Fat Freddy's Drop’s pirate soul train, resolutely independent, worldwide.

Formed in 1999 in Wellington, New Zealand our sound draws inspiration from almost every part of the black music lexicon. Soul drenched vocals and jazz harmonies collide with tape delays and echo chambers, underpinned by a rhythm section as comfortable laying down a throbbing, techy soundscape as they are a swampy blues stomp.


new album | 'black lights' | 10.06.16 
https://OLI.lnk.to/blacklightsSO

new single | 'wanted 2 say' | 08.04.16
https://OLI.lnk.to/wanted2saySo

contact: samarisamaris@gmail.com
mgmt: contact@pictures.management
booking: nick@primarytalent.com

With delicious vocal harmonies and a multilayered line-up including live percussion and brass, Steady State Massive play a hybrid of global roots rhythms and groove-laden electronica. Drawing influence from the mighty Jamaican Sound Systems they blend soulful afro-beat with one drop rhythms to create a potent cocktail of groove. Steady State Massive are a multicultural musical melting pot with roots reaching around the globe.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSGSMzRDJQO70KQz3ZDZOPA
http://salmonelladub.com/store/
Check: http://salmonelladub.com/ 
https://www.facebook.com/SalmonellaDub/

Salmonella Dub began in 1992 crafting their name from the “bad-taste” dub cover versions of songs they used to break the ice amongst their original tracks in their early sets. In ’90s New Zealand, dub/roots/reggae freak-outs weren’t entirely in vogue — grunge and dance music held sway — so Salmonella Dub would use lighthearted covers of Nancy Sinatra, The Orb’s Little fluffy Clouds, plus Public Enemy and Fred Dagg’s “Larry Loves Barry” to win over skeptical audiences.

In the early ’90s, New Zealand’s liquor licensing laws changed, allowing pubs and clubs to stay open late and revitalizing the country’s live music scene. Members of the band then called Golf Course Alligators seized this opportunity and, in late 1992, Andrew Penman (guitar), Mark Tyler (bass), and Dave Deakins (drums) became Salmonella Dub. In the early days they lacked money for a sampler and used DIY solutions by hooking up an on/off foot pedal to the motor of a cassette player in order to drop samples by foot in real time from tape on stage. These samples would come from whatever was on the TV at the time, whether it was the news or a Cheech & Chong movie. Lacking the funds for cassettes, they raided the bins of a record store and found discarded copies of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles albums that served as their early tape stock.

To prepare for their first, self-titled album in 1994, Peter Wood (trumpet, keyboard) and Conan Wilcox (saxophone, percussion) were invited to join the band. Salmonella Dub was released through the independent label Curious Records. Following quickly from this album the band released Dub Tomfoolery a 7 track EP with mixing contributions from Mike Hodgson of Pitchblack.

Soon afterwards, Wood left the band, moving to Auckland and getting a job to pay his student overdraft. Around this time Penman made contact with David Harrow (ONU sound) through Grant Fell of the Headless Chickens. Harrow was employed to work on their next EP THC Winter the band’s first foray into Jungle and DnB in 1995.

More here: http://salmonelladub.com/history/

Sola Rosa, the long-running project of New Zealand producer Andrew Spraggon, has never lacked stylistic ambition. Over the past two decades, he's taken an omnivorous approach to genre—soul, R&B, funk, jazz, hip-hop, and the occasional nod to pop—all filtered through a lens that favours polish and warmth over flash. It’s music that feels lived-in rather than lab-engineered.

Since winning Best Electronic Release at the 2001 NZ Music Awards for Solarized, Spraggon has quietly built an international rep. There’ve been remixes from Tall Black Guy, Hermitude and DJ Vadim; sets at Secret Garden Party and Green Man; praise from Rolling Stone, Mojo, and more. Yet he remains a bit of a secret—an underground mainstay rather than a household name.

The 2020 LP Chasing The Sun marked a return after five years and proved there was still plenty left in the tank. Now, 25 years into the Sola Rosa journey, comes New Tomorrows: a taut, considered EP that feels less like a statement and more like a bridge between chapters. The collaborators remain—singers, writers, players from both sides of the Tasman—but there’s a quiet sense of closure. A drawing of breath before something sharper.
That “something” is already coming: a new album lands later this year, with Spraggon stepping further into the foreground. Watch this space.

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