Faith Akin's 2009 comedy Soul Kitchen followed the adventures of a handful of eccentrics and bohemians who operate and patronize a rundown eatery in Germany, and true to the title the film's soundtrack album features plenty of classic soul and R&B tracks, as well as selections from the movie's original score. Soul Kitchen includes numbers by Al Green, Ruth Brown, the Isley Brothers, Dyke & the Blazers, Quincy Jones, and others; the collection also includes vintage reggae from Burning Spear and contemporary German techno and dance music by Deichkind and Solomun & H.O.S.H.
Like jazz, soul has undergone an evolution from an American-based music rooted in the blues into a form of expression that now finds itself at home anywhere in the world. This global reach of the music is visible in ACT’s artist roster where we find, among others, Nils Landgren, Knut Reiersrud, Solveig Slettahjell, Magnus Lindgren, Torsten Goods, and - above all - the Swedish singer/pianist Ida Sand. Her four previous albums have channelled jazz, pop and folk influences, but "My Soul Kitchen" is different. It is Ida Sand's clearest declaration yet of her love of "sweet soul music", and is also a demonstration of her deep affinity for it. There are songs by soul greats such as Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and The Meters, which are completely at one with both Ida Sand's own tunes and with her soulful interpretations of the music of artists like John Fogerty and Mike Shapiro. As Ida Sand herself says: "Soul music is such a broad genre. There’s funky soul, blue-eyed soul, neo-soul, RnB, New Orleans soul, Motown-soul and many others. This album is a blend of many of these.”
Lunatic Soul is the solo project of Mariusz Duda, the lead singer and creative force behind the Polish band, Riverside. Duda's fifth and long-awaited album Fractured is an album of catharsis following a challenging year in his personal life.
Mariusz explains that "the main theme of "Fractured" is coming back to life after a personal tragedy. It's inspired by what happened in my life in 2016 and by everything that's happening around us and what's making us turn away from one another and divide into groups, for better and for worse. Musically it's the most original album I have ever made… it will be the most accessible album in the LS discography"…