Mtume

An honest assessment of my absolute favorite records and artists from the U.K. that managed to crack the code and storm the shores of mainstream America.

The focus here is reggae, specifically its routes into dub, dancehall and trip hop as the decade unwinds toward the nineties and beyond.

SA-RA Creative Partners are the greatest crew of the 21st century, with a discography that plays like the textbook definition of machine soul.

Where does machine funk intersect with post punk? The chrome-plated technicolor world of machine soul. It's arguably the most vital form of popular music (still!)...

Every now and then one stumbles upon an utterly beguiling record that somehow sounds both intimately of-its-era and utterly out of time. This is one of those records.

This is the sound of cloud-covered days and rain-slicked streets, half-lit street corners and errant rhythm boxes spooling out the Chiba City blues.

If we're talking machine soul, there's absolutely no getting around the man. There's r&b before Timbaland and r&b after, with a seismic shift in between that hinges on the axis of his vision.

Rolling vectors spill across the shimmering surface of the game grid, your vessel moves silently over the face of the waters.

A tribute to Damon G. Riddick, L.A.'s laidback ambassador of machine soul, and his sprawling nocturnal wonderland laid out beneath a neon glow.

This time of year — when late autumn begins giving way to the dawning chill of winter — often takes me back to the year 2001, a swirling vortex of electronic jazz and machine soul.