Eelman Records - Welli soul roots

Way before Fat Freddys Drop started ruling the capital, Wellington had been firmly embracing reggae and soul. Go back to the early to mid 1980s and you find a collective of Wellington cats who loved playing together in various combinations, in much the same way the current crop of musos in that city endlessly cross-pollinate.

The Pelicans (led by Bill Lake) were one of these acts, released on indie label Eelman Records.Other acts on the label include The Hulamen, The Economic Wizards, The Tombolas, Andrew Clyde Clouston, The Living Daylights and John Niland. The Hulamen's tune Working For A Living is a long lost Kiwi soul/reggae classic - have a listen, I digitised this off my vinyl copy. You can definitely trace a line from this to Fat Freddys and the Black Seeds.

Eelman Records discography.

Freddys vs Theo Parrish

Via Kartel... "After a barnstorming 2013 Fat Freddy’s Drop are back with two brand new 12” singles with re-workings from Theo Parrish, Ashley Beedle & Darren Morris and Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy & Andy Yamwho?.

The first of the set features a vocal and an instrumental translation of ‘Mother Mother’ from Theo Parrish. The Detroit producer and DJ delivers a masterful yet twisted, ten-minute-plus re-wiring of Fat Freddy’s Drop’s soulful, techno-tinged workout. Taken from their 3rd LP ‘Blackbird’, Gilles Peterson described the original as “an incredible piece of music.”

‘Mother Mother’ gets the four-to-the-floor treatment from Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy & Andy Yamwho? on the A-side to the second 12”. On the flip side is Ashley Beedle & Darren Morris’s cosmic ‘Afrikanz On Marz’ remix of ‘Never Moving’, also lifted from the ‘Blackbird’ LP" Out  March 24.

AUDIO PREVIEW over at Juno

Adi Dick: Reworks

Some cool reworks from Adi Dick, check the tracklist below... "A collection of mashups and re-edits I’ve made over the years for Djing, some dating back nearly 10 years ago now… grab it while you can."

Download (320 kbps mp3)

MUDD at Golden Dawn

UK DJ Paul Murphy aka MUDD is in town this weekend, DJing at Golden Dawn with the Maximum Joy crew, Longboss and Mr Powers (Scott Towers of Fat Freddys Drop). 8pm kickoff, $5. His label Claremont 56 has done some interesting releases, including Holger Czukay (ex Can)...

from a Q&A with Murphy, over at Testpressing.org...

How did you hook up with Holger, and how much stuff is there still to be released? Is he still making new music?

I saw Holger perform at the Roundhouse and he played a version of “Ode to Perfume” that I`d never heard before. I emailed him and we ended up releasing it on a 10″. Slowly over time the trust built up and he invited Ben and I over. He’s an incredible man. We still have two 12s of remixes of his old stuff to come out and we’re working on the Bison album together. He still has lots of new music to release, maybe 3 albums worth, which we will hopefully be releasing soon.

LISTEN: Holger Czukay & U-She - La Premiere (Mudd's Garden Mix) on Soundcloud

Hopepa hosts Thomas and Tim

"Host Joe Lindsay from New Zealand band, Fat Freddy's Drop, takes Thomas and Tim free diving for Crayfish, barbecuing the catch, four-wheel driving off cliffs, beer-tasting, cocktail tasting, burlesque life drawing, improvised Jazz listening and reverse bungee jumping. For more info on Maps, Music and Itineraries visit www.thisismycity.tv

Musicians featured include Phoenix Foundation, and Orchestra of Spheres. 

NZ Music Awards finalists announced

The winners for the technical categories for the 2013 NZ Music Awards were announced earlier this evening, along with the finalists in other categories, and the Legacy Award, which goes to Shona Laing.

Leading the pack, Shapeshifter are up for six awards, and Aaradhna is up for five. Lorde and Unknown Mortal Orchestra both have four nominations each - note Lorde's album came out after the June 30 cutoff date for eligibility in this year's awards - and The Phoenix Foundation and Fat Freddy's Drop are up for three awards - they also picked up some of the technical awards.

Performers on the night of the awards, held at Vector Arena on Nov 21, are Lorde, Aaradhna, Titanium, Jamie McDell, Iva Lamkum, and Jamie McDell. Ruby Frost will perform a tribute to Shona Laing. Were Shihad unavailable? (jokes). Tickets to the awards are open to the public, and cost $25, via Ticketmaster.


Technical Awards Winners
Best Album Cover to Gina Kiel & Harry A’Court – ‘Blackbird’ (Fat Freddy’s Drop)
Best Producer to The Phoenix Foundation/Lee Prebble/Brett Stanton – ‘Fandango’ (The Phoenix Foundation)
Best Engineer to Brett Stanton/Lee Prebble/The Phoenix Foundation – ‘Fandango’ (The Phoenix Foundation)

VNZMA Finalists

Mentos Album of the Year
Aaradhna ‘Treble & Reverb’
Fat Freddy’s Drop ‘Blackbird’
Shapeshifter ‘Delta’
The Phoenix Foundation ‘Fandango’
Unknown Mortal Orchestra ‘II’

Vodafone Single of the Year
Aaradhna ‘Wake Up’
Lorde ‘Royals’
Shapeshifter ‘In Colour’
Stan Walker ‘Take It Easy’
Unknown Mortal Orchestra ‘So Good At Being In Trouble’

Steinlager Pure Best Group
Fat Freddy’s Drop ‘Blackbird’
Shapeshifter ‘Delta’
The Phoenix Foundation ‘Fandango’

Spotify Best Male Solo Artist
Lawrence Arabia ‘The Sparrow’
Unknown Mortal Orchestra ‘II’
Willy Moon ‘Here’s Willy Moon’

Spotify Best Female Solo Artist
Aaradhna ‘Treble & Reverb’
Iva Lamkum ‘Black Eagle’
Jamie McDell ‘Six Strings and a Sailboat’

Westpac Hotpoints Breakthrough Artist of the Year
Jamie McDell ‘Six Strings and a Sailboat’
Lorde ‘The Love Club EP’
Willy Moon ‘Here’s Willy Moon’

Best Rock Album
Beastwars ‘Blood Becomes Fire’
The Datsuns ‘Death Rattle Boogie’
Villainy ‘Mode. Set. Clear.’

The Edge Best Pop Album
AnikaBoh&Hollie ‘Peace of Mind’
Jamie McDell ‘Six Strings and a Sailboat’
Kids Of 88 ‘Modern Love’

Best Alternative Album
Lawrence Arabia ‘The Sparrow’
The Phoenix Foundation ‘Fandango’
Unknown Mortal Orchestra ‘II’

Best Urban/Hip Hop Album
@Peace ‘Girl Songs’
Aaradhna ‘Treble & Reverb’
P-Money ‘Gratitude’

Best Roots Album
Fat Freddy’s Drop ‘Blackbird’
Latinaotearoa ‘Sonido de Latinaotearoa’
Soljah ‘Aotearoa’

George FM Best Electronica Album
K+LAB ‘Space Dirt’
Shapeshifter ‘Delta’
Sola Rosa ‘Low and Behold, High and Beyond’

NZ On Air Best Music Video
Joel Kefali – ‘Royals’ (Lorde)
Nick Dwyer – ‘In Colour’ (Shapeshifter)
Thunderlips – ‘Frankenstein’ (Randa)

NUMA Trust Best Maori Album
Kirsten Te Rito ‘Te Rito’
Maisey Rika ‘Whitiora’
Ngatapa Black ‘I Muri Ahiahi’

Best Gospel/Christian Album
Edge Kingsland ‘Edge Vol.2: Due North’
Go Stop Go ‘Go Stop Go’
Strahan ‘Posters’

Best Classical Album
Gillian Whitehead ‘Arapatiki’
Helen Webby ‘Pluck’
Michael Houstoun ‘Lilburn’

Vodafone People’s Choice Award
Shapeshifter
Aaradhna
Lorde
Stan Walker
Titanium

NZ Herald Legacy Award recipient
Shona Laing

Hallenstein Brothers 2013 Critics’ Choice Prize Line-Up (Nov 6 at Kings Arms)
Janine and the Mixtape
Paquin
Sheep, Dog & Wolf

NZ Music Awards technical finalists revealed

Press Release: The full list of finalists for the Technical Awards at the 48th annual Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards is:

Best Producer
Fat Freddy’s Drop for Fat Freddy’s Drop – ‘Blackbird’
Sam McCarthy, Jaden Parkes, Jordan Arts for Kids of 88 – ‘Modern Love’
Shapeshifter and the Upbeats for Shapeshifter – Delta
The Phoenix Foundation / Lee Prebble / Brett Stanton for The Phoenix Foundation – Fandango

Best Engineer
Brett Stanton / Lee Prebble / The Phoenix Foundation for The Phoenix Foundation – Fandango
Lee Prebble for Iva Lamkum – Black Eagle
Neil Baldock for Eden Mullholand – Feed the Beast

Best Album Cover
Gina Kiel and Harry A’Court for Fat Freddy’s Drop – Blackbird
Heather Liddell for Strahan – Posters
Nick Keller for Beastwars – Blood Becomes Fire

The winners of the Technical Awards are revealed at VNZMA Finalists Announcement at The Pullman Auckland on 22 October.

The line-up for this year’s Hallensteins Brothers Critics’ Choice Showcase and the 2013 New Zealand Herald Legacy Award recipient is also being unveiled at the event.


MORE: Recorded Music NZ announces the Technical Award finalists for the 2013 Vodafone NZ Music Awards.

The Technical Award finalists for the 48th annual Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards have been announced by Recorded Music NZ shining the spotlight on Kiwi music’s backstage-professionals.

The 2013 finalist line-up includes a mix of previous winners and finalists as well as several multi-talented artists who have worked behind the scenes on the technical side of their albums.

Renowned indie rock band The Phoenix Foundation dominates the call-up with nominations in the Best Engineer and Best Producer categories.

The Wellington-formed band shares its nomination with Brett Stanton and Lee Prebble who worked with them on their fifth album, Fandango. The album debuted at number four on the Official NZ Music Charts.

Lee Prebble demonstrates his noted engineering skills with a second solo nomination for his work on Iva Lamkum’s album Black Eagle.

Neil Baldock also joins the Best Engineer line up and he’s no stranger to the limelight. In his 23 years of engineering Neil has clocked up some stellar achievements, including working with iconic Kiwi music stars Fred Dagg, Che Fu, Nathan Haines and Flight of the Conchords. Neil also took out the award for Best Engineer last year.

Shapeshifter and Fat Freddy’s Drop continue the theme of bands recognised for their technical work on their own albums.

Shapeshifter and the Upbeats are finalists in the Best Producer category for Shapeshifter’s album Delta. Fat Freddy’s Drop joins them in the Best Producer line-up for the Blackbird album.

Blackbird also features in the Best Album Cover category with designers Gina Kiel & Harry A’Court nabbing a spot.

Recorded Music NZ chief executive Damian Vaughan says: “It’s important to recognise the very special talents of the skilled technicians who bring the music to life and we have a fantastic line up this year. Congratulations to all the finalists.”

Fat Freddy's Drop meets Black Grace dance co

Bella Kalolo - Got To Be Real

"Fresh from touring the USA with Aaradhna, J Boog and Katchafire, tireless soul sister Bella Kalolo celebrates the imminent release of her Time and Space EP (out Sept. 27th)  by announcing a 19-date Time and Space National Tour and offering fans a free download of her cover of Cheryl Lynn’s classic ‘Got To Be Real’.

Named Best Pacific Artist at the 2012 Pacific Music Awards, Bella Kalolo has been handpicked to work with and supported artists as diverse as Mos Def, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Dave Dobbyn, Hollie Smith and the NZSO. 

Her reputation as one of NZ’s most entertaining performers has earned her spots at Glastonbury, City Of London Festival and closer to home; Parachute Festival and the huge Waitangi Day celebrations at Flatbush, Manukau. 

Now, in association with Arts on Tour NZ, the gifted entertainer of Samoan, Tongan and Maori (Ngati Porou) descent is taking her band on tour to all corners of the country in support of her Time and Space EP." 

PLUS new single from the upcoming EP. Features Onehunga's finest - Spycc & INF