- Fat Freddy’s Drop have just release their sixth album Bays on their label The Drop. A venerable New Zealand institution, the group ostensibly started as a jam band over a decade ago. Since their genesis they have played many different styles, incorporating elements of funk, reggae, and electronic dance music into their repertoire. There’s a jazzy tinge to much of their output as well, although the connection is not explicitly musical, being more to do with their long form improvisational approach. Having played together for so long they’ve become remarkably in tune with each other. This truth is simply self-evident on their latest.

Having launched the album already in their New Zealand homeland, Bays exemplifies the group’s genre-fluidity. As a whole it remains cohesive, the individual tracks uniformly linked by thumping bass lines and sprinkles of electric funk. It’s the perfect soundtrack for either dancing or staring blankly into space - for intoxicated states or stone-cold sobriety.

The album gets off to an uptempo start with Wairunga Blues, a track with an afro-funk feel. This is followed by Slings & Arrows which is a more standard reggae affair, complete with syncopated beat, dubby break and all manner of trippy synthesizer effects. The album’s third track 10 Feet Tall is another reggae groove, with a nice bass line and a superb horn arrangements peppered throughout, to great effect.

Up next the band goes in a more dance-oriented direction with Wheels. At the moment this is my pick of the bunch, a repetitive electro/techno joint which gives a nod to Kevin Saunderson (and Detroit in general). This is followed by the equally danceable Razor, which has more of a house feel, but with propulsive guitar, horns and evolving synth parts. This is contrasted by (Makkan) which sees the band shifting gears again and going with a breeze groove built upon pleasant acoustic instrumentation and saxophone. Then comes Fish In The Sea, another monumental jam with an afro feel, building up slowly (and delivering). The next track, Cortina Motors, exceeds the ten minute length, drawing upon elements of dub techno, except it has too much slap bass on to be classified as such. The album closer, Novak, is a slab of straight-up funk.

This new album has ensured the band will be making a mammoth world tour with the drop coming to our shores in February of next year. I for one am waiting with baited breath – inhale deep, exhale deeper.

- Hill Folk.