Joseph Shabason - "Forest Run"

New Jazz Winnipeg Marketing and Communications Director Victoria King just selected the last record from Toronto multi-instrumentalist Joseph Shabason as part of the festival's Speakeasy blog Staff Selections. Great timing as Shabason is set to release a new record, Anne, on November 16th. There's only one track streaming on the Bandcamp page, but "Forest Run" is a lovely soundscape sure to please fans of his prior album Aytche.

Witch Prophet - "Time Traveler ft. Lido Pimienta"

Pretty sure it was Nik from The Precious Lo's who first tipped me off to Witch Prophet. Basically anything tangentially related to long-time RR faves TPL is worth a listen and this is the case with this fantastic Toronto spiritual soul act (Ayo Leilani on vocals and DJ Sun Sun on production)

When I first meant to post this entry, the Bandcamp stream was limited to just a couple singles including the fire collab with Lido Pimienta below, but the record came out last Friday and it can be streamed / purchased in its entirety now.

Birthday Boy & Trish - "Just One Kiss"

Toronto duo Birthday Boy & Trish just dropped the Joseph EP on January 15th and while it took a week to cross my radar, I'm glad it did because I am always down for some tasty future soul music, particularly when it's got the MAPL wheel! Add this to your Chris LaRocca, Precious Lo's, Pomo et al. playlists.

Chris LaRocca - "Closer"

Somehow I missed the boat on LaRocca's Sextape work, but this track under his own name is completely in my wheelhouse. Downtempo neo-soul with falsetto? SIGN ME UP.

I actually just became his 91st follower on Soundcloud and this number needs to blow up. Get on it.

Tanika Charles - "Two Steps"

Winnipeg. Please meet Toronto (formerly of Edmonton) soul singer Tanika Charles. If you haven't heard me play the titular track to her forthcoming LP Soul Run on TGIFR, here's a second chance to get hip to someone who is bound to be big. Charles has that throwback thing going on but this isn't a facsimile. She's the real deal and that voice of hers is incredible.

 

The fine folks at Jazz Winnipeg are bringing Charles to town for a special show at The Good Will so take a listen and mark your calendar for May 18th.