First Word Records

A year on from the highly-acclaimed album 'It's A World Before You', Kaidi Tatham brings more new music to First Word Records - a continuation of his previous EP's for the label (2017's 'Changing Times' & 'Hard Times'), here we enter 'Serious Times'.Kaidi Tatham is one of the most revered multi-instrumentalists in the game. Dubbed by Radio 1's Benji B last year as "the UK's Herbie Hancock", his versatility as a musician is actually more akin to Prince in the sense that he can play most instruments, and play them well. His contributions as a musician, composer & producer have included work with Bugz In The Attic, Amy Winehouse, Slum Village, Mulatu Astatke, Soul II Soul, Moonchild, Leroy Burgess, Amp Fiddler and loads more over the years, additionally to being a key player on Jazzy Jeff's PLAYlist album 'Chasing Goosebumps' along with Masego, Stro Elliot, 14KT, Tall Black Guy, Rich Medina and the like, and various projects alongside Dego (2000 Black) and First Word label-mates Eric Lau, Darkhouse Family & Children of Zeus.'Serious Times' is another 4-track set comprised of Kaidi's unmistakable style, encompassing broken beat, jazz, boogie and hip hop. The EP starts off with the hype jazz-funk bruk of 'Cost of Living', maintaining the tempo into 'Don't Cry Now' which leads with a sweet latin-tinged piano riff. Onto the flipside, and we're treated to the slinky synth-boogie of 'Sugar' before dropping the tempo down & closing the selection with a warped but jazzy instrumental boom bap piece entitled 'Zallom'.

First Word Records is very proud to present a brand new full-length album from Kaidi Tatham. 'It's A World Before You'.Following on from two EPs released on First Word last year ('Changing Times' and 'Hard Times'), Kaidi has delivered us thirteen tracks that deftly illustrate his various talents as a multi-instrumentalist.Kaidi is probably best known for his work with Bugz In The Attic, though his musical contributions over the years have also included Amy Winehouse, Slum Village, Mulatu Astatke, Soul II Soul, Moonchild, Leroy Burgess, Amp Fiddler, Chris Dave, Macy Gray, King Britt, DJ Spinna, Mr Scruff and IG Culture to name but a few! In recent times, he's worked with DJ Jazzy Jeff on a variety of projects, including his most recent album 'M3', touring Europe for Jeff and Will Smith's reunion shows, and on the PLAYlist album 'Chasing Goosebumps', with Glenn Lewis, Stro Elliot (The Roots), Masego, Maimouna Youssef, Rich Medina, Daniel Crawford and more.All this in addition to heating up dances around Europe with his inimitable DJ sets, and working heavily with First Word label-mate, Eric Lau (who also mixed this album) on a variety of projects, and adding releases to his already impressive catalogue on 2000 Black, Eglo and Theo Parrish's Sound Signature, with regular compadre, Dego (who features on the album's title track).This album personifies Kaidi's diverse palette of sounds – bar Eric & Dego's features, every piece of music is played by himself. Largely flowing on a broken beat rhythm section, Kaidi effortlessly incorporates washes of afro, latin and funk throughout. From the harmonics of 'Your Dream Don't Mean A Thing', to the breakneck funk of 'Outta Audah', each and every riddim exudes energy. But this isn't simply a bruk record. The album is laced together with downtempo beats and future jazz interludes throughout, and some sweet synth boogie is never very far away, especially on the weighty vibes of 'It's About Who You Know'. To top it all off, there's two delightful nuggets of hip hop soul - Mancunian label-mates, Children of Zeus, feature on the neo-soul vibes of 'Out Here On My Own', and there's a feature from Amir Townes, better known as Uhmeer - an upcoming MC from Philadelphia, and son of one Jazzy Jeff Townes - who rides a sub-heavy, piano-led slice of boom bap, voicing an assortment of characters to tell the tale of 'Cupid'.'It's A World Before You' is set to cause serious damage to sound-systems over the Summer, and show and prove once again the skills of one of the UK's best unsung musical talents, Kaidi Tatham.

We head into the final quarter of the year with a very welcome return to First Word from London producer, musician, engineer and DJ, Eric Lau. Following on from his acclaimed early 2017 album, 'Examples', we proudly present the second volume - another delectable 28-track beats opus.'Examples Volume Two' is Eric's fourth instrumental album, and ably continues where he left off with an assortment of sonics, ranging through hip hop, jazz, funk, soul & Brazilian beats. An elaborate sketchpad of ideas and grooves, this again gives a taste of the genius production skills of 'The Commissioner', Mr. Lau.A mixdown perfectionist, his services have been drafted into service on a number of albums over the past few years, including Yussef Kamaal's 'Black Focus', Mansur Brown's 'Shiroi', The Playlist's 'Chasing Goosebumps', DJ Jazzy Jeff's 'M3', Masego's 'Lady Lady', and Kaidi Tatham's 'It's A World Before You', released on First Word recently. It's through these recent collaborations that we have a few unique ingredients peppered through this project, the track 'Jeff's Piano' is based on a sample taken from Eric's iPhone, capturing a moment when Kaidi was teaching Masego a few chords at Jeff's studio. Both integral players to the Playlist Retreat, Eric and Kaidi have also provided remix duties for Moonchild, Omar and Leon Ware, and Kaidi Kat also lends his key playing talents to a few tracks here.Eric has also worked as a producer for artists like Oddisee, Guilty Simpson, Dego, Tawiah, Rahel and Fatima, whilst his DJ skills have seen him tour the globe with luminaries such as Erykah Badu, Robert Glasper and Questlove. He's received props over the years from tastemakers across the world, including Rich Medina, 9th Wonder, Bobbito, Dam Funk, Phonte, Gilles Peterson, James Poyser (The Roots) and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest).His previous outings for First Word pre 'Examples' were as part of the Record Store Day beat-challenge trilogy, along with Tall Black Guy, Kidkanevil and Mr. Thing. Additionally to four instrumental LPs, he released his debut-album 'New Territories' on Ubiquity a decade ago, as well as the acclaimed 2013 sophomore album, 'One Of Many'.This latest set of 'Examples' is available on all digital services and regular black vinyl, as well as a limited edition blue vinyl version. Essential music for your mind, body and soul.

We welcome back long-time First Word family, Souleance, with 'Bamboule'; fresh from their respective cut-ups for our sister label, Excursions, and their recent 'Raw Funk' set, we have a 5-track EP containing something for all the family, crafted with love once again by France's Fulgeance & DJ Soulist. A truly eclectic collection, comprised of afro grooves, tropical vibes, b-boy rhymes, head-nodding shakers and intensely hype floor-fillers. A seriously fun selection.It kicks off with 'Partay', a mid-tempo slice of bouncy tropical boogie that does exactly what it says on the tin. An effervescent synth-bassline rides on top of a delectable disco shuffle, complete with classic reggae chants.Title track 'Bamboule' is a seriously energetic afro-funk beast. A truly infectious percussive rhythm track, laced with an immense bassline, vocal chops and synth rides, this one is 100% guaranteed to entice any dancefloor into a trance-like state of bugged-out body moves.'That Guy' is some uptempo piano-rolling hip hop business, enlisting the help of Brooklyn MC, Von Pea, from the crew Tanya Morgan, who've been making noise on the independent hip hop scene for over a decade, as well as recently collaborating with GUTS.We dip down to around the 85BPM mark for 'J'aime Marcher', a lounging boom bap bumper with sloppy drums, jazzy rhodes and vivacious horns.Closing the EP is 'Brown Bags'; an almost Dilla-esque cut-up, complete with rolling neck-breaking drums, sweet soul samples and stabs of prog rock. An abundance of variety, we think you'll agree.For those that don't know, the Parisian duo hooked up just over a decade ago, and haven't stopped to rock & shock parties, clubs and festivals globally since, building a fan-base of solid party people and revered selectors along the way. As always, the wonderful Alice Dufay provides the artwork, making this an essential package for you and yours.

First Word are keeping it moving for 2017 and welcoming Kaidi Tatham into the fold, with a firing four-track EP, 'Changing Times'.Kaidi is a talented multi-instrumentalist that's produced, featured, remixed and performed with an array of artists across numerous genres; jazz, soul, broken beat, hip hop and beyond.Perhaps best known for his work with Bugz In The Attic, 4Hero and Dego, his accomplished catalogue of musicianship can be heard amongst the likes of Amy Winehouse, Slum Village, Mulatu Astatke, Soul II Soul, Leroy Burgess, Amp Fiddler, Macy Gray, King Britt, DJ Spinna, Gene Harris, Mr Scruff, The Salsoul Orchestra, Kyoto Jazz Massive, Blu, Vikter Duplaix, Nathan Haines, Phil Asher, IG Culture and Eric Lau, to name a fraction.