We recently discovered two amazingly good things. One was Simpsons/Spinal Tap actor Harry Shearer's long-running radio broadcast Le Show and the other (courtesy of Le Show) was The Quantic Soul Orchestra and their stunning new album Pushin' On. So, we implore you to not only check out Shearer's official website to listen to his show and the quality humour and music contained within, but also pick up a copy of Pushin' On.

The QSO is the live soul band put together by Quantic guru Will Holland to indulge his love of funky music, and this second album is mostly instrumental music along the lines of Booker T and the MGs.

Of course, a full length album of that does tend to grate slightly, so long-time Quantic collaborater Alice Russell pops in on five of the eleven tracks to provide soulful and powerful vocals.

The first of these is the title track, which is probably the funkiest number on the album, with Russell vamping along to a bouncy rhythm created mostly by writer/arranger/producer/multi-instrumentalist Holland. In the liner notes, he is described as being close to James Brown in the rankings of hardest-working man in showbusiness, and he's certainly earned his pay here.

Russell's next outing on the album is a cover of Nina Simone's classic Feelin' Good, which was commissioned as a one-off by a major record label but was eventually nabbed to go on Pushin' On as well. Russell's vocals are spot on again, but what is remarkable about the song is how good the song sounds even without the bombastic refrains.

However, compared to Hold On Tight, it's a bit of a let-down. This song was the one we heard on Le Show and it's a corker. Fresh, funky and as soulful as anything you'll find on Stax or Motown, except it was recorded in Brighton, not Detroit. As a tale of living on the edge ("next week's cheque was spent a month ago") it's nicely balanced between bitter and upbeat.

The liner notes sum up the appeal of this kind of music perfectly: "Good music is good music no matter what the genre. Funk is not retro. Hip hop is not classed as retro even though it is over 30 years old, and nor should funk be. Both styles of music stem from the Blues and Jazz and both are hugely revelant in the 2000s." The only we can add to that is to recommend you track this down and get Pushin' On....