Cardiff's Che Ahmed produces under many aliases such as Chesus, Earl Jeffers and Metabeats, but had only one release as Earls BOOOM!!!l It was widely sought after, leading to another much needed repress here - now the third since its original release back in 2016. 'Thank You' is a thumpin' disco house monster that's looped to perfection, and its vocal is just epic throughout. The dusty, late night heads-down stomp of 'Badadu' follows, while over on the flip he remixes some golden oldies you'll for sure know from the first beat, in the form of 'D-D-D' and 'The Paper'.

It's time for our weekly dose of digidub. This one comes courtesy of Turtle Isle, a clandestine affair whose MO is to deliver quality, crunchy dub cuts, and nothing more. These two new bits from digidub pioneer Jahtari (Jan Gleichmar) are fittingly lo-fi and 8-bit, with every sound from kick womp to piano trill buried beneath a staunch bitcrush. Unusually, on this EP, space, rather than oppressive bass, is the place; 'Loose In Space' eschews overwrought low end to emphasise the kick drum, resulting in a stomping rather than system-engulfing mood. Dryness prevails on the B, 'The Stars My Destination', lending dub a good dose of space-funk and slappy bit clap; treating the void with sense of humour it needs.

Oakland's SNDTRAK dropped his long awaited debut album back in 2021. It was a big hit right off the bat and now it gets a welcome reissue. These are snappy beats with rolling drums, deep hip hop instrumentals that bring the best of the dusty school to fresh new school thinking. Delicate melodies are buried within, soulful vocal smears drift in and out of ear shot and well played bass slowly rotate sunder the tunes to bring languid funk. Sunny and heart aching, heat damaged and stoned, this is a warming soundtrack on many different levels.

After 13 years have passed since his last album, Root Soul is back with a new record that is as emotionally charged as ever. Bassist, composer and sound producer Kenichi Ikeda is the man behind the project and US vocalist Erik Rico is on the full album. First though is this teaser single on At Home Sound out of Japan. It kicks off with a 2022 update of 'Freaky Power' that has sliding drum rhythms and a high speed funky bassline chasing them along. On the backside is 'She's Got It' (feat Andrea Clarke) which dangles guitar riffs, big sax lines and acrobatic soul vocals over a chunky groove.

Richmond beatmaker DJ Harrison is back with his second full length, Tales from the Old Dominion. This album finds the multi-talented artist play every single instrument on it after three heard years of graft. It swallows up a myriad of influences from across the ages such as soul, funk, rock, R&B, hip-hop, all with his own unique collage yet cohesive style. There are forward looking disco cuts, rubbery basslines, heart meltingly smooth neo-soul sounds and spaced-out hip-hop joints for the late night hours. This is a fresh record desire its nod to classic black music.

Michael Ruth aka Rich Ruth wrote this record under a loft bed in a guest bedroom in his home in Nashville during that mad pandemic year of 2022. Those humble origins belie the deep musical journey the album takes us on. It is all about the honest exploration of sound, with mad musical skill and lots of natural references and atmospheres. "Working on this music is a daily meditation," says Ruth, and listening to it is too even though it squares up to trauma before finding its own peace.