The Very Good Agency

Che Fu receives Queens Birthday Honour

Congratulations goes out to Che Fu, or as he goes by his real name from time to time, Che Ness, who has had a laugh receiving a queens birthday honour addressed to Mr Fu. After replying with a simple request to please make it out to his real name, Che Kuo Eruera Ness, he now receives the prestigious award in honour of his services to music in New Zealand. So Che is able to add yet another accolade to  the pile following his APRA silver scroll for songwriting, and his multiple New Zealand music awards for his solo work in which he is often backed by his wicked live band The Krates.

Dam Native feat. Che Fu – The Son

Throughout his amazing career he has been given some incredible praise from some of the industries finest talents including (among many others) Crowded House, and Chali 2na who praised him for having the natural progression of hip hop right, being as a master of his home territory first. I’m not sure how many hip hop stars around the commonwealth have been shouted out to by the queen though, so good on you Mr Fu, I mean Mr Ness, or is it Mr Groove?

Whatever it is…

shot bo

More Che Fu is at:

www.verygood.com.au/artists/che-fu

www.myspace.com/chefunz

…bs

Tags: hip hop, New Zealand Artists, Old School, Soul

Iva Lamkum

Maya Angelou – “Phenomenal Women”

It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s….

.

.

So the story goes;

bs asks me  “Miss P, have you seen the latest article from Yossarian about Sola Rosa?”  “Sola huh?”  “Of course!” I reply in full support of our Very Good brother, with a “yeah yeah yeah, awesome, dope, I’m really feeling that shit” and then race off to my lappy to find out what the hell he’s talking about.

And so I read
And so I hear
And there she was…

Iva Lamkum – Kung Fu Grip

Iva Lamkum. How’s this for blessed… 22 years old, absolutely gorgeous, funk with a capital F, that “…and you know this…” attitude, one of the richest voices, and she’s stepping out with the hottest group in Aotearoa right now.

This Wellington based singer/songwriter has just released her first self-titled EP, produced by independent label, Base Promotions Ltd.

Not much else to say here.

Go buy it.

Iva Lamkum.  Part Samoan, part Chinese, all Kiwi, and one truly soulful sister.

You can check out more of Iva Lamkum at:

www.myspace.com/ivalamkum

…miss P

x

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

Pete Philly and Perquisite – Win ‘Mystery Repeats’

So Australia and New Zealand missed out on their chance to see the ‘Mystery Repeats’ tour that Pete Philly and Perquisite took around Europe, Asia, and a few other countries lucky enough to be involved. So we thought to give their fans in Australia and New Zealand a little taste of what they missed we would pass on one of their albums they gave to us.

Just sign up to our newsletter before the end of April, and the winner will be contacted by e-mail on June 1st.

And for those of you who haven’t seen it yet below is the tidy little clip Pete and Perq released for the albums title track ‘Mystery Repeats’.

Pete Philly and Perquisite – Mystery Repeats

…bs

Tags: Competitions, hip hop, Soul

Little Bushman on tour

Impromptue meetings this morning meant that I got to take a pleasent tram ride over to South Melbourne, giving me a chance to soak up one of the local Melbourne street press mag’s Inpress. As usual the mag is full on advertisements for controversially dressed people of all different ages and genres trying to communicate their sound in an unusual promotional piece. The big advertisements are usually the same as the last week and generally reserved for those artists who have management and promotion handled for them, so I usually check out the smaller ads and write-ups to see what’s going on that’s not hot on the streets, ’cause there’s a far better chance that i’m going to be into it.

And a little ad in the corner of the page for New Zealand’s psychadelic soul group Little Bushman proved my theory right once again.

Yossarian covered them well in his earlier article if your not familiar with these dudes.

They will play starting next week in QLD, VIC, WA, NSW and both of New Zealand’s north and south island’s with a complete gig listing on their myspace page.

Little Bushman – Mary

For anyone who is trying to work out where they know that beautiful voice from, your not crazy, Warren Maxwell is one of three parts of one of the best groups to have ever come out of New Zealand – Trinity Roots. So i’m really excited to see how this event plays out having thrashed Trinity Roots albums ever since they split a few years ago just waiting for the chance to see any of them play live again. A complete shift away from the style of Trinity Roots, Warren brings a really new and innovative style to the party in Little Bushman, unless of course you grew up in the seventies. I’m not really sure if i’m gonna dance or grab a couch and chill for this set, but I am sure i’m going to have an awesome night, and for $12 in Melbourne, I hope the brothers have a tip jar out, because that’s just crazy for this quality of music.

Trinity Roots – Home, Land & Sea

You can check out more of Little Bushman at:

www.myspace.com/littlebushmanband

…bs

Tags: Funk, gigs, New Zealand Artists, Reggae, Soul

Che Fu’s in Melbourne

The man who needs no introduction in Australia and New Zealand, Che-Fu, is back on one of his semi-regular Easter trips to Melbourne to pay his respects to his the huge Aussie and Kiwi following down under. The Fresh RnB Club has been bringing a bunch of the underground hip hop, soul, Rnb, reggae acts that have been big players in New Zealand over the last decade in the likes of King Kapisi, Nesian Mystik, Savage, and now topping it off with one of the godfathers of Aotearoa for our generation, Che-Fu. You can check out the history and score card for this dude in his Artist Profile but if you’ve been in Australia or New Zealand in the last 15 years you probably already know how many dope tracks and kiwi anthems he has given us. To put it his influence in perspective, The Very Good Agency first existed in the market to run an East Coast tour of Che-Fu, DJ CXL, and PROJECT nRt a few years ago, so all you international readers out there can understand a lot about New Zealand music from checking out not only his solo work, but some of the funk rap mix he kicked in the old school in Supergroove.

Che-Fu – Misty Frequencies

The rastafarian influence in NZ hip hop, Che-Fu has always been related to by kiwi guys and girls ’cause he talks a real game with an every day vibe that exists in New Zealand. Always bringing the soft soul vocals, Che’s also one of the few artists in New Zealand who raps as tight and as consciously as he sings. (never overlook Olmecha Supreme and MC Hazaduz).

Che-Fu plays at The Colonial Hotel this Friday 10th April. hopefully after Supergroove re-united last year he may have been practising some of his rhymes to drop from back in the days…

like this

Supergroove – Can’t Get Enough

You can check out more of Che-Fu at:

www.myspace.com/chefunz

www.che-fu.com

…bs

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