Sessions 2000, Jean-Michel Jarre's first Stateside release after a maddening drought, is essentially a year in the life of the mind of the master who wowed the world with his seminal "Oxygene" suite in 1976. Jazzier than early fans would probably expect, but as interesting as he's always been, Jarre's six-track view of a year is energetic, invigorating, and after-dinner-drink smooth.
Eschewing song titles for a deceptively simpler system of dates, Jarre has both taken away outside meaning from each song, but has also imbued each one with the sensory synapse each season brings. So, then, "January 24" is shot through with the ambience of ice and wind, becoming a chilled "Auld Lang Syne" of sorts, leaving "March 23" to open up sunnier vibes with jazz trumpet and down beat synths…

Tonight is definitely the night, the mood and the company are just right. So, if you’ve lit the candles and poured the wine, all you need to do now is put on the exotic, passionate and intimate sounds of Simply Erotica and prepare to turn private fantasy into sensual reality.

Recorded live and mixed by none other than Brian Eno, 'The Surgeon…' is one of Fourth World inaugurator Hassell's most breathtaking full-lengths, capturing the physicality of his performance and matching his lopsided trumpet work with hypnotic synths and ghostly, muted percussion. If you've not jumped into his catalog before, this is the perfect starting point!

Thievery Corporation's Eric Hilton and Rob Garza have always treated the line between acoustic and electronic music as a drunken sailor might, unpredictably falling on one side or the other with equal frequency. By this measure, The Richest Man in Babylon is their soberest effort to date, striding confidently into jazz, soul, world beat, and other styles with a direct, reverential approach. The band's last record, Sounds from the Verve Hi-Fi, featured a set of classic jazz tunes unadorned with remixes or reinterpretation. But the songs on Babylon are originals, incorporating not just jazz but Afro-beat, Brazilian dance, Persian and Indian music, reggae, and psychedelia, all while making expert use of new and old collaborators like Sleepy Wonder, Lou Lou, and Shinehead. Icelandic singer Emiliana Torrini makes an instant impression on the first track, "Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes," her voice freeing the song's melody and structure with just a few hypnotic bars. It's hard to call this an electronic record at all; even their dub-influenced tracks miss a certain studio sheen, as if Hilton and Garza simply waded into a sweltering Jamaican beach party and hit record. But while it misses the ambient, ethereal edge that made The Mirror Conspiracy a downtempo classic, Babylon satisfies with organic energy and tasteful eclecticism.

Someone once said there are two ways of listening to music - with your body and with your mind. When you're hit by the groove, you're listening with your body, compelling you to dance. Engaging with the music in this way is quite different to how you'd respond to, say, Nick Drake or Billie Holiday, where the music seems to deny a physical response.
All of which is a roundabout way of trying to explain what this eternally hip Belgian pianist's album is all about. Opening with a four-to-the-floor drum and bass riff, 'Silver (Who Stole the Groove?)' uses a sample taken from the classic Blue Note album Doin' the Thing (at the Village Gate) by Horace Silver. It becomes a repeated motif as Bert Joris's trumpet, Moulin's Fender Rhodes piano and Christa Jérome's voice weave textures around the hypnotic beat…

The prolific and long-running De-Phazz (also known as DePhazz) is a contemporary lounge project led by Peter "Pit" Baumgartner, a German-Austrian producer who has surrounded himself with a shifting cast of collaborators that includes vocalists Barbara Lahr, Karl Frierson, and Pat Appleton. Beginning with Detunized Gravity (1997), Baumgartner and company have explored various forms of lounge music, much of it balancing samples with live instrumentation, with innumerable cross-sections of vintage jazz and soul, easy listening, and Latin music. By employing the sounds of classic percussion and jazz instruments such as the trumpet and sax, De Phazz successfully create smooth electro-groove music with an unmissable swinging jazz theme. De Phazz is a unique sound that you must check out.

Working many late nights in the 2500 year old Swiss town of Basel, the two artists spun a creative tapestry of nautical sounds, electronic ambiences, and solid musicianship into a beautifully crafted album of journeys in the undersea world. Wanderer of the oceans, swimming peacefully for thousands of years. Between the continental shelf and sea level he changes color and pattern at will. Chameleon of the sea, this rare and beautiful fish leads a solitary life, wandering the depths of the world of Scubason…
Zeus Faber's 1993 debut, "Scubason", provides exactly what the album's name signifies: the sound of the deep. The duo's intertwining, often poignant keyboard lines combine with samples, environmental recordings and jazzy touches of bass, guitar, sax and flute for a mellow and otherworldly effect. An accomplished and creative debut…