VA - A Family Affair (2021)

We started First Word Records in late 2003. The core team is based in London, but our roster is comprised of artists from all over the globe. As we look ahead to our 20th anniversary, and hit our 200th release, this EP is a collaborative effort from some of our current artists.

As a label, we've often championed musicians that create sounds that fall within the cracks of more defined-genres. Our aim has always been to highlight unique talent where we find it, and ultimately find things we deem worthy of inclusion in the great mixtape of life! Quite often the links may not seem apparent, but we feel blessed to have been able to slowly build a family of artists that not only have great respect for each other, but will quite often collaborate together with zero prompts from us. This 15-track selection is a series of examples of that. 'A Family Affair'.

We begin with a UK all-star collab from Darkhouse Family, Kaidi Tatham and son of Zeus, Tyler Daley, and follow that with a US all-star piece from 14KT, Tall Black Guy, Muhsinah, Stro Elliot & James Poyser. We have two slices of alternative soul, one from Olivier St. Louis, from Berlin via Washington, and one from South London's Tawiah, remixed in an 80's boogie vein by a new artist, Bobby Xennial. More neo-soul music courtesy of Moonchild, on 14KT's remix of their collab with Tall Black Guy, and Melbourne soulstress Allysha Joy, her track with a brand new remix courtesy of Kaidi Tatham. K15 of Profusion refixes a track from the band Teotima, and appears again as half of KEARL (along with Earl Jeffers of Darkhouse Family) for a bruk mix of a track by Japanese trumpeter Takuya Kuroda, who also appears here with a brand new lo-fi beats mix from Reginald Omas Mamode IV. French beatmakers Souleance turn out some playful latin breaks, and we see the return of two First Word alumni, fellow French man Quiet Dawn teaming up with London's singer-songwriter, Sarah Williams White. On a hip hop tip, New Zealand jazz drummer Myele Manzanza features with a Darkhouse Family remix of the appropriately titled 'Family Dynamics', the other half of Darkhouse Family, Don Leisure, provides a beat from the forthcoming return of 'Shaboo', and we have some thought-provoking bars from wordsmith, Essa. Manchester represents once again with Werkha on the boards and we close out with some street soul courtesy of Mancunian duo, Children of Zeus (brand new material from those guys arriving imminently…).