Fat Freddy’s Drop Go Techno on New Album

“Cult” New Zealand neo-dub outfit Fat Freddy’s Drop have released their fourth studio album, Bays, and according to News.com.au reviewer Cyclone Wehner, it is “more of an underground Berlin than Detroit vibe.”

The septet, who played a sold out show at the German capital’s Columbiahalle on 23 November, have “gone techno” on Bays.

“Bays’ clubbiest moments – like Fish In the Sea, a deep-house groove, and Cortina Motors, funked-up warehouse rave – come towards the end. Indeed, FFD haven’t shed their roots, with last year’s lilting single Slings & Arrows trad reggae (admittedly incongruous here). But, in another twist, Razor is … grungy. Bays closes with Novak – P-funk via New Orleans. What else?”

In another review of the album, from the UK interactive music zine Drowned in Sound, Sam Moore says: “You get the feeling that, when performed live, this and many of the songs on Bays could go anywhere – they all serve as a blueprint for the live arena, where FFD really do excel in letting their songs come into their own.”

Wellington-based Fat Freddy’s Drop sold 200,000 copies worldwide of their last record, Blackbird, released in 2013.

Currently on tour in Europe, Fat Freddy’s Drop head to Oslo in Norway on 29 November.

The band play two nights at London’s 5000-capacity O2 Academy Brixton in London on 24 and 25 March 2016.

Original article by Cyclone Wehner, News.com.au, November 5, 2015.