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DEBORAH JORDAN is back! The long awaited followup to 2010’s “WHAT YOU SEE". This album of soulful phuture soul and R&B is being hailed as an “Instant future classic". Hauntingly beautiful, her most heartfelt and emotionally charged album to date. Help from K15, MARC RAPSON and SIMON S.

Mara TK, a golden voiced, Maori-Scottish world-wandering citizen of Aotearoa (New Zealand) announces his debut solo album 'Bad Meditation', released 7th May on Extra Soul Perception. Stepping out on his own, Mara TK is the former frontman of the acclaimed Kiwi future soul trio Electric Wire Hustle. Written and produced by Mara himself, 'Bad Meditation' is his 13 track opus, a deeply personal account of heritage, love, loss and healing.

An alumnus of Red Music Academy in Toronto, Mara TK's work beyond Electric Wire Hustle has seen him collaborate with critically lauded names including Om'Mas Keith of Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Detroit producer and J Dilla collaborator Waajeed, and Steve Spacek.

Extra Soul Perception is a collaboration and community music platform that started life between the UK, Kenya and Uganda but is now continuing to grow and connect independent musicians worldwide. Now with Mara TK added to the roster, Extra Soul Perception has released music by Lex Amor, K15, Maxwell Owin, Lynda Dawn, Hibotep, Karun, Labdi, Faizal Mostrixx and more.

*Nb: The solo version of 'Met At The River' is a digital exclusive only.

The second compilation EP to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Sound Of Speed!

A-1, by UK Kieron Ifill K15 (WILD OATS, EGLO, APRON) with an impressive sophisticated electric jazzy track that symbolizes the label.

The debut work "Wait" from DISTANT HAWAII is a cult hit, and also from RHYTHM SECTION INTERNATIONAL and MOODS & GROOVES.

A-2 by HIDDEN SPHERES from Manchester, who has release experience and has an impressive unique rhythm composition and airy synth usage.

The Japanese twin duo SATOSHI & MAKOTO, whose two albums released from YOUNG MARCO's label attracted a lot of attention.

Sapporo's KUNIYUKI participated in the music of his brother SATOSHI as percussion, a 90's synth riff reminiscent of the dawn of Detroit techno.

KUNIYUKI from Sapporo, who has live experience on the world stage, participated in the percussion with an ambient feeling that delicate keyboard

work is folded in multiple layers.B-1, which weaves a groove in a quiet humor, a masterpiece electric jazz world that draws you in from the beginning

of the song and gets caught up in the world view in a blink of an eye

Includes 4 songs including KUNIYUKI TAKAHASHI's new song B-2, which has been developed and acclaimed by DJ Sprinkles. KUNIYUKI is in charge of mastering.

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 without any prompts from us. This collection of music is a series of examples of that. 'A Family Affair'.

For this vinyl EP, there is a heavy dancefloor vibe, with four tracks that nestle within the realms of broken beat.

Following her debut EP 'Light It Again' for us in late 2020, Allysha Joy's track 'Better' is re-visited by the don Kaidi Tatham, who reworks the track in his own inimitable way; starting on a half-tempo neo-soul vein, before switching to his trademark fusion of bruk, boogie and jazz mid-way.

After a lengthy absence we're delighted to welcome back Quiet Dawn and Sarah Williams White, with a collaborative piece between the two entitled 'One By One'. You can expect longer projects from them both later in the year, but here's a little vibe to wet your whistle. This, the 'Bruk It' version doing exactly what it says on the tin.

On the flipside, we have a delicious rub of Takuya Kuroda's 'Fade' featuring the vocals of Corey King and taken from Takuya's highly-acclaimed LP 'Fly Moon Die Soon'. The remix work on this one courtesy of a killer combo in their own rights, KEARL aka Earl Jeffers (Darkhouse Family) and K15 (Profusion).

Speaking of K15, this EP closes out with his interpretation of Teotima's 'But I Can't' originally from their 2019 album 'Weightless'. Taking elements of the original vocal from Ellie Rose Rusbridge, K15 transforms this one into a dreamy boogie-tinged groove - previously supported by Mary Anne Hobbs and the like.

Two of these tracks have never been available on vinyl before, whilst the other two are brand new tracks being released for the first time on any format.

The debut album from GEORGIE SWEET soars effortlessly over lush, soulful hip-hop from RAPSON & MECCA:83, while K15 provides futuristic funk & SIMON S turns in moody jazz tones. GEORGIE shares vibes with JILL SCOTT & HIATUS KAIYOTE & sonics with THUNDERCAT, MICHAEL MCDONALD & more.

Romaal Kultan first caught the attention of listeners with his warm and heavily syncopated contribution to Touching Bass' Afro Chronicles: Volume One compilation back in 2017. Since then, the south London based artist has gone on to remix tracks for the likes of Chicago legend Javonntte and Profusion (K15 and Emerson), as well as releasing a debut solo offering in the form of last year's Off Grid EP on YAM Records. Not allowing himself to be confined to the usual "DJ/Producer" tag, his creative output also encapsulates his endeavours as a visual artist, instrumentalist and vocalist. While his DJ sets draw heavily on fierce bottom end and diced breaks, his own compositions range from frenetic club heaters to lilting breezy lullabies.

Having already received early support from the likes of Gilles Peterson, Bradley Zero and Volcov, Everlasting Romance kicks off with 'Step Inside', a driving acid march delicately accentuated with supple synth chords and a lilting digi-flute. Romaal Kultan keeps the focus on the floor with 'Why Not?', a heavily swung dusty piano house number with a fat sub and a sprinkling of vocal chops throughout. Closing out the EP is the title track, 'Everlasting Romance'. Dropping the tempo considerably, a loose dembow rhythm powers heartwarming chords and skygazing synth fills.

You May Not Have Heard The Name Jackson Almond Before, But You Will Have Likely Heard Some Of His Music. Having Released On Wotnot Back In 2013 Under The Name Real, With A Flurry Of Eps, Remixes And Bootlegs Under This Name And As Part Of Duo Boean (on Bbe, Warner, Xvi & Slowfoot Among Others), Jackson Has Been Delighting Ears For A While Now, With A Particular Knack For Balancing Hooks And Earworms With Original Ideas And Creative Production.

This Ep Began Life As A Series Of Headphone Jams Written When Jackson Was Living Outside Of The City In Self-imposed Exile, Tuning Into The Goings On In Dance Music From An External Position. It Was Then Polished Into Dancefloor Gems At The Wotnot Studio At The Total Refreshment Centre. The Music Reflects This, With The Sonic Palette Reflecting Lo-fi And Outsider House, But With A Warmth, Depth And Musicality Specific To His Own Personal Situation.

The Music Embodies The Hook Of The Title Track - Open Your Head - A Mix Of Influences And Sounds From World, Soul, Jazz, House And Techno Sources. In Oyh, A Child's Voice Floats Over Percussive Drum And Mbira Layers With African Flavours, While Soulful Guitar Stabs Widen The Palette. Ee Ye Follows A Similar Idea With Overseas Sounds Opening To Infectious House Organ Stabs. People, Places, Things In Spaces Is An Immersive Roller With Warming Wurlitzer Chords Providing An Almost Gospel-like Inflection.

The Attention To Detail Throughout The Ep Is Astonishing, The Best Example Being The Arrangement Of Our Personal Favourite Common, With The Irresistible Chord Progression Working Its Way Around Instruments, Patiently Building To Hit Its Peak Halfway Through The Track For The Ultimate Screwface Moment.

Ultimately This Rebirth Of Jackson Almond Sits Nicely With A Label Finding Their Stride Again, With Widely-praised Releases From Danvers And K15 Already This Year, Wotnot Are Staking Their Claim On People's Ears Once Again.

Early Dj Support:
Atjazz, Jimpster, Dave Harvey Futureboogie, &me, Robert Luis (tru Thoughts), Severino Panzetta (horsemeat Disco)

Repress!

First Word Records is very proud to present the debut album by Children of Zeus - 'Travel Light'. It's been a long road leading to this album for Tyler Daley and Konny Kon.

They first embarked on their expedition into the music game two decades back - Tyler entered the scene as a songwriter, producer and vocalist, originally under the moniker Hoodman, whilst Konny began MCing, DJing and beat-making for hip hop crews The Microdisiacs and Broke'n'£nglish, along with DRS & Strategy.

To date, Children of Zeus have released three sell-out singles on First Word ('Still Standing', 'I Can't Wait' and 'Slow Down') and a compilation EP comprised of tracks made by the duo over the last decade entitled 'The Story So Far...'. Children of Zeus are finally at the stage where they are releasing their debut album proper, the over-riding ethos of which is about keeping their eyes on the road ahead, whilst shedding the baggage they've accumulated over the years - 'Travel Light'.

Features mainly come from Manny family, ( K S R ), LayFullStop, Metrodome (Levelz) and former Broke 'n' £nglish spar DRS. Guest production comes in the form of Switzerland's Sebb Bash, Nottingham's Juga-Naut, and London's Beat Butcha, and there's your favourite DJ's favourite DJ,

Mr Thing, slicing up the turntables on two tracks too. There's a few extra special ingredients on this album, along with their trademark sub-heavy, rhodes-laden hip hop soul hybrid. Reggae music has always been an integral piece of the CoZ sound-system ethic, so we see Tyler putting on his lover's rock hat for 'Hard Work', and they invite soul queen Terri Walker to join them on the fierce 'Sling Shot Riddim', while the album closes with the epic K15-produced jazz-bruk opus, 'Vibrations', on which Konny breaks it down quite simply: "high frequency means that you travel light, so get lifted yo, we'll live gifted".

Long as the journey has been, the time for looking back is over. This is about the present and future of Children of Zeus. A shining light in Manchester's now-school, and rightly heralded by many as the best new act to emerge in British soul music in the past decade. Aside from the above features, this project is written, performed and produced entirely by Tyler and Konny.
Since the crew first took flight, the end destination has never changed, the aim remains the same - to create timeless music, in their own unique style, without compromise, irrespective of industry and life distractions. The moral being this - travel light.

Culross Close follow up their 2016 debut album HOME with a potent offering entitled MOMENTS. The
quartet (a moniker of K15) meld fusion and future grooves to create a captivating ride through some of their recordings. From the opening MANIFESTO, the listener is thrust into a world of purpose and understanding. SLOW YOUR STROLL is where the record begins to unfold, as floating synths and
percussion carry the groove. What follows next is the hypnotic INNA TRICE, the rawest of all the
recordings where snares and sincerity collide. The record closes with UNISON (a future groove if there
ever was one), a number that showcases the quartet's ability to truly explore their moments.

First Word Records are very proud to present a heavyweight EP in collaboration with seminal groove collective, CoOp: 'Selectors Assemble'.

It's been almost two decades since a bunch of music makers, bored of the genre constraints of their time, began toying with time signature and syncopation to birth what is now known as broken beat. Summer 2017, the 'Selectors Assemble' EP is in our laps and we have a fitting reminder and long-overdue renaissance of one of London's most valuable musical movements.

IG Culture and Alex Phountzi were integral to this movement, the focal point being the CoOp club night, which ran predominantly on the famed floors of Plastic People, up until 2007. CoOp remerged late in 2015 as a Boiler Room session, in which the originators linked effortlessly with new school players such as K15 and Alex Nut. The following day, a session was inspired between an assortment of artists, and the seeds were planted for the 'Selectors Assemble'.

Here we have the first offering. The steady-paced roller of 'Gangz' (IG & Seiji), the dutty wine-ready getdown of Henry Wu's 'Substance', the heads-down low-end theory of '2nd Intention', the dominant soundclash call-out of the 'Spartan Riddim', riding out with the garage-flecked jam 'Can't Hold It', also featuring Sonar's Ghost (Domu). Five tracks deeply rooted in groove and as beautifully diverse as Bruk ever was.

Pressed up lovingly onto 140g vinyl, this release is accompanied with a fully-printed insert, featuring an extensive piece on the history of Bruk, written by Andwot (Touching Bass), classic photography by Sarah Ginn, and full-colour artwork by Mitchy Bwoy, a legendary artist to the original scene in his own right. This is an essential artefact for followers of the sound, new and old.

First Word prides itself on its ethos of musical diversity, and we're ecstatic to welcome aboard the CoOp foundation to the stable. A crew of British dance music pioneers, sound-system legends, and now-school heavyweights, this is but a taste of what's to come. Lead by the don IG Culture, the family spirit has quickly formed, the selectors have assembled.

The stage has been set for bruk's second wind. Be ready.

A A1 | Henry Wu - Substance (IG Culture & Alex Phountzi Remix)

Profusion (noun): an abundance of something rich.

The sonic partnership of K15 and Emeson originated in the days of MySpace. A future of combining their skills was inevitable, and now in 2017, it's time to unleash their debut studio album into the ether.

The solo-projects of Tottenham-raised Kieron Ifill (aka K15) date back a decade, but were truly kick-started on labels such as Kyle Hall's Wild Oats and WotNot Music, with a number of genre-crossing releases dropping ever since, including the WU15 project (along with Yussef Kamaal's Henry Wu, on Eglo Records). Additionally to his production work, he has established himself internationally as a DJ, from the Jazz Cafe to the CoOp parties.

Partner in Profusion, Emeson, has many skills to his bow - singing, songwriting, producing, promoting, DJing (under the alias Ed Nice) and acting. As a musician, his varied skill-set has seen him work with Chico Hamilton, Carla Duke, Karmasound, Uzo Madu and Chris Jerome. A frontman for soul-jazz groups LifeSize, The One and Saturn's Children, he has featured on releases for BBE and Tokyo Dawn, and appeared live on stage at the likes of Ronnie Scott's.

The debut single was supported by tastemaker blogs Wonderland, XLR8R and Stamp The Wax, has been bumped by selectors such as Lefto and Jazzie B, and played on NTS, Worldwide FM, Mi-Soul, LeMellotron, Balamii Radio, Itch FM, Invader FM, Soho Radio and various stations across Europe and the US.

This album is full to the brim with summery sun-soaked synths, drifting across the warmest of basslines and heavyweight beats. Emeson's rich vocals gracefully ride atop of K15's delectably bruk twist on neo-soul sonics and electronics, this is some seriously classy contemporary London soul music, that manages to incorporate flashes of various dance music techniques, sound-system etiquette and jazz-tinged rhythms. As future-thinking as it is subtly retrospective, it doesn't lend itself to one genre, it intentionally embodies the best of many. An array of everything that is great about British black music in 2017. The message the album conveys itself couldn't have come at a more poignant time. Where do we begin

Profusion - an abundance of something rich indeed.

Najem Sworb brings us the thirty-fifth edition of Wolfskuil Records adding the Strasbourg-based artist to it's roster. Previously releasing on labels such as Clone Basement Series, Technorama, Metis Recordings and the now defunct Ai Records, Najem Sworb has been transforming through various genres of techno since his debut release in 2007.

Rad.Velc EP brings us 4 original tracks playing upon the themes of house and techno. 'K-159' opens the EP with a fierce relentless bass and squeaky pads ending in a harmonic disarray while 'K-166' follows in a smiliar suit rather with a dub inspired rhythms. On the flipside, Najem Sworb switches up the vibe with 'K-abL' which illustrates the artists more house influences with mystical synth lines. However, 'K-177' demonstrates his knack for techno, delivering an explosive device fit for the dance floor. Together in all four tracks Najem Sworb shows his expertise in unique synth work providing a quirky cadence to his beats.

DJ FEEDBACK
early support from
Answer Code Request: Interesting stuff here!
Rødhåd: Downloading for listen.
Anthony Parasole: This is quite good!
Ben Sims: B2 doing it for me.
A.Mochi: A2 is for me!
Angel Molina: K-abL/K-177 as my fav track on here, especially the last one, killer one.
John Osborn: Really strong release - loving A2 & B1.
Isolated Lines: Very cool tracks! I really like A2 and B2. I'll play them.
Jeff Derringer: Sounds very nice! I'll try this in Detroit.
Phone: Love hypnotic tribal sound of K159.
Truncate: Solid tracks all around... but really digging that B1 track.
Orde Meikle: Great release.
Ekserd: Another excellent one on Wolfskuil. Super nice!
Echoplex: Fresh.
AWB: Long time fan of Laurent's work.
Invite: Another great ep on the label! Keep them coming!
Jeroen Search: Yes!
Blawan: Very nice ep! Full support.
Joseph Capriati: Downloading for Joseph Capriati.
Mr. Jones: Always a surprise what new sound Wolfskuil will bring.Like this funky and fresh EP.
Richie Hawtin: Downloaded for Richie Hawtin.
Marcel Heese: Killer!
Randomer: A side bangs.
Robert Lamart: Support.
Svreca: Feeling specially K-177.
Mosca: Love that K-166 synth!
Tensal: B2 is my pic here, nice stuff as usual in Wolfskuill.
Markus Suckut: 166 & 177.
Sinfol: Will try b2.
Ame: Thanks.