Fat Freddy's Drop - "Ernie"

I know that Bitter FM listeners would know 'Fat Freddy's Drop' well enough, but let's face it, you can't have a NZ based music blog and not include these guys at some stage. "Ernie" is the opening track from their hugely successful debut album 'Based On a True Story' and it starts off with a long piano intro before the horn section joins in and then the cool laid back dub/reggae takes over. By the time Joe Dukie even sings a note you will already by high on this Fat Freddy's drug. Nothing happens quickly here but your patience will be rewarded greatly. This album didn't go 7 times platinum in New Zealand for nothing.... and it wasn't hype, it was all word of mouth.

FAT FREDDYS DROP - "BOONDIGGA"

Wellington band 'Fat Freddy's Drop' have become a bit of a Kiwi institution since they released their debut album 'Based on a True Story' and sold truckloads of that album, which stayed in the NZ charts for more than two years after it was released in 2005. Their long awaited second album 'Dr Boondigga and the Big BW' finally surfaced in 2009 and that is where this song "Boondigga" obviously comes from. Fat Freddy's sound is a hybrid of dub/reggae/soul and jazz, with songs that usually build slowly and develop into long cruisy jams that they have perfected with years of touring. "Boondigga" is no exception to that rule at all and is one of my favourites. Any song that name checks 'Willie Apiata' in the lyrics deserves further inspection. Groovy!


Well, The more I try to change
Well, the more I feel the same
Each day like the one before
Til I don't wanna try no more

When working, tired and your feet are hurtin'
From runnin' all the time, yes, trippin out of your mind
Too many times to notice, how the lonely soul is
Love is all alive, it's waiting to arrive...

Tried everything, then tried it again
Been watching the flame burn to the end
Been wasting my bones, been takin my time
A bird from the ashes, burning to fly
Home from the sea, a theif in the night
Like Mr. Apiata, just doing what's right
My brothers and me, my sisters and I
We're waiting to arrive...

When working, tired and your feet are hurtin'
From runnin' all the time, yes, trippin out of your mind
Too many times to notice, how the lonely soul is
Love is all alive, it's waiting to arrive