So the Sonar festival madness has ended, big ups to Mulatu Astake and The Heliocentrics who rocked the house despite bad sound problems - shame on you Sonar, it really was awful. Konono No 1 smashed it big style and got everyone in the hall dancing and trying their best to bust some African style moves - not a pretty site but the energy was great! Debruit did himself loads of favours by delivering a killer set of wonk funk and Bullion dropped a wonderfully eclectic dj set of future beats mixed with classic soul, jazz, latin and disco obscurities, too slow for most but it got my groove on. Respect also goes to Culoe de Song for getting me and most of the rest of the crowd into a deep pure afro house trance proving you don't need to be a headbanging 128bpm+ house mentalist to get the crowd going, it's all about the groove people not the BPMs!

So to the show. Rainer Trueby is back from his post nu-jazz obscurity with a couple of wonderful house chuggers on Compost produced with Danilo from Motor City Drum Ensemble - deep, deep. The Belletunes come through with some nice retro funky newness and I drop more soulful lovelisness from the eagerly anticipated Sa Ra debut lp. Debruit is sounding like he's really coming of age with his new material which you can expect soon on the great Civil Music who are also responsible for the future beats of the hotly tipped Reso who is mashing up the dubstep dance in his own fresh sounding way. The Jega album coming on Planet Mu is sounding hot and the new Quantic And His Combo Barbaro album is by far his most accomplished effort yet and I look forward to more musical adventures utilising his new South American musical friends.

The Cha Cha Shaw album re-issue on Kindred Spirits captures this old school twisted jazzer at his quirky funky best and the decision not to re-master this poorly recorded live album adds an interesting authenticity and aged charm to the re-issue. I had to finish with a little house trio, kicking off with the stellar PanOptikum remix of the little known Arabic artist Sheharzad - Detroit meets the Ayatollah. More Pepe Bradock appears courtesy of the essential new Pepe Bradock compilation on BBE and Noze provide a Ethiopian jazz/Minimal soundclash where the only winner is fresh new music for 2009.

Rainer Trueby - Ayers Rock (Compost promo)
Brother Jack McDuff - Oblighetto, J Dilla remix (Rapster promo)
The Belletunes - Stare It Cold, Dublex Inc remix (Infracom promo)
Sa Ra Creative Partners - The Bone Song (Ubiquity promo)
Debruit - I'm Goin Wit You Feat Om'Mas Keith Sa-Ra Creative Partners & Jamie Woon (Civil Music promo)
The Clonious - One At A Time feat Muhsinah (Affine Rec Promo)
Jega - Antiphon (Planet Mu promo)
Reso - Busted Crunk (Civil Music promo)
Quantic And His Combo Barbaro - The Dreaming Mind Part 1 (Tru-Thoughs promo)
Stanley Beckford - Sam Fi Man (Calaloo Records)
Cha Cha Shaw - Melted Soul (Kindred Spirits)
Sheharzard - Yalla Yalla, PanOptikum remix (Fine Art Recordings)
Charles Webster - I Am Falling, Paris-Bordeaux Remix (BBE promo)
Noze - Songs On The Rocks (Get Physical)