The best way to describe the Leela James Experience at Band on the Wall is Raw, Gritty, Pure Soul. She brought so much energy to the stage performing songs from her debut right through to her critically acclaimed LP, Fall For You.
Leela mentioned being honoured to tour with the late James Brown and how he's inspired her in terms of carrying the Soul Music torch. Vocally, Leela is up to there with some of the greats and she will be here for a long time to come.
Fall For You is out now and is available in most digital outlets - please go out and support your favourite artists.
In today's musical landscape where commercial interests have taken over, finding a decent radio station can be quite a task. Nonetheless, I owe my discovery of Jamie Woon to mistajam (BBC Radio 1xtra) when he premiered the debut single, night air on his show a couple of years ago.
A few months later, Jamie released one of the stand out albums of 2011, Mirrorwriting which in my opinion was massively underrated and years ahead of its time. Personal favourites include, shoulda, spiral, lady luck, Tmrw, night air and Echoes.
Jamie has kept a low profile this last few years while working on projects from artists like Paul White, Royce Wood Junior, Portica and Banks ("This Is What It Feels Like"co-produced with Lil'Silva). In April 2014, Jamie announced he was working on a new album and while we waited anxiously, he released the infectious new single, Sharpness back in August to critical acclaim.
The new album, Making Time sees Jamie back in true form with yet another cohesive body of work. It's quite difficult to pick my favourites at this stage but early stand outs include Dedication, Sharpness, Celebration ( ft Willy Mason), Message, Forgiven & Skin.
The amazingly talented Carmen Rodgers recently blessed us with visuals to one of the standout cuts from her brilliant LP, Stargazer which came out earlier this year. The album came to fruition through the support of her fans via pledgemusic. Stargazer is one of my favourite releases of this year and is definitely worth checking out. While you're at it, please check out her previous projects, Free and The Bitter Suite - they're both highly recommended.
Fans of Teedra Moses will be glad to know that the highly anticipated Sophomore album is finally here. The album is entitled, Cognac & Conversation and will be released on the 7th August via Shinachie Entertainment. That One is the second single taken from the new project and features the legendary Anthony Hamilton.It's been 11 years since the release of her classic debut album, Complex Simplicity - in the mean time, she's kept her loyal fans pre-occupied with a few mixtapes and the recent EP, California Vibes released in 2014.
Cognac & Conversations is available for pre-order on all digital outlets (itunes, amazon, google) - please make sure you go out and support the project. @teedramoses
Little Bird is the new single taken from Louise Golbey's highly anticipated debut album, Novel which is available now. With Novel, Miss Golbey combines new songs with a refreshing twist on some of her old tracks. This album has definitely been worth the wait and deserves all the buzz it's getting at the moment.
All Time Love is the new single from Jeff Bradshaw taking from the forthcoming album, Home out next month. 'Home' will be the follow up album to his 2012 critically acclaimed LP, Bone Appetit which featured the likes of Marsha Ambrosius, Raheem Devaughn, Kindred The Family Soul, Coko (SWV) and much more.
If the new single is anything to go by, it seems like we may be in for a treat when the album drops in March.
Jarrod Lawson and Chance Hayden performing a scintillating cover of Anthony Hamilton's The Point Of It All as part of The Peace Sessions. Please look out more for sessions from Chance showcasing artists from Portland.
