August: 18 albums you need to hear this month

Utah Jazz 'The Music Factory' (Spearhead Records)

Luke Wilson’s enduring status as a liquid-funk deity is down to a USP that’s barely changed in 15 years, and his fifth album sparkles with the dusty, crackly, soul-sampling aesthetic that’s made him an international promoters’ dream. Opener ‘Promised Land’ isn’t just vintage, it’s timeless: elegiac strings washing, brass horns mooning, strident breaks rolling with graceful dancefloor purpose. There are some harder textures too, such as the DRS-featuring ‘Handle It 2016’, but Wilson’s fans should fear not: it’s wall-to-wall liquid finery. No-one else could sweep in like this, after a couple of years of silence, and plunge us into a sea of goosebumping melodies and gravelly funk licks.

9/10