FAT FREDDY'S DROP Vinilo y CD

Review: Wairunga is a Kiwi beauty spot that's long been one of the favoured locations for Fat Freddy's Drop to kick back between tours and recording sessions. It's fitting then that the long-serving New Zealand collective have named their new album in its honour. The set itself showcases the band at their very best, delivering their usual attractive fusions of dub, reggae and soul, in which Joe Dukie's effortlessly soulful vocals rise above warming bass, heady electronics, crisp guitars and hazy horns. It's diverse enough to fend off any accusations that they're resting on their laurels, but also familiar enough to please the band's vast army of fans. In other words, it's a Fat Freddy's Drop album, and a rather good one at that.

Review: During the pandemic lockdown, Fat Freddy's Drop looked themselves away in the iconic Michael Fowler Centre in the band's hometown of Wellington, New Zealand. There was no audience as a reflection of the weird times, but they still set to jamming out a wealth of conscious songs of freedom and hope for a generation. Their whole studio was relocated to the venue along with an MPC and allowed the band to turn out slow burn classics like 'Soldier', 'Hope' and 'This Room' as well as test drive 'Avengers', which was a brand new track in the making.

Review: Some five years after their last full-length hit stores, Fat Freddy's Drop has finally got round to recording a new album. Entitled "Special Edition", it's set to be released in two parts. Part one (the second will follow later in the year) begins with the slow and steady soulful skank of "Kamo Kamo", before the more digital-sounding goodness of "OneFourteen" sees them wisely pushing honeyed vocalist Joe Dukie to the fore. More jazzy reggae warmth follows via "Raleigh Twenty", while "Special Edition" is a confirmed dancefloor workout - think disco-reggae - which mixes rapped and sung vocals. There's a surprising nod to house music on the hypnotic and synth-laden "Trickle Down", while "Six-Eight (Instrumental)" is Fat Freddy's take on dancehall.

Review: It's been four years since Fat Freddy's Drop's "Ten Feet Tall" and the ongoing remix series that joins the dots between the New Zealand outfit and the best beat makers in Berlin. Winnie & Somow are house and reggae aficionados who straddle that divide on a remix that has a rumbling bottom end and super silky lead vocal from Joe Dukie. As much as it makes you want to move, it also tugs at the heartstrings. LoYoTo then layer in endless reverb to their remake, which is invitingly cavernous and dubbed out as they rework Dukie's vocal into something more detached and blissed out.

Review: Kartel is releasing a 2 part remix package taking Fat Freddy's Drop into the worlds of drum & bass, dub-step, techno, electro and beyond... Part #2 features dub mixes from South London's premier dub-step crew Digital Mystikz (DMZ) who recently supported FFD at their Brixton Academy show. A version from Manchester roots reggae connection Blood & Fire vs Deep Sound and a slamming electro dub mix from Kalbata (aka Ariel Tagar from Tel Aviv). Anticipation for the Digital Mystikz remix has been very strong since they supported FFD at Brixton Academy. Still very early days in the promo campaign but we already have great feedback and support at club, radio and press level.

Review: Kartel is releasing a 2 part remix package taking Fat Freddy's Drop into the worlds of drum & bass, dub-step, techno, electro and beyond... art #1 features d&b remixes from one of the London's hottest d&b outfits Artificial Intelligence and on the flip a massive junglist mix from New Zealand's Pylonz & Kinetix. Reactions to the Artificial Intelligence remix on this package have so far been very positive. Still very early days in the promo campaign but we already have great feedback and support at club, radio and press level.