I’ll be honest right from the off and say that I’m not capable of writing an impartial review of Fat Freddy’s Drop. From the first time I heard the seven-headed soul monster from Lyall Bay, New Zealand I felt like I’d unearthed a secret everyone should discover. Largely a word of mouth band, they have managed to amass a relatively strong, cult following without ever really coming under any sort of mainstream radar. Following the release of their second live album, recorded at our own fair city’s Roundhouse, the band decided to come back for a one off London date – impressively packing out Brixton Academy at over £30 a ticket, as part of their relatively meagre looking 17-date world tour.

I walked in to be greeted by the muddy, dubby sounds of Resonators. On record, they sounded like the ideal warm-up act for Fat Freddy’s Drop, but from the back of the club the sound suffered. Excessive bass levels sucked any sort of soul and energy that the collective had managed to bring to the stage, despite the bands best efforts to kick-start the crowd. That said, attendance was impressive for an opening band, and the sizeable throng were getting their skank on down at the front.

The night, however, was clearly about Fat Freddy’s Drop. As soon as the two hour reggae-tinted jam set kicked off with the opening beat of the bands first ever single “Midnight Marauders,” any sound concerns from Resonators’ opening set were immediately vanquished. The band have always felt more at home jamming out embryonic shells of songs, and unleashing their considerable individual, instrumental talents upon them. From their first full-length release, the 70+ minute, four track “Live at The Matterhorn,” this has been the blueprint for the Fat Freddy’s sound. Both studio albums were organically formulated from live jams, and the impression from this night is that they don’t plan on deviating from this for the next release. Soul swooner Joe Dukie announced quite early on that a lot of new songs were going to feature throughout the night. The most immediate and memorable of these being the upbeat, brass-laden “Blackbird,” but the rest of the new songs all featured the distinctive, unique, genre-bending soul/reggae/dub/jazz stamp that fans of the band have come to expect.

The party vibes reached fever point when it was announced that it was energetic trombone maestro Joe Lindsay’s birthday. He certainly looked like he was celebrating in style, bouncing about the stage in a tight, white vest-and-boxers combo that managed to accentuate his finer features!

Old classics “Roady” and “This Room” went down rapturously, along with “Boondigga” and the mind-blowing reggae-techno live version of “Shiverman” which was a personal highlight of the night. As they left the beat to fade out, the members dropped out individually before returning for a euphoric “Wandering Eye,” culminating in a sunshine drop that had the whole venue bouncing for one last time.

Make sure you’re there next time they play in London!