Linear Labs US Vinyl & CDs

Review: Samantha Schmutz and Adrian Younge met at a Jazz Is Dead event, and their collaboration sure does sound like fate. Together, they knit a golden thread between Rio and Los Angeles, and 70s MPB and soul, recording straight to tape at Younge's all-analogue Linear Labs. Schmutz, known in Brazil as an actress, takes the opportunity to derobe a more personal, devotional side, channeling her childhood memories of singing to her father's records. Younge, whose past work includes sessions with Marcos Valle, Joao Donato and Joyce, then shapes the arrangements into curious, lullabying lush segmentations of hypno-samba, be these 'Nossa Cor' and 'Feitico', pulling towards bossa and Afro-Brazilian rhythms, or 'More Than Love', echoing Studio 54's cinematic disco.

Review: Los Angeles producer Adrian Younge and Queens native Ali Shaheed Muhammad reunite for another luminous journey through cosmic soul, smoky jazz, and velvety R&B. With a rotating cast of collaborators—Raphael Saadiq, Ladybug Mecca, Bilal, Luther Vandross, and CeeLo Green among them—the pair conjure a timeless palette of Fender Rhodes vamps, cinematic string lines, and luxuriant woodwinds. ‘Smiling For Me’ drips with warm psychedelia, while ‘Do It Together’ and ‘It's You’ nod to quiet storm in form and mood. Their hallmark orchestration is sculpted with precision, courtesy of the Linear Labs ensemble, and the vocal turns—particularly on ‘Questions’ and ‘Love Is Free’—are striking without overshadowing the arrangement. Elsewhere, the instrumental passages like ‘Gate 54’ and ‘Ravens’ are low-lit, groove-heavy sketches that stitch the vocal numbers together with elegance. As with their earlier work, it’s not nostalgic so much as reverent—evoking the grandeur of 1970s jazz-funk without retreating into pastiche.