It's A World Before You - Kaidi Tatham

First Word Records is very proud to present a brand-new full-length album from Kaidi Tatham, It’s A World Before You.
 
Following on from two EPs released on First Word last year (Changing Times and Hard Times), Kaidi has delivered thirteen tracks that deftly illustrate his various talents as a multi-instrumentalist.
 
Kaidi is probably best known for his work with Bugz In The Attic, though his musical contributions over the years have also included collaborations with Amy Winehouse, Slum Village, Mulatu Astatke, Soul II Soul, Moonchild, Leroy Burgess, Amp Fiddler, Chris Dave, Macy Gray, King Britt, DJ Spinna, Mr Scruff, and IG Culture, to name a few! Recently, he has worked with DJ Jazzy Jeff on a variety of projects, including his most recent album M3, touring Europe for Jeff and Will Smith’s reunion shows, and on the PLAYlist album Chasing Goosebumps, with Glenn Lewis, Stro Elliot (The Roots), Masego, Maimouna Youssef, Rich Medina, Daniel Crawford, and more.
 
In addition to heating up dances around Europe with his inimitable DJ sets, Kaidi has been working heavily with First Word label-mate Eric Lau (who also mixed this album) on a variety of projects, and adding releases to his already impressive catalogue on 2000 Black, Eglo, and Theo Parrish's Sound Signature, with regular compadre Dego (who features on the album’s title track).
 
This album personifies Kaidi’s diverse palette of sounds—barring Eric and Dego’s features, every piece of music is played by Kaidi himself. Largely flowing on a broken beat rhythm section, Kaidi effortlessly incorporates washes of afro, latin, and funk throughout. From the harmonics of Your Dream Don’t Mean A Thing to the breakneck funk of Outta Audah, each riddim exudes energy. But this isn’t simply a bruk record. The album is laced together with downtempo beats and future jazz interludes throughout, and some sweet synth boogie is never very far away, especially on the weighty vibes of It’s About Who You Know. To top it all off, there are two delightful nuggets of hip-hop soul—Mancunian label-mates Children of Zeus feature on the neo-soul vibes of Out Here On My Own, and there’s a feature from Amir Townes, better known as Uhmeer, an upcoming MC from Philadelphia and son of Jazzy Jeff Townes, who rides a sub-heavy, piano-led slice of boom bap, voicing an assortment of characters to tell the tale of Cupid.
 
It’s A World Before You is set to cause serious damage to sound systems over the summer and show once again the skills of one of the UK’s best unsung musical talents, Kaidi Tatham.