Paloma Faith
Upside Down
Paloma Faith's brassy, swing-tinged retro-soul romp about a world turned on its head, with a stomping rhythm section and a voice that relishes every theatrical flourish.
Instrument
saxophone
12 tracks.
Mount Sims, Jessie Evans
Andy of Jenny
A short, sharp electroclash track from Mount Sims' 2008 album Happily Ever After, with André Lang's live drums under the synths and the underground punk singer Jessie Evans adding saxophone.
Marek Hemmann
Gemini
Nine minutes of melodic German minimal from the Jena label Freude am Tanzen: Marek Hemmann's Gemini drives on a swinging house groove while synth patterns and funky tenor-sax licks twist around each other.
Joss Stone
Less Is More
A teenage Joss Stone leans into a lilting, reggae-kissed soul groove and sings about wanting less with the husky authority of a singer twice her age.
Faul & Wad, PNAU
Changes
Faul & Wad Ad build a sax-lit, bittersweet house groove around the children's-choir refrain of Pnau's Baby, a song about growing up that became a European number one.
Corinne Bailey Rae
Put Your Records On
Corinne Bailey Rae's sun-dappled soul-pop single is a gentle invitation to let your hair down, all breezy guitar, soft horns and a warm voice telling you to grow into yourself.
Chet Faker
Talk Is Cheap
A wistful, treated saxophone line, a lazy, warm beat and Chet Faker's husky croon make this Built on Glass lead single the definition of late-night electronic soul, and triple j's number one song of 2014.
Amy Winehouse
You Know I'm No Good
A slinking, horn-stabbed confession of infidelity from Back to Black, written by Amy Winehouse and produced by Mark Ronson with the Dap-Kings' players: retro soul with a lyric no 1960s girl group would have sung.
Groove Armada
Superstylin'
Groove Armada's 2001 single fuses house with dancehall, reggae and dub over a speed-garage bassline, with MC M.A.D. on vocals and a live horn section; a UK number 12 and a 2003 Grammy nominee.
Fernanda Porto
Sambassim
Fernanda Porto's own Sambassim: the São Paulo composer's song that fused samba and bossa nova melody with electronic beats and helped name a style, drum 'n' bossa.
Deluxe
Tum Rakak
'Tum Rakak' is a song by Deluxe, the moustachioed band from Aix-en-Provence: a funky live-band groove in B-flat minor with Liliboy singing a gleefully absurd lyric about curiosity, party crumbs and a truck that reeks in the heat.
Gregory Porter
Don't Lose Your Steam
Gregory Porter's up-tempo lead single from Take Me to the Alley: a warm, gospel-rooted jazz-soul song of encouragement, carried by his rich baritone and a small acoustic band.