy.

phil kieran has been in the upper echelons of the electronic music game for more than a decade, but is only now releasing his debut album under his own name.

whether it be blues, rock >n< roll, jazz or doo- wop -all these songs have an irresistible charm, guaranteed to make that christmas party swing. they range from guitar instrumentals (les paul - >jingle bells<), through to the hawaiian influenced