Little Stevie Wonder

Here at First Word HQ we got a bit distracted this afternoon. For some reason or another we got onto the subject of Stevie Wonder and so began an hour long YouTube session. Here are our selected highlights.

We started with the magnificent 123 Sesame Street :



Then moved through a wonderful selection of classic Sesame Street moments such as these :





Before we finally ended up here, back in the days of black and white TV, long before Stevie got his corn rows :



You've got to feel sorry for the original drummer who got dethroned at the start of that video, he probably snapped his sticks in half and never played again!!!!

Pinball Wizards

So I know last time I said we would talk about the Mizell brothers, but I was just making a cup of tea here at First Word HQ when this little gem popped into my head. I don't know about you, but us lovely people here in the office grew up watching Sesame Street. It's magical mix of wonderful characters such as The Count (without Sinden back then), Cookie Monster (before the Larry Levan Mix), Burt and Ernie, Snuffleufugus and Big Bird, along with its entertaining outlook at education made it far and away the best thing on TV. One thing stood out however, and still to this day remains possibly the most endearing part of this wonderful show. Performed by the Pointer Sisters, 'The Pinball Number Count' was a hazy mix of psychedelic visuals and heavy jazz funk vibes. Each time I'd watch the show, I would wait with bated breath for this intoxicating piece of animation to appear without a second thought as to how it would shape my musical tastes in the years to come. For those who want a copy, DJ Food did a re-edit of it a few years back which can be found on a Ninja Tune 12" through discogs, but I have yet to find it on one of the many Sesame Street LPs that were released. If anyone can point me in the right direction on that front then drop us an email here at the First Word office. I'll leave you to reminisce now over this wonderful creation......until next time fellow music lovers.

Donald Byrd rocks my world!

There are a select group of jazz musicians who have managed to bridge both the traditional and more the modern forms of Americas greatest music. One of these is the great Donald Byrd. From his early days playing with the likes of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock and Thelonius Monk to his contributions to Guru's "Jazzmatazz" albums, he has become one of the most lauded and possibly most recorded trumpeters of all time. However, in the mid to late 70s he would record three albums for the mighty Blue Note Records that would catapult both him and his music into the unknown. "Black Byrd", "Stepping into Tomorrow" and "Places and Spaces" would become the embodiment of everything that was Jazz Funk and provide a plethora of inspirations for both the hip hop and acid jazz scenes. Of course a large amount of credit must be given to the Mizell Brothers whose shadows loom large across the entire black musical spectrum in this period, but we shall speak about them in much greater length at a later date. Along side his career as one of Blue Notes greatest recording artists he taught music at a number of American universities and last year was named as artist in residence at Delaware State University. So without further ado, I give you one of my all time favourite Donald Byrd tracks, the magnificent "Think Twice"

A little lazy afternoon soul.

Those of you up on you Dilla samples will recognise this as being used on the infamous Donuts album. For those of you that don't, well all I can say is this is an excellent place to start your education. Taken from her 'Just Being Myself' album, which was produced by Holland and Dozier, this is probably one of Dionne Warwick's lesser known songs, yet at the same time I think probably one of her most beautiful, enjoy.

Tune Of The Day: May 11th

My favourite joint from the dope Secondhand Sureshots film that Put Me On It showed at their M.F. Social Club event on Sunday.

Tune Of The Day: May 10th

Couldn't find the video of the great version I saw on the Suite For Ma Dukes film, so here's the dope original. One of the all time greats, RIP Dilla.

Tune Of The Day: May 7th

There's something happenin' here, what it is ain't exactly clear....

Tune Of The Day: May 5th

Really enjoying the new Ty album today, one of my faves of the year so far. Here's something from the man going back to 2003.

Tune Of The Day: May 4th

I wanted to put up 'Time Travellin', the opening track from one of my favourite albums, but youtube didn't want to play nice. Here's another tune from a great piece of work.

Tune of The Day: April 30th

Saw this track live in Hoxton last night at the Foreign Beggars album launch - Fatima was on the support (along with kidkanevil debuting his new Ableton set), and this track was definitely a highlight.

Tune Of The Day: April 28th

Summer in the city = reggae music. All time classic...

Tune Of The Day April 27th

First thing on the stereo this morning at FW HQ.

Tune Of The Day April 26th

Love this! Big up Blue Daisy - you gotta rap more often bro!

DJ Premier's tribute mix to Guru

So many strange goings on in the aftermath of Guru's passing. Here's his Gang Starr partner's tribute. Bump it loud!

Keith "Guru" Elam Tribute Mix by Dj Premier Blog Radio on Mixcloud

Tune Of The Day April 23rd

One for the sunshine. Bump it!

RIP Guru

Very sad news that Guru has passed away. For those that don't know, he was one half of Gang Starr, one of the great Hip Hop groups from the golden age. Here's one of their finest moments, the incomparable DWYCK.

Work Ethic meets Bonobo

New piece up today on the excellent Work Ethic site with Simon Green aka Bonobo. His new album Black Sands is out now and is rather fine - as is the Work Ethic site, run by long-time friend of FW, Kato. Check the article here.

kidkanevil ft Oddisee and more - free dope music!

Our good friends at Jus Like Music and Apple Juice Break have released the second volume of their Oscillations compilation. The kidkanevil / Oddisee collab came out of the Red Bull Music Academy sessions, and it's an absolute belter. There's also some great stuff from Mr. Beatnick, 8Bitch and Greymatter. Check it out below:

FREE KIDKANEVIL ALBUM

The newie 'Basho Basho' came out in January, so we're giving away the old one for free! Have a listen below, and also check the new Vadim remix of Homecut's 'I Don't Even Know'.

New Music from Ty

One of our heroes here at First Word is the irrepressible UK MC Ty. His second album Upwards is a bonafide classic Hip Hop album, and was almost the definitive soundtrack to the early days of First Word. Well, the self-confessed awkward boy is back with a new album. Check out the great video for lead single 'Emotions' below. Big up!

TY - EMOTIONS music video featuring Sarina Leah and Shaun Escoffery from tymusic on Vimeo.

Tune Of The Day - New kidkanevil Video

New Video for kidkanevil's track Minjo - Big up Larry Masterflaps for the dope work.

Tune Of The Day - Friday 22nd January

Love this track, and the video. It's so uniquely British. One for a rainy day in a city... Also, only recently realised that it's Nicole Willis singing. Heavy.

Jay Electronica

Thanks to Put Me On It for this - the most exciting rapper on the planet right now for me.

Tune Of The Day

Basho Basho, the new kidkanevil album is out now. Here's a lil video to reinforce this fantastic news. You can head to http://kidkanevil.bandcamp.com to listen to it. While you're there you can pick up his last album 'Back Off Man, I'm A Scientist' for free. What you waiting for?

Tune Of The Day

Today is apparently the most depressing day of the year. I slept all morning due to gig/move-related exhaustion. Sing it Gil....

New Signings!

Soon Come on First Word...