ALLYSHA JOY Vinyl & CDs

Review: Earlier this month, First Word Records dropped an epic, digital-only compilation in which members of the label's large family of artists either collaborated with or remixed each other. This 12" boasts four of the collection's undoubted highlights. The EP begins with a simply stunning Kaidi Tatham remix of Allysha Joy's soul-jazz treat 'Better' - think deep broken beat meets liquid jazz-funk and sultry neo-soul - and ends with a fiercely sub-heavy and surprisingly spaced out K15 broken beat rework of Teotima's 'But I Can't'. Sandwiched in between you'll find a jazz-funk-goes-bruk re-wire of Takuya Kuroda's 'Fade' by KEARL (that's K15 and Darkhouse Family's Earl Jeffers) and a wonderful fusion of squelchy synth-jazz and broken beat courtesy of Quiet Dawn and Sarah Williams White.