This time around, I'm keeping the soul grooves rap-free.
Nhojj has a delicious new serving of musical treats called Soul Comfort that's available at CD Baby. The cut, "Love", is my personal groovepoint right now. It sounds like what I love about the mid-tempo grooves of Maxwell and even Atlantic Starr.

Congrats to Ari Gold, who won the Best R&B Song in the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards for his collaboration with Dave Koz, "Love Wasn't Built in A Day". Good on ya, Ari!

Man, I heard Michael Arkk on My Space. From first listen, I was rolling rock steady with his single, "Apologise". The remix on his My Space is nice as well, however you know how a stew can be just right and need nothing else. That's this track for me.

Paul Creighton's lead vocal in the Oregon band, Intervision, is the right taste of rock and jazz. The chorus of "You Don't Know Me" is straight out of the Level 42 cookbook, so if you know me--you know I was SO down! That entire CD, Shades of Neptune, made my top ten CDs list for 2007.

Kevin Sandbloom. Need I say more? For the uninitiated, Kevin's bluesy soul has been heating up poetry sets across the U.S. His fifth and latest work, Mad Love Activate, is best described as sparse grooves served funky. And if you live in the Dallas area, let "Viva Los Angeles" be your first taste then be at the Ranch Bar and Grille in Arlington, TX on January 24 to hear him live.

Why has the mainstream music community just caught up the fiery power that is Rahsaan Patterson? Wines and Spirits is the latest serving, and there's "No Danger" in keeping up these grooves at Rhapsody or iTunes.

Geno Young's "Honeydew" is southern soul music personified. Get the Ghetto Symphony if you don't have it, and wait with me for his new works this year.

Both wanting a acoustic jazz moment and feeling a need for Bjork, Sean Nowell brings both with his arrangement of "Isobel".

Listen to the mix and keep surfing the net. Stop by www.mandrakefm.com to leave some comments:

 

Gay or straight--it's just good music!