Line-up /

Children of Zeus
Darkhouse Family
Gilla and BobaFatt
Kaidi Tatham
Profusion
Quiet Dawn
Ross McHenry Trio Ft. Mark de Clive-Lowe & Myele Manzanza
The Commissioner

To celebrate 14 years of releasing music, First Word Records has pulled together a plethora of artists from the current roster to perform at this very special event, taking place at Total Refreshment Centre in North London. Crossing the boundaries of Hip Hop, Soul, Jazz, Beats & beyond, there will be live acts and DJs from Australia, New Zealand, France, Wales, and from across England.

Performing on the night will be…

Children Of Zeus (live)

Manchester's finest Hip Hop Soul duo, Konny Kon & Tyler Daley, released their debut EP ‘The Story So Far’ on First Word late last year to universal acclaim. They've received props from numerous musical peers, and performed countless shows across the UK & beyond. There have been recent sessions at BBC Maida Vale, Worldwide FM and Boiler Room, Tyler featured on Goldie’s most recent album/tour and Konny holds down a monthly radio show on NTS too. Their debut album drops later this year.

Darkhouse Family (aka Earl Jeffers & Don Leisure) (DJ set)

Cardiff’s Earl Jeffers & Don Leisure dropped their debut album ‘The Offering’ on First Word at the end of 2017 to a chorus of big ups. Don Leisure released a beats album last year too (‘Shaboo’) and Earl Jeffers recently collaborated on releases with Byron The Aquarius & Henry Wu / Kamaal Williams (who also features on their album). They’ve also released music on labels like Fat City & Earnest Endeavours. As DJs, they've appeared on BBC 6 Music, Boiler Room, Worldwide FM, Rinse FM, NTS, Fabric and Solid Steel.

Ross McHenry Trio feat. Mark de Clive-Lowe & Myele Manzanza (live)

All the way from Australia & New Zealand comes the formidable Ross McHenry Trio. Award-winner Ross’ 2017 album ‘The Outsiders’ received a number of plaudits from across the world of Jazz. Joining Ross will be powerhouse drummer Myele Manzanza (whose ‘OnePointOne - Live at The Blue Whale’ album landed late 2016) and legendary musician Mark de Clive-Lowe. This is a real treat.

Profusion (aka K15 & Emeson) (live)

Also performing live, the combined talents of K15 and Emeson, whose debut album ‘Where Do I Begin?’ also landed last year. K15 is one of the most respected DJs and musicians in the capital, releasing also for Eglo, Wild Oats & WotNot Music. Singer Emeson’s varied skill-set has seen him work with Chico Hamilton, Carla Duke, Karmasound and more, as well as being frontman for other groups, featuring on releases for BBE and Tokyo Dawn. A duo establishing a rep for creating classy contemporary London soul music.

Kaidi Tatham & The Commisioner (b2b DJ set)

Flying in from Belfast to play some records for us will be the immensely talented Kaidi Tatham, following his recent EP 'Hard Times'. Kaidi is maybe best known for his Bugz In The Attic work, while his musical contributions include Amy Winehouse, Slum Village, Mulatu Astatke, Soul II Soul, Leroy Burgess, Amp Fiddler, Macy Gray, King Britt, DJ Spinna, Mr Scruff and IG Culture. He was an integral part of DJ Jazzy Jeff's PLAYlist project (also with Stro Elliot, Masego, Tall Black Guy etc) and was recently part of Jeff and Will Smith's (The Fresh Prince) reunion tour. This as well as adding releases to his catalogue, on 2000 Black and Theo Parrish's Sound Signature, with regular compadre, Dego.

Kaidi will be joined back-to-back on the turntables by The Commissioner. A surprise of sorts on the night, the only hint we can really give you is that there are numerous ‘examples’ out there of collabs these guys have linked up for. Those that know, know…

Quiet Dawn (DJ set)

Former Parisian native, Will Galland aka Quiet Dawn, first appeared on the First Word in late 2014, releasing his debut album 'The First Day' the following year. Collaborations on that album and subsequent mixes since have included offerings from Oddisee, Miles Bonny, Bastien Keb, Sauce81 (Eglo), Mayaka McCraven and Sarah Williams White. His forthcoming material embodies Bonobo / Quantic-esque grooves, and the cinematic library record craft of Alan Hawkshaw et al. His DJ sets are equally as eclectic.

Gilla & BobaFatt (b2b DJ set)

Founder of First Word, and a respected DJ in his own right, with his Excursions radio show / club nights, Gilla is also resident at Croatian festivals Dimensions & Soundwave, is part of CoOp’s Selectors Assemble crew, has guested on Worldwide FM & Bandcamp Weekly, and was the daddy of seminal Leeds club night, New Bohemia amongst others.

He’s joined by Main Squeeze’s BobaFatt, who began work at First Word just over a year ago. BobaFatt has been awarded acclaim over the years from BBC 1Xtra, Mixcloud & Fact Magazine, has DJed everywhere from Fabric to Royal Albert Hall, featured on Huey Morgan’s BBC 6 Music show several times & hosts shows on Soho Radio & Itch FM.

This promises to be a night to remember, so don’t go sleeping on this one!…