Dizzee Rascal covers The Ting Tings.  

They call me black,
the call me rude boy,
they call me mate…
That’s not my name!

Tops!

G

Fat Freddy’s Drop - Based on  True Story

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for summer. The winter blues are getting me down. Maybe it’s just the hang over from my trip to Europe, maybe it’s a touch of homesickness, or maybe it’s all this bloody rain – but I can’t wait for summer. And when it comes, I have the perfect soundtrack.

Fat Freddy’s Drop are a seven-piece New Zealand ‘collective’, and their album ‘Based on a True Story’ is just what the doctor ordered. The heart of the Freddy sound is reggae (Man, do those kiwi’s love their reggae or what?) with touches of ska and dub, all hung on a skeleton of electronica. The result is an uplifting album that sets off at a cruisey pace and compels you along softly with it.

Three minutes into the first song, you still haven’t heard Joe Dukie’s velvet smooth vocals. Four and a half minutes in, the ‘actual’ melody of the track starts. And so it goes. With most of the ten tracks clocking in over seven minutes, you had better not be in a hurry.

“Ray Ray” starts with vibes and a thick beat, and in producer Fitchie’s hands that’s plenty to begin with. The track slowly builds and layers up beautifully finally climaxing with the perfect refrain “tell me what’s the world with no soul”. More of an electronic track than others, it’s as if Fitchie laid down the beats and bass and then invited the Drops lush horn section to lay down their disco stabs.

“Wandering Eye”, which spent over 42 weeks in the NZ charts, starts off in soul-blues mode, dancing over a deep reggae bassline. The song then mutates through funk and soul with some ‘Stevie Wonder’ style keys. The beauty of Fat Freddy’s Drop is their ability to blend diverse musical styles whilst retaining their own distinctive character.
‘Based on a True Story’ is summer for your ears. Buy this album now so your ready when summer finally arrives.

THINK: Stevie Wonder’s electro-reggae-dub album
READ: their homepage or myspace
WATCH: Award winning ‘Wandering Eye’ clip
BUY: Based on a true story at amazon