First Word Vinyl & CDs

Review: Don Leisure's last album in 2017 was a real cult classic for hip hop and beat lovers. First World Records have finally got the follow up ready, and the much anticipated Shaboo Strikes Back does not leave anyone disappointed. It stretches out over 25 tracks and each one is a balmy and heady mix of fuzzy synths, wooden drum hits and smart samples that take in everything from serene strings to old soul vocals. It's a widescreen listen with loose tambourines dangled over gypsy funk synths on 'Shaboo Strikes Back' while 'Sugar Cane Juice' is a more edgy hip-hop cut. Super stuff.

Review: Wonky meets jazz in this impressive new jazz mini-LP from Japan. Takuya Kuroda is a highly respected trumpeter and arranger born in Kobe, Japan and based in New York City. 'Midnight Crisp' is Takuya's seventh studio album, entirely self-produced and following 2020's highly acclaimed 'Fly Moon Die Soon'. Learning jazz in a higher education environment, he's reapplied his skills to a new solo outing here, blending with his one true loves, afrobeat and hip-hop. The ensuing album is one of myriad midnight moods, tempered by many a virtuosic and mournful piano, digitally-edited drum brush, and trilling trumpet from the mouth of Kuroda himself.

Review: Kaidi Tatham is a master of broken beats and a widely respected figure in the London music scene. His new 12 track album takes us on a lush and louche trip through all his myriad musical skills and styles. Boogie, gospel-tinged hip-hop, jazz-funk and more all colour the futurist grooves with contributions from The Easy Access Orchestra, and pianist Robert Mitchell. This is a fourth solo album from the man and maybe his best yet, even though it has come so quick on the heels of the release of An Insight To All Minds in 2021.