Kiwi Love

I'm in love with all things Kiwi at the moment - pineapple lumps, jaffa sweets, the All Blacks, bio-security, the accent, oh how I love the accent, Steinlager, New Zealand wine, not to mention the amazing domestic music scene in the country. Turns out little ol' New Zealand exports more chart topping music to neighbouring giant Australia than Australia does to New Zealand.

I stopped in Auckland for 24 hours on my way back to London. And when I left New Zealand after just one day and night, I was kicking myself for not being able to stay any longer. A cool Kiwi couple put me up for the night, friends of a friend of mine in London. Winston and Louise had only just moved into their new house the day before I crash landed. And then of course, Louise was 7 months pregnant as well. But it felt like we became friends almost instantly and they made me very welcome. And it's the Auckland they showed me that made me so upset to leave on a 26 hour journey all the way home without spending some more time in this breath-taking country.

I learned quite a bit about New Zealand in the time I was there. But I was surprised at the music scene there, which seems to be dominated by a lot of homegrown drum n' bass, reggae and dub. And I was even more pleased when I heard some of it. Amazing stuff. Who knew that here on the other side of the planet there's a whole new universe of music which people back at home are seemingly unaware of, with the exception of a small in-the-know (usually Kiwi) minority.

Right now I'm listening to Fat Freddy's Drop - a 7-piece live dub/reggae band with the most amazing sound. And I'm stoked they'll be playing at London's Hammersmith Apollo on 30 November. I'll be sure to write a little review once I've seen them. The band's second album 'Dr. Boondigga and the Big BW' is immense. All tracks but one are over 6 minutes, some of them 8 or 10 minutes long. It's got foot tapping dub, soulful lyrics, funk, jazz and reggae beats. Each and every track speaks for itself and I can imagine these guys are absolutely phenomenal live. They hail from Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, where they started off. Their albums have gone platinum in their home country and been released to much acclaim around the world.

But why take my word for it? Check 'em out. Here are some links to get you started. I promise you won't be disappointed.

http://www.fatfreddysdrop.com/
www.myspace.com/fatfreddysdropnz
www.last.fm/music/Fat+Freddy's+Drop