The Very Good Agency

Fat Freddy’s Drop a few Singles

The crowd pleasing dubbed-out funksters Fat Freddy’s Drop (FFD) are back in New Zealand, somewhere near a Wellington studio, putting the finishing touches on their upcoming full length album after completing their hectic European tour. They will hopefully be confirming in January the release date for this; in the meantime the new single “Pull The Catch” is available now on limited edition heavy weight 7″ vinyl. They have also just put out a free download of the recent single “The Camel”. Which you can down load from:

‘The Camel’ MP3 Download link.

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You can also check out the video in the youtube link below, it includes vocals from soul singer Alice Russell, who has toured with Fat Freddy’s in the UK and Australia. At 4 minutes and 16 seconds in length, the song is only slightly longer than your average single, but still well short by Fat Freddy standards. There is no rushing through songs at a Fat Freddy’s Drop gig, where a set of a few hours may only consist of a handful of songs. Although, this may sound more like one continuous mix of melodic niceness, with jam-outs that last as long as they have to. But you can always be assured of a blend of dub, jazz and all things nicely funkified! So if you’re feeling adventurous check out their website, where much merch can be procured for a price.

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The Camel

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FYI Gigwise: You’ll be able to see FFD if you’re in the big WA at Freemantle New Years Day 2009, with special guests DJ Vadim and Yara Bravo.  Freddy’s then wing their way to Sydney to play at Days Like This (January 4th) where you can catch the likes of Public Enemy and many more. Then on Saturday 24^th January 2009 Christchurch, NZ. Where they will play at Sounday, an all day music event happening at North Hagley Park, which also features Dj Vadim and Nathan Haines!

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Fat Freddy’s Official Site

Fat Freddy on Myspace

Camel Single Download

It’s time I changed my view…Yossarian

Tags: Funk, Jazz, New Zealand Artists

Ladi 6 – Time Is Not Much

Those of us that have followed Ladi 6’s progress as an MC and hip hop vocal artist throughout the years will be pleased as hell to hear that she has now completed a solo record. Her debut album “Time Is Not Much” has just been released for the NZ market on October 27th. Since her days starting out with Sheelaroc (an all female hip hip crew), then with Verse Two (who supported acts like The Roots and De La Soul) and the many collaborations with all kinds of NZ groups and artists like 50 Hz, Shapeshifter and Fat Freddy’s Drop (FFD); Ladi 6 (A.K.A Karoline Tamati) has always shown amazing potential and guaranteed finesse. She certainly knows how to control the microphone, adding just the right vocals or rhyme whatever type of track. There’s also a positive message of looking to the future and achieving the goals we set our minds to. To her credit she has numerous awards, has been touring for 10 years and frequently sells out shows. The official website (which is pretty funky itself) describes Ladi 6 as “The New Zealand soulstress and our Queen of hip hop”, I can’t think of any better label for someone of such talents.

The new album was recorded at the Drop studio in Wellington’s Lyall Bay, home to the Fat Freddy’s Crew, who also have an album on the way (watch this space for a future post). The production duties were handled admirably by the talents of Parks (Ladi 6’s partner) and Mu (From FFD), who both seem to know a good bassline when they create one. Others involved in the project included family members Tyra Hammond and Scribe who added their vocal skills, along with some of  New Zealand’s top musicians including Julien Dyne, Chip Matthews, Jo Lindsay and Riki Gooch.

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Ladi 6 – Walk Right Up

Ladi 6 and friends are about to go on a NZ tour to promote the release after returning from their highly successful tour of Europe and the UK. Down below are the upcoming gigs for those of you that may be in NZ or Australia over the next few months. So check her live show out if you can, but if you aren’t nearby and want to know why people call her NZ’s premiere female vocalist and compare her to Erykah Badu, then listen to her single “Walk Right Up” and as usual take a look at the myspace profile for a sneaky listen and possibly (if you’re a good capitalist) purchase stuff!

Confirmed Tour Dates:
31 Oct The Toto Bacco Room, Auckland
1 Nov Flow Bar, Hamilton
5 Nov Missy’s Kitchen, Wanaka
6 Nov Subculture, Queenstown
7 Nov Backstage, Dunedin
8 Nov The Civic, Christchurch
14 Nov Phat Club, Nelson
15 Nov San Francisco Bathhouse, Wellington
20 Nov The Espy, Melbourne
30 Dec Rhythm and Vines, Gisborne
4 Jan 09 Days Like This, Sydney
16 Jan 09 Big Day Out , Auckland

So to find more about the new album and Ladi 6’s career so far… check out:

Ladi 6 Official site

Ladi 6 on Myspace

“Dreams can come true and I knew
knew not to believe you
and I flew away from the flock
now no one can stop me.”
(More Than Fake – Ladi 6)

Seek No more…Yossarian

Tags: Funk, gigs, hip hop, New Zealand Artists, Soul

Homegrown Music Festival

It’s getting to be that time of the year again in New Zealand. When you can leave the house without a jacket, see through your windscreen without scraping ice off it; so you can go to work and dream of being outside in the sparkling midday sun. Oh yes, the southern hemisphere summer is rapidly approaching, with all the joy it brings.

So now we can start looking forward to warmer weather, barbecues and trips to the beach where you can actually swim.  The other great aspect of all this, is you can start to plan what music festivals you want to see. Previous posts on this site have already mentioned upcoming NZ music events like Southern Amp (9th Nov) and A.R.E.A 9 (6th-8th Feb) that are selling out fast. So to help you map out the rest of your summer itinerary, I thought I would tell you about another event on the way.

Tickets are now on sale for The Homegrown Music Festival, that is taking place on the Wellington waterfront on March 14th 2009. Headline acts are yet to be announced for all stages, but I can give you the news about the line up announced so far. There will be five stages featuring around 35 top kiwi bands and DJs, there will also be lots of other great stuff as the organisers plan to transform the waterfront area into a playground. Things to look out for will include Wellington’s best graffiti artists, a Breakdancing competition, an International food market, Sculptures and Art installations, Street performers and loads of other interactive activities.

Going back to the music for a moment, the line up already announced boasts the talents of many kiwi greats, such as: Supergroove, Kora, The Black Seeds, Tiki Taane, Katchafire, Tahuna Breaks, Sunshine Sound System and a whole lot more. Many of these names have been mentioned before, as they are favourites of Very Good, but in case you haven’t heard of Tahuna breaks I’ve got one of their vids here for you to see:

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Tahuna Breaks – Real Life

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So get yourselves together and start a plan, because summer is only here for a quarter of the year (if we’re lucky) so make the most of it and check out what these groups have to offer. But if you’re like me and haven’t even planned your New Years Eve yet, then it’s just another idea for you to ponder. The promo site also advises that if you are interested in getting creative & producing art installations, sculptures and the like for Homegrown, please email info@homegrown.co.nz for more details.

To find out more about stuff mentioned here, go to:

The Official Homegrown Site

“Sitting inside my head,
Laughing at what I said
Come on baby
Let’s have another toast
You might think I’m dense,
Laughing at my expense
Let’s fill the cup
Let’s wash away the ghost”
(Sitting Inside My Head – Supergroove)

Wish you were here …Yossarian

Tags: Festival, gigs, New Zealand Artists, News

More Than A Trillion

VG: Today we chat with Jody Lloyd, the New Zealand musician behind the project Trillion: To start I thought I’d get you to tell us a about yourself, what you’re currently doing and your history in the music business, etc…

JL: Well, I started rapping kind of seriously in 1990, when I was 18. I recorded a few tracks in a studio. A year or so later I won a rap competition (performance, not a battle) and 6 months later (1993) teamed up with co-creator/rapper and friend Eli Foley to form the duo Dark Tower. Our first gigs used instrumental versions of American rap stuff as backing. Then I purchased a sampler, so I could build my own unique music. I had no musical experience, but come from a musical family, my dad was/is a folk musician. About the same time I got the sampler, Mark Duff moved into my flat. He was a keyboard wizard and also knew a lot about recording on computers, which at the time was a fairly new way of working. After we acquired a grant, Mark guided the recording of our first EP ‘Real Zealmen’. And Andrew from Salmonella Dub helped us release it. The EP would become the first rap release from the South Island of NZ. and the hit from it, Zealman, would acquire a cult following, and also be picked up by the NZ high school English curriculum and studied as a modern example of NZ language in music.

I made a second CD which had collaborations between me and a selection of Christchurch singers and musicians. It got picked up by Universal Music and I became the first NZ artist to sign a licensing agreement with them. I would later be ditched by them, but at the time I thought this was my big break. She’ll Be Right Records began as the label which licensed the music to Universal, and when the relationship expired I continued the label as an independent in 2002. Firstly releasing my own Trillion albums, then expanding it to include other acts. Currently (Oct 2008) we are up to the 25th release (18 of which were produced by myself) with roughly 15 active acts involved. last year we had a 10 year She’ll Be Right Records anniversary tour which involved nearly everyone ever released by the label. It was a really good time.

What were some of your main musical influences growing up?

As a young child I was really in love with my parents Beatles records. I used to listen to them over and over. I wanted to be in The Beatles. then at about aged ten, my interest turned to The Beach Boys. After that I began listening to things like Terence Trent D’Arby and INXS… From there I discovered break dance music. At 14 I went to the U.K with my dad and bought a tape: Beat Street Soundtrack, and a 7″ record: Wipeout by Fat Boys. That track changed my life. The Beastie Boys were all over the news when I was in London. I didn’t get their LP till I got back to NZ. So, Fat Boys taught me I could sample the music I liked and put it with the beats I liked. Beastie Boys taught me it was okay for white guys to do rap. And Upper Hutt Posse told me that I could do it in NZ. When I was about 17 I got really into post-war blues. But one of my strongest influences I didn’t realise for a long long time; my dad. I grew up around his music, he played acoustic guitar, harmonica and various whistles. This “folky”, “acousticy”, natural feel comes through in most of my production.

I first heard of you in the nineties when you were part of kiwi hip-hop group “Dark Tower”, who had a uniquely “kiwi” style in a time when most people were copying American rappers. Do you see yourself as someone who defines the NZ identity through your music?

We never set out to represent the ‘NZ identity’ or be cultural ambassadors. Our angle was purely to try and be us in our music, the best we could do. Incidentally… and sadly, most NZ rappers are still copying American rappers. It’s a disease.

I’ve seen some of the work you have done to draw attention to “serious” issues, like genetic-engineering and Aspartame for example. When you approach your music do you firstly think about what message you want to communicate, or how it will sound to an audience?

Music is possibly one of the strongest ways of communication, everyone likes music, and listens to it. So it becomes a good vehicle for sending out a message. When undertaking a ‘message’ song. I don’t think of who my audience will be, I just make the song as good and as accurate as I can. Although I have become aware of Internet searches, so now when I write a song that I want people to know about or learn something from, I make sure the key words that people will search for are in the title.

You obviously wear many hats in your role as engineer, producer, songwriter and lyricist. Do you see yourself more as an MC/vocalist, an arranger/composer or some kind of harmonious mixture of both sides of the coin?

Music for me is a therapy as much as it is something i want to make a living from. I don’t really see myself as an emcee even tho I rap. I don’t rap to be the best or to puff up my chest. I rap ’cause I like the exploration of language and rhythm and rhyme. And also it’s a way of telling people my thoughts and ideas without actually talking to them. Call me a rapping producer.

Can a jack of all trades, still be a master of some?

Ha ha, a jack of all trades can master them all. I spend a lot of time in every aspect in the creation of an album, right down to the cover artwork. I think it’s healthy to keep changing hats. each process brings something different to the next. As long as I have a built in quality control mechanism, i believe i can be a master of them all. That doesn’t mean I want to battle you on the mic by the way. Battle MC isn’t in my list of trades!

Which is your favourite part of the music making process?

It’s a good feeling nailing a tight rap verse in the studio in one take. I really like constructing music, or finding a primo sample or a weird record that no one will ever know about. It’s also pretty great to hear what other musician can add to a track. sometimes all it takes is an acoustic guitar strum, or a little lick for a track to come alive. I’ve had the privilege to work with some of the best musicians in NZ. Also it’s a real buzz hearing a song which I’ve constructed in a studio, being played out by my band, and then performing it…  listening to a really nice finished track over and over and over and over can be nice and hypnotising.

The latest Trillion album Silent Invisible came out earlier this year, how would you describe the album?

I would describe it as; a masterpiece, a concept, a journey. Masterpiece, not in an arrogant way. I spent a lot of time on it, and invited the best musicians I knew to play on it. It took me 3 years and everything is in it’s right place. The lyrics are probably the best work of my life ever. Concept, it combines a spoken word element which runs through it, and almost all tracks lead into each other. Journey, it tells a story, basically of a guy finding himself but in the setting of the New World Order. It tackles the issue of loneliness and it’s counter balance; aloneness. Thematically it covers political and social issues, relationships and personal discovery.

You recently relocated across the Tasman Sea, how are you finding living in Melbourne?

Melbourne is great, the best move of my life. I should have come here a long time ago. But if I had, I probably wouldn’t have fallen into such a deep hole that inspired the creation my masterpiece SILENTinvisible. Melbourne is full of artists, musicians and venues. Not such a great position to make a living from music, as there is so much stuff going on. But most of the people I meet, especially in hip hop, are really supportive and interested, whereas in NZ I feel like a tall poppy that they want to cut down. Hip hop scene here is really interesting and diverse too. Imagine a ragtime/gypsy band with a rapper.

What are the main projects and ideas are you focusing on for the future?

I’m just organising gigs in Melbourne for Jim Christy, a 63 year old poet from Canada who I produced an album for. it’s called God’s Little Angle. go find it, it’s really good. I’m also performing a bit around Melbourne with Eneti Waretini, and also playing lagerphone, political puppet show and raps in Pataphysics. Also I also met my super best friend about 6 months ago in Melbourne. Super best friend is like a girlfriend but way better cos you do lots of other stuff together, like making things, music, art and films. I’ve almost finished an album inspired by her. It explores areas which I haven’t been to before, in production and lyrical content. My last album is a bit sad, there’s so much war and hate in the world, I thought it’d be nice to make a whole about LOVE to try and balance out the world a bit. It’s called Loops Of Love. Should be out this summer, hopefully through an Australian label. I’ve also recently bought a video camera, so will soon be making all sorts of filmy things; for gig projections, for music videos and doco’s and live performance recordings for music and theatre stuff.

Find out more about Jody’s Past, Present and Future at:

www.trillion.co.nz

Includes the FREE Downable “Garage Sale EP”
for your listening pleasure!

the GARAGE SALE (EP): is a bit of a mish-mash of tracks that are a bit humourous and topically too unrelated to fit into the SILENTinvisible or Loops of Love LP’s. Popping Bubbles is taken from the Rusty Springs EP by The Incredible Braking Wheel (2007), and Cold Touch of Dawn is a live version of a track on SILENTinvisible recorded live in Sept 2008 in Christchurch. The EP also contains a small montage of music from Loops of Love. ENJOY IT – It’s free! (any donations welcome)

“When you walk in the forest – let it go
when you climb up a hill – let it go
there’s a war in the world
you’re a flower turn and curled
heart and mind work best unfurled
let it go.”

(Let It Go- Trillion)

Queries By …Yossarian

Tags: folk, hip hop, Interviews, New Zealand Artists, Political

Kia Ora – Kora

Last Thursday night in Melbourne, we were lucky enough to finally see one of New Zealands leading bands, Kora, perform at Hi-Fi Bar. With a reputation as a must see live act spreading thoughout Australia, New Zealand, and more recently Europe, and having listened to the music they have been releasing over the last 6 years, we were intrigued as to how they would live up to the expectations we had.

It’s worth noting the callibre of artists coming out of New Zealand, especially in their live performances, when considering their reputation as one of New Zealand’s best. The bar has been set in more recent times by such a strong aray of NZ’ers such as Fat Freddy’s Drop, Katchafire, The Black Seeds, Olmecha Supreme, Che Fu, and countless other musicians. Set to this backdrop this comparison was always going to be difficult to deliver on… but deliver they did.

From the cheeky, playful performance they brought to Hi-fi Bar, it was no surprise to learn that some of Kora‘s members have studied performing arts, with as little as the raise of an eyebrow causing the audience to erupt into screams all evening. These four brothers (literally) and “one token white guy”, as they described themselves, kept the mojo flowing all night, even into the second encore the audience demanded.

Kora live in Whakatane

Even in Australia’s music capital, Melbourne, it’s unusual to attract sell out shows on a Thursday night, but this prominent live venue in the heart of the city was stretched to it’s 900 capacity, including the 16th step where we were chilling out with our champagne (apologies to the guy we spilled a little bit on… twice… sorry bro).

Our group, which at the beginning of the evening was filled out with Kiwi’s, Aussie’s, Americans, Dutch, and English, among others, united at the close of the evening to sing the crowds obviously favourite track “Politician”, only re-enforcing the universal appeal which has recently seen them receive offers from Europe and further abroad.  We all left the concert with a new must see group, hoping that the recent success won’t take away our opportunities to see them locally on Thursday nights if their fan base continues to grow at the rate it has been.

Kete Aronui – an insight into Kora

They talked the talk,

They walked the walk,

and they brought us comfort…

You can check out more of Kora at:

www.kora.co.nz

www.myspace.com/koraroots

…bs & Miss Peti

Tags: Dub, Funk, New Zealand Artists, Reggae