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Californian singer-songwriter Eddie Chacon is probably best known to most as one half of the successful US soul duo Charles & Eddie from the early 90s. With “Pleasure, Joy and Happiness”, the “low-key R&B legend” (The Fader) celebrated a brilliant comeback in 2020 with support John Carroll Kirby. On 31 March, the long-awaited follow-up will be released, on which Chacon has once again collaborated with his soulmate John Carroll Kirby. As a foretaste of the album, his new single “Step By Step” has now been released.

Dutch artist Benny Sings announces his new album “Young Hearts”, which will be released on 24 March via Stones Throw Records, with a new single and a video.

With “The World” and “The Only One” Benny Sings releases two West Coast AOR inspired singles at once. For the new songs, Benny traveled to LA and London to work with American producer and songwriter Kenny Beats. Both songs are from a upcoming new project.

Singer, songwriter and pianist Izo FitzRoy is back and demonstrates with the powerful ballad “God Gets A Little Busy Sometimes” that she is one of the great voices of the British soul and gospel scene. The haunting song is the first single from her upcoming album “A Good Woman,” which will be released in April 2023 on Jalapeno Records.

The second STR4TA album by Gilles Peterson and Jean Paul “Bluey” Maunick is an opulent mix of twangy bass, spacey synthesiser melodies, clicking beats and floating, ethereal voices. Inspired by the seminal chapter in British music history, Brit-Funk, and the formative years of Gilles and Bluey.

Australian-born artist Joel Sarakula has always been a musical globetrotter. After rainy London, he has now made his way to the sunny shores of Gran Canaria. His new single “Lonely Town” is an irresistible urban 70s-inspired disco jam that will cut a fine figure not least in Canarian clubs. Despite all the lightness, Sarakula deals with the dystopian effects of digitalization in the lyrics. His new album “Island Time” will finally be released in January.

For their first studio album, the Hamburg soul outfit Angels of Libra teamed up with the Irish singer-songwriter Nathan Johnston, after they had already attracted attention with singles with Shawn Lee and Maiiah. The result is an authentic album full of elegantly grooving, varied and atmospheric soul music, characterised by tasteful horn arrangements, a great rhythm section and the right amount of analogue warmth, but not least by Nathan Johnston’s striking voice – one of our soul albums of the year.

After the success of its first compilation, the German label Golden Rules presents on “The Originals 2”, again a selection of the best international talents in contemporary Funk & Soul and demonstrates impressively, the vitality and diversity of the genre.