A label that had a big 2010 is a London collective by the name of First Word. They’ve gathered a brilliant bunch of musicians, vocalists and producers together to create a roster that must be the envy of the global jazz community. The First Word label comp, Two Syllables Vol 5, is available for free download here. The Ariya Astrobeat Arkestra bring the afrobeat, Kid Kanevil brings his own brand of futurebeat, Narow P brings the neo soul, and Wayne Lotek brings some ragga hip hop.
Freddie Cruger is back in ’11 under a new alias, forming the group Wildcookie with vocalist Anthony Mills. ‘Heroine’ is the first single to emerge, and as you’ll hear below it’s deep, jazzy, and soulful hip hop.
Wild Cookie – ‘Heroine’
You need to know about Scottish production outfit Capitol 1212. They make damn good beats, as can be heard on their track of late last year, ‘Good Feelin’, which features the Jungle Brothers’ Mike G and others on the mic. Capitol 1212 have also got some new material out on a reggae tip, the best of which is ‘Don Man Sound’ featuring Tenor Fly.
Capitol 1212 – ‘Good Feelin’
Berlin vocalist and musician George Levin has an “extras” style EP out on BBE. The Intangible EP – The Bonus Tracks contains songs that were left off his recent album, Everything Must Change.
British Reggae radio broadcaster David Rodigan has programmed the latest instalment of the Fabriclive series, Fabriclive #54. He’s a knowledgeable old-school music historian, and the tracklist is appealingly broad, containing generation spanning music from names like King Tubby’s, Big Youth, Beres Hammond, Super Cat and Joe Gibbs. You can pick up the release here.
Soul Sedation awarded one of the tracks of 2010 to Onra’s ‘Long Distance’ ft Olivier Daysoul. Well, this year Daysoul is back with a collaboration alongside British beatsmith Eric Lau entitled ‘Finer Things In Life’.
Eric Lau & Olivier Daysoul – ‘Finer Things In Life’
British vocalist Ahu’s ‘To: Love’ was another of this column’s favourite tunes of last year. It’s now been remixed by One-Handed music artist Tightface, and looking ahead you can expect new music from Bullion and Mo Kolours, also on the London based electronic soul label.
Ahu – ‘To:Love (Tightface Remix)
Soul Sedation 