Across the Atlantic, The Weeknd, Frank Ocean and Miguel have made bold, forward-thinking R&B into a big-selling prospect, while Flying Lotus and Thundercat have been heavily praised for taking jazz and funk into strange new places.
Meanwhile, over here, a future-soul thing of our own is brewing. Recently we’ve been offered Prince-style funk from new girl NAO, Stevie Wonder pop from Jodie Abacus and smouldering late night music from the returning Jamie Woon.
Peckham-based producer Royce Wood Junior had a hand in all of them, and has a solo album too, The Ashen Tang.
It seemed to pass most of us by last summer but is being reissued today with extra tracks plus a new release for the wonderful groove of his single, Midnight. Think rubbery basslines, blue-eyed soul and smart synths, as though someone stuck Jamiroquai on a rocket to the moon.
It’s fun too, as exemplified by his summery song Clanky Love, which sounds like the least appealing kind of love you could offer. The music is rather more impressive than that sounds, as he’ll demonstrate at a Hackney show next month.
Feb 10, Oslo, E8 (020 3553 4831, oslohackney.com)
