In Brief

* * * Soul Family Sensation, “New Wave,” Epic. Like Massive Attack, this English-American group defies categories, but Jhalisa Anderson’s blue velvet vocals flow over superb instrumentals that might be described as alternative soul. Warmly urgent yet inflected with jazz cool and post-modern effects, SFS’s intellectually ready R&B; exposes the artifice of its American counterpart and the sterility of over-programmed new jack swing.