For the next hour CONNECTIONS will be taking you on a trip through the musical wonders of UK Street Soul & Jazz Funk. In the early ‘80s young UK musicians were becoming tired of just trying to copy what their counterparts were doing in the US and so a new sound was rising out of the UK’s inner city neighbourhoods.

Defined by its raw, drum-machine rhythms, reggae-influenced bass, and ‘80s synth riffs topped with sweet, soaring vocals, UK street soul was born from the clubs, blues parties, and pirate radio. Well away from the media spotlight, the homegrown scene grew with a number of small regional labels, amassing a devoted underground following with a lot of those recordings now highly sort after.