Its always a joy when the Wellington seven piece Fat Freddy’ Drop release a new record, for someone who can live without R’n’B, there’ something conforting for the soul when I hear Joe Dukie sing his songs, his voice reaches me. Joined as usual with Bobie Blaze on keys and synth, Toby Chang on trumpet, Jetlag Johnson on guitar, Hopepa on trombone, Chopper Reedz on saxophone and Mu on MPC, they further cement themselves on the world stage with another great release.
Its been two years in the making, and four years since their debut Based On A True Story, producer, beatmaster and engineer Mu, Chris Faiumu states “there was no external pressure, only self pressure to naturally progress, improve and take the music somewhere freshâ€.
All the soul is still there, their original take on soul, funk, jazz, reggae and dub, but through their globetrotting have definitely picked up some influences along the way, and a more modern approach to song structure has oozed through on this album. The obvious parallel can be made with the Berlin dub techno scene, in particular the Basic Channel/Rhythm & Sound school of reduced electronic dub, making for some long tracks taking us on a journey. Never being reduced to just “tracksâ€, the coherent song is still to the fore, an art Fat Freddy’ Drop has developed well, never degrading to pure repetition, with a particularly strong rhythm section, and catchy as all hell brass section. Its all of these elements in the one melting pot that makes what they do a success, and a very pleasurable one at that.
Wayne Stronell
