The first five releases on the label have all been by ex-student of the High School Of Perfoming Arts of New York, Allen Hoist. Hoist is an American soul-jazz singer multi-instrumentalist living in Paris. His cover of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler)’ is an excellent revisiting of a classic and with his own ‘With Love’, the two tracks attracted various remixes from names such as Franck Roger, Kaidi Tatham, Natures Plan and Raw Deal.

The 4Hero mix came out in 2004 and Gilles Peterson was a fan. If you have missed out, like me, don’t worry as ‘The Lost & Found Sessions’ have turned up and are out now. The ‘Inner City Blues’ 4 Hero Mix is ready for the samba season with Marc Mac doing his Dollis Hill thing and Hoist providing the flute solo. The MFP Collective Edit gives it piano samba to the max. ‘With Love’ via Kaidi Tatham’s Dark Dub mix is broken soul but the Greg Gauther/Tony L makes me wanna dance; ohhhhh!

A few weeks ago the ‘You’ll Never Know’ remixes came out. Allen gets down with some jazz-vocalisations, especially on the ‘Back To The Roots’ version in a Bobby McFerrin stylee. In addition to the lead and scatting vocals gets, he gets in a saxophone solo as well. Again, remixers are queuing up. This time Andreas Saag (aka Swell Sessions) and Dan Electro with a strings’n’disco boogie version that I’m feeling at the moment.

A little digging and we find Mr. Electro has links with Superhuit and Patchworks (apparently now called Cinnamone). Soulution picked up on Mr. Electro’s talents as their next release is going to be by him. They’ve stuck with the soul meets house meets broken theme with Moby/Fatboy type flirts with gospel vocal sampling. Don’t get the idea this is outdated. He really pulls it off. I can’t resist and I’m not the only one. The tracks are ‘I’ve Got That Feeling’ (already featured on the Compost Soul Patrol Radio Show), ‘Down Is The Power’ (the slightly Bugzy one Gilles Peterson liked) and ‘Yes That’s I Want Lord’ plus the Franck Roger electro-house remix of ‘I’ve Got That Feeling’.

All good so check out Soulution and enjoy. What with Cinnamone (Q-tape), Electro, Hoist and MOD X (Ice & Spice), is Paris the new home of the soul/jazz/funk/broken underground? You’ll never know, unless you try I suppose.

Allen Hoist - You’ll Never Know (Soulution) Cat. No. SOULUTION 004 12” Release date: Jan 2006
Tracklisting:
A You’ll Never Know (Swell Session Version)
B1 You’ll Never Know (Dan Electro Version)
B2 You’ll Never Know (Back To The Roots Version)

Allen Hoist - The Lost & Found Sessions (Soulution) Cat. No. SOULUTION 005 12” Release Date: Feb 2006
A1 Mixed by Brad Somatik @ Dollis Hill Studios - London 2004 & by Marc Mac @ Dollis v2.0 studio 2005
Tracklisting:
A1 Inner City Blues (4 Hero VIP 2005 Remix)
A2 With Love (Kaidi Tatham Dark Dub)
B1 Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) (MFP Collective Edit)
B2 With Love (Greg Gauthier & Tony L Dub)

Dan Electro - Got Soul (Soulution) Cat. No. SOULUTION 006 12”
Tracklisting:
A1 I’ve Got That Feeling
A2 Down Is The Power
B1 Yes Thats I Want Lord
B2 I’ve Got That Feeling (Franck Roger Remix)

Links:
Ice & Spice www.iceandspicerecords.com
Patchworks/Cinnamone - try the audio of ‘Song for Mozambique’ feat. Archie Shepp
Superhuit www.superhuitmusic.fr.st
Gilles Peterson :: Tracklistings 13.11.05 : Dan Electro - ‘Down Is The Power’ (Soulution)
Gilles Peterson :: Tracklisting 18/03/04 : Allen Hoist - ‘Inner City Blues (4 Hero Mix)’ (White)