Ron Trent - Lift Off (2025)

Back in 2022, Ron Trent delivered a superb as W.A.R.M, 'What Do The Stars Say To You', a largely downtempo and sonically immersive affair that explored his jazz-funk, fusion, soul and downtempo influences. On his latest expansive full-length excursion, Lift Off - a set featuring tracks recorded at different points over the last decade - he combines some of these influences with the percussion-rich deep house sound he's become famous four. Predictably, it's a delight from start to finish, with the long-serving Chicagoan delivering such effortlessly brilliant epics as kaleidoscopic synth-house masterpiece 'Jazz Funk', tactile deep house classic-in-waiting 'Sexstrology', the revivalist boogie brilliance of 'Let Me See You Shining' (where the peerless Leroy Burgess handles lead vocals) and Latin-meets-jazz-funk epic 'Street Wave' (with fellow Rush Hour artist Lars Bartkuhn).