New Music from Neo Soul Artists

   Van Hunt
   What Were You Hoping For  

Since being dropped from his label (booooo!), Van Hunt has been putting out his music independently, which is probably for the best.

If you don't know Van Hunt at all, in a nutshell, he's got the vocals of Curtis Mayfield, the Funk of Sly & The Family Stone, a dash of Prince's swagger, and major songwriting skills. (He penned "Hopeless" for Dionne Farris.) He plays guitar, and some of this new songs have a definite psychedelic bent. I guess that's why he's indie now: Record labels don't know how to market a brother with an electric guitar. Same thing happened to Lenny Kravitz back in the day...

Anyhoo, get your copy of Van Hunt's new album, What Were You Hoping For. "Cross Dresser" cracked me up, and lyrically, it reminded me of Prince's "If I Was Your Girlfriend" and I also particularly like the bare sound of "Moving Target" and "Falls."

    The Original Jill Scott from the Vault, Vol. 1  

Whether it's the byproduct of a label dispute or not, an album of previously unreleased Jill Scott tracks has just been released by her former label, Hidden Beach. If you can't get enough of Jilly from Philly, here's some new "old" music to sink your teeth into.

    Julie Dexter

The soulstress from the UK (by way of Atlanta) brings us something New Again. I'll admit that in the past, I've found Julie's music to be a wee bit bland, but she stepped it waaay up with this latest effort, giving us a breezy vibe inspired by the likes of Adriana Evans and Minnie Riperton (and a bit of 4Hero) without ever being too derivative of any of them. Get fresh Soul for Spring / Summer 2011 from Julie Dexter.

The Light of the Sun
Jill Scott

Love Has No Recession
Kindred the Family Soul

Bleuphoria
Rahsaan Patterson

Late Nights, Early Mornings
Marsha Ambrosius

Floetic Soul
The Floacist

Golden Lady
Reel People

Avery Sunshine
Avery Sunshine

Pieces of Me
Ledisi

MusiqintheMagiq
Musiq Soulchild

    Underground Neo Soul Artists Mix  

Download my handpicked mix of songs by underground Neo Soul artists including Tamika "Love" Jones, Green Tea, Avery Sunshine, Reggie B, L'Renee, Yazarah and more.

Unbroken
Monique Thomas

Love Infinity
Teri Tobin

As Above, So Below
Anthony David

Means to an End
Hannah Francis

Acoustic Love
Joonie

Beautifully Made
Leah Smith

Tamika Love Jones
Tamika Love Jones

Ear Hustler
Geno Young

10K Above
Elisha La'Verne

The Budding Rose EP
Timothy Bloom

Liquid Love
Chris Turner

IamDanielMoore EP
Daniel Moore

The Cold Case Files
Darien Brockington

Sex-E Soul EP
Don-E

How Did Neo Soul Music Begin?

Neo Soul (or Nu Soul) began in the 90's as a record label marketing term to describe modern R&B artists who had a heavy emphasis on deeper lyrical content, live instruments rather than machines, and a sense of emotional genuineness.

This tradition continues today, with many wonderful artists exploring every corner of soul music.

These artists tend to be underground, but there are a few who have broken into the mainstream, such as Erykah Badu, Maxwell, and Jill Scott. I hope that someday the mainstream media will widen their definition of "R&B," so that more listeners can enjoy the whole spectrum of R&B and Soul music.

Even though they don't get as much exposure as mainstream artists, there are many wonderful Neo Soul artists exploring every corner of Soul music today.