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Tkay Maidza: Sweet Justice
New album: Stylishly funky, slick and soulful hip-hop and R&B with dark twists and tender moments come aplenty in this alluring second album by the eclectically talented Zimbabwean-born, Australian-raised and now Los Angeles-based artist
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Balming Tiger: January Never Dies
New album: Hugely enjoyable debut LP by the South Korean K-pop and hip-hop collective, who bring a heady mix of slick delivery and experiment with funk, pop, indie rock and playfully inventive changes of pace
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Flamingods: Head of Pomegranate
New album: The eclectic London band of abundant upbringings and influences from Bahrain to Dubai, Albania, Italy and Saudi Arabia return with a heady, upbeat mix of Afro-electro synth pop, krautrock, funk, disco and alt-rock psychedelia
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Say She She: Silver
New album: A wonderful double LP by the Anglo-American female-led trio of Piya Malik, Sabrina Mileo Cunningham and Nya Gazelle Brown in a joyous early 80s-style mix of disco, pop and soul
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Sirens of Lesbos: Peace
New album: Fascinatingly cool, crisp, delicate, experimental futuristic pop-funk by the band based in Bern, Switzerland, sprinkled with oddball instrumentation and electronica and including a guest appearance by bass legend Bootsy Collins
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Róisín Murphy’s sixth album, Hit Parade
New album: Recent controversies aside, the Irish singer-songwriter’s collaboration with German producer DJ Koze is a mesmerically inventive, intimate, candid exploration of funk, pop, disco and house, skilfully pushed through an wonderfully warped aural lens of vocal effects and sounds
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Yussef Dayes: Black Classical Music
New album: Taking a title cue from Miles Davis, a brilliant, landmark 19-track debut LP by the supremely gifted British jazz drummer variously exploring and re-interpreting many sides of 70s funk, reggae and afrobeat, joined by a stellar group of musicians and vocalists
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Willie J Healey: Bunny
New album: With echoes of Shuggie Otis, 1970s George Harrison, and heaps of Sly Stone-style chilled, squelchy funk, the British singer-songwriter third album is smooth helping of soulful pop with a delicious, laid-back summer vibe
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Girl Ray: Prestige
New album: The London trio of Poppy Hankin, Iris McConnell and Sophie Moss return with a change of style, from their more melancholy indie to beautifully bright, effervescent but thoughtful disco-pop inspired by the New York queer disco scene of the late 70s and early 80s
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Dexys: The Feminine Divine
New album: Baffling, brilliant, beguiling and a bit embarrassing all at once, Kevin Rowland and make a surprise return and first LP in seven years, filled with an odd mix of catchy pop, great vocals, but also oddball, proto-feminist, self-analytical lyrics musing on Kevin’s adoration of women
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Knower’s Genevieve Artadi and Louis Cole
New album: A third jazz-funk tour de force LP of outstanding musicianship, infinite energy, humour and invention by the LA duo of singer Genevieve Artadi and genius drummer and multi-instrumentalist Louis Cole joined by a host of brilliant players
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Meshell Ndegeocello: The Omnichord Real Book, out on Blue Note
New album: Classy, supercool and stylish, the revered German-born American bassist and vocalist returns with an album of distinctive and varied fusion of funk, jazz, Afrobeat, electronica and hip hop with a variety of distinctive guests
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Big release: Janelle Monáe’s fourth LP, The Age of Pleasure
New album: The American artist returns after 2018’s dystopian Dirty Computer a series of acting roles with a celebratory LP of her full sexual liberation and confirmed non-binary status in a release that feels like a hedonistic non-stop party of the LGBTQ Black culture scene
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Baxter Dury: I Thought I Was Better Than You
New album: Droll, dark, crisply phrased, downbeat, self-deprecating, sleazy and funky? It can only be the West London artist, in a candid, unflinching sixth solo album that draws on his strange childhood as son of famous Ian, echoing his brilliantly funny and painful 2022 memoir Chaise Longue
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WITCH are back with Zango, their first album since 1984
New album: After a whopping 38 years’ absence, Zambia’s pioneers of zamrock (their name an acronym We Intend To Cause Havoc) return with their heady and wonderful mix of psychedelic rock, reggae, Afrobeat and funk
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Rahill: Flowers At Your Feet
New album: Cool, stylishly original trip-hop, jazz, alt-rock and pop by the New York Iranian-American singer-songwriter Rahill Jamalifard on a deeply personal release which also includes guests Beck and Jasper Marsalis
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Fatoumata Diawara: London KO
New album: The Mali star returns with an third LP, mixing Afro-futurism and feminism wassoulou traditions and western, but also celebrating her links the UK and and collaborations, notably with co-producer Damon Albarn, and other guest including Angie Stone and Roberto Fonseco
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Baby Rose, aka Jasmine Rose Wilson
New album: With a voice as rich, smooth, deep and pure as anyone around, sublime, tender, passionate, perfectly paced soul, funk R&B in this second LP by Washington D.C.-born Atlanta-based Jasmine Rose Wilson
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Jessie Ware:’s aptly titled new album: That! Feels Good!
New album: Classy and indeed classic disco, pop, soul and funk by the London-born soaring-voiced singer, who with this fifth album of 10 glitterball bangers is really at the very top of her game
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Alfa Mist’s fifth album, Variables
New album: A brilliantly inventive mix of dynamic, textured, vibrant jazz, funk, prog, African, and hip hop, from big band swing, boom-bap rhythms smooth, soulful vocals, all in a fifth LP the London keyboardist and producer
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