Selective Japan Vinyl & CDs

Review: Japanese liquid D&B veteran Makoto's 2011 full-length, Souled Out, was something of a slept-on classic. Largely eschewing straight-up drum and bass, it instead presented a selection of sparkling soul cuts backed with all manner of sun-kissed beats. Here, that album gets a makeover. This time round, there's more straightforward soulful D&B on show (see Lenzman's gorgeous tweak of "Woe", and the funk-fuelled Sinistar rework of "You've Got Sumptin"), as well as excellent forays into hip-hop soul ("Tower of Love", remixed by Bun), glitch-hop (Ena's take on "Woe") and slick, soulful house (Makoto's own version of "Girl I'm Running Back 2 U").

Review: Released to celebrate the Tokyo Crossover/Jazz Festival, Tokyo Crossover Night sees Kyoto Jazz Massive man Shuya Okino effortlessly joining the dots between low down dancefloor jazz, soulful house and contemporary broken beat. The unmixed selection features some killer material, from the punk funk-meets-jazz dance heaviness of Yosuke Tominaga's "Drag On" and the expansive piano jazz of Sleep Walker's "River of Love", to bumping, celebratory soulful house and US garage tracks from Maylee Todd, and, of course, Kyoto Jazz Massive (remixed by Phil Asher under the Restless Soul guise). Best of all, though, is the stargazing broken beat vibe of Makoto's "Birdland", which sounds like a future anthem in waiting.