Hello from a remarkably sunny London. Depending on where you are in the world, lockdowns are looming (or are already in force like some areas of the UK), so hopefully this good news will cheer you up: October is bonus time and we have two albums for you instead of the usual album/single!

The first album is a stunning release; “Control,” the debut album from Sydney based vocalist Natalie Slade, produced by Hiatus Kaiyote's Simon Mavin and featuring contributions from other members of the Grammy Nominated group. We are suckers for female vocalists here at W&S, and Natalie is pure class in this regard, working well with the Soul, Jazz, Folk and RnB styles on this album. We think this one will be a timeless listen that you’ll be putting on your deck for years to come.

Album 2 is one we’ve persuaded the excellent Jalapeno records to unvault for us. “Egg Tooth” by Ephemerals is their 2017 release which melds Jazz and Afrobeat with the Soul and R&B that underpins their eclectic style. It also has a hefty spoonful of psychedelia, a genre we’ve been digging into a lot this year. I remember when this first came out I played it nonstop for a good few weeks, so am super glad we managed to get it for you. It has some great artwork as well!

We hope you enjoy these two albums, both on their own and as very different takes on some similar themes.

As always, until next month.