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Now, you might have spotted a connection between Mpho and Deborah as her stepfather, Eugene Skeef appears on one of the tracks on Robert Mitchell’s Panacea album Trust. The Brixton link is that in 1980 Mpho, her mother and stepfather fled from South Africa and Mpho still lives there with her young daughter.

So have you heard Mpho? She’s made appearance on tracks with Rodney P, Spacek and Ms. Dynamite but more likely you’ve heard ‘Wait A Minute’ by Ty and the 2004 track of the year by Bugz In The Attic, ‘Booty La La’.

It’s this range of styles that’s makes us eagerly await the forthcoming album (out on Documented) but we’ve got a sneak preview of four tracks. True to form, they’re all different

The Anthony Tidd produced ‘Don’t Like You’ could be heading for the charts. It’s got that marching band sound of Gwen Stefani/N.E.R.D ‘Hollaback Girl’ and a tale of a lost love. Mr. Tidd has a CV with Jazzyfatnastees and The Roots production credits so this is a little different for him but it works well…

Yan Murawski and Morgan Zarate produce the rest of the album, ‘Do To Me’ has a modern nu-soul feel to it with echoes of the 80s. ‘Funny’ is similar in feel but has the added bonus of a radio friendly chorus — this one could be another hit.

‘Hide From Us’ is likely to be the “jazz-noodlers loop diggers” favourite as it’s closest to a ‘Booty La La’ sound with that P-Funk touch.

This is a quality production but there’s lots of competition in this area. Terry Walker sounded good last year, Eska with Ty and Alice Russell with her new album coming out. However, Mpho’s tracks got a good response from the younger (RnB) crowd I played to at the weekend. Lets hope the rest of the album is as good and watch out for ‘Funny’ in the charts.

Links:
Mpho Skeef - www.mphoskeef.com, 360-X
Straight No Chaser www.straightnochaser.co.uk - the other three vocalist featured in “Soul Sisters…here comes the new wave, Natsayi, Corrine Bailey Rae, Lyric L”.
Bring Back the Brass Band - Click to hear the Jaipur Kawa Brass Band and there is a Fly interview to read too.