AFMB - A Forest Mighty Black (2014)

It's been a long time between drinks for AFMB AKA German nu-jazz pioneer turned deep house producer Bernard Kunz. His last - and previously only - studio album, Mellowdramatic, dropped way back in 1997. Whereas that was full of jazzy downtempo moodscapes - trip-hop with jazz rhythms - A Forest Mighty Black oozes electronic warmth. While each of the 12 tracks is built in some way around a core deep house sound - think enveloping chords, toasty basslines and intricate melodies - there's plenty of variety to keep things fresh. Contrast, for example, the twinkling deep house-soul of "Jade Knights", the horizontal dub-house goodness of "Circumstances" and the head-nodding downtempo shuffle of "It's All Inside", a conscious nod to his '90s trip-hop past.