ASHLEY BEEDLE grass roots soul & jazz funk set in The lab LDN

In a sea of four-on-the-floor, Ashley Beedle’s 'grass roots soul & jazz funk' set for The Lab LDN is a glorious, necessary anomaly—the musical equivalent of a deep, cleansing breath. This isn't about building a peak; it’s about curating a feeling, a vibe of worn-in leather, smoky rooms, and records that have lived a life. The energy is organic and dynamic, averaging a surprisingly danceable 134 BPM but swinging from the samba-inflected 91 BPM of Seu Jorge’s 'Carolina' to the frantic, jazzy 176 BPM of a live Dells cut. Keys are all over the map (10B, 11B, 8B), which is the entire point—this is about soul, not harmonic mixing.

The technical marvel is in the programming, letting each track breathe and tell its story, with a rich balance of low-end warmth, mid-range instrumentation, and just enough high-end sparkle from cymbals and strings. The tracklist is a historian’s dream. Opening with the sublime, Portuguese-language cool of 'Carolina', Beedle takes us on a tour through Four Tops’ orchestral soul ('Love Makes You Human'), the deep jazz-funk of Mark Murphy’s 'On The Red Clay', and the raw, aching emotion of Nancy Holloway’s 'Hurt So Bad'. The ten-minute epic 'Arranha Ceu' by Eumir Deodato is a journey in itself, and Gil Scott-Heron’s 'It’s Your World' provides the necessary poetic gravity.

The journey starts in a place of smooth, cinematic beauty, peaks with the fiery, live-band energy of 'It’s All Up To You', and comes to a perfectly resolved, feel-good close with James Mason’s 'Funny Girl'. This set isn’t for Shazam; it’s for the Shazam.