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A trip to Fiji and Oceania awaits as we explore some modern and past Polynesian sounds along with some general chill-out vibes in the lead-up to takeoff with Dunia Aljawad as we hit the beach!
"The Drop with Danno" on GFN 광주영어방송 98.7FM in Gwangju & 93.7FM in Yeosu, Korea. An eclectic radio curation of all things musical spanning the spectrum every week. Broadcasting 8-10pm KST nightly.
Apr 6, 2022
The Drop with Danno
The Electric Peanut Butter Company – Dreams
Lord Echo – Rhythm 77
Liz Damon’s Orient Express – Woota (Feelin’ Good)
Khruangbin – Time (You and I)
Hot Rain – Hawaii
Common Kings – Lost In Paradise
Jeremy Passion – Lemonade
The Beautiful Girls – La Mar (The Ocean)
Surfaces – Palm Trees
Kolohe Kai – Ehu Girl
The Black Seeds – Cool Me Down
Frank Orrall - Never Trade These Days
I.
It is 20 hours past midnight on another gorgeous spring Wednesday here in full bloom popcorn in the trees Gwangju, and it is time to take off with The Drop tonight to the big blue part of the tiny marble we live on for this Round Trip. And this evening’s festivities are written at least partially in several Polynesian languages as April 6, 2022. This is Danno of course as it is each & every night from studio 2, GFN HQ in Downtown Gwangju, how do you do? Tonight we head for sunny Fiji as we board flight TD 068 in hour 2 with the lovely Dunia Aljawad, and here in hour 1 as we head to ICN, we have lots of chilled out Polynesian vibes from all over Oceania, with cuts from New Zealand, Hawaii, and of course our destination. However, before we get on the KTX train for the airport, we gotta get going so let’s start in our Dreams and head for takeoff from there. This is The Drop.
The Electric Peanut Butter Company – Dreams
The Drop has officially kicked off our show tonight on this Round Trip Wednesday. What’s up, Drop Gangsters (Korean)? Danno on the mic here in studio 2, GFN HQ, downtown Gwangju getting ready for tonight’s trip to sunny Fiji, and what a great spot to go to even if only in our minds tonight, as it’s been a long time since we hit the beach let alone the tropics properly. Dunia Aljawad will of course be joining us on flight TD068 then, and for this first hour, we have a heavily Polynesian vibe to the first hour’s selections, so let’s get to explaining ourselves on that first bit.
That was a reinterpretation of what one could argue is Fleetwood Mac’s greatest single. That was The Electric Peanut Butter Company with Dreams. For those of you that do not know this group, it is a one off collab between the UK-based Shawn Lee, who is a veteran producer & multi-instrumentalist whose most recent work was some dynamite stuff with his latest project Young Gun Silver Fox, and Adrian Quesada, most recently of Black Pumas super fame, the Austin-based Grammy nominees.
No real history to attach to this except that we wanted to keep the vibe sunny & upbeat this Wednesday as we head to the Pacific, and it must be duly noted that the album that cover appears on is called Trans-Atlantic Psyche Classics Vol 2, by the way, in case you want to hear more. Both albums put out by them are lovely stuff
#9870, @gfnthedrop, podcast details, etc.
Now, let’s keep the opening salvo’s reverberations going in our leadup to flight TD 068 bound for Suva taking off. Up next we’ve got Lord Echo to be followed by Liz Damon’s Orient Express and we’ll round things off with Khruangbin. This is The Drop on your Round Trip Wednesday night to Fiji.
_________
Back on The Drop still on the train to ICN tonight for our Round Trip Wednesday. Danno here, doing what I do and for those just joining us we are heading to the Pacific and Fiji tonight in hour 2 with Dunia Aljawad who’ll join us aboard flight TD068. Now, here in hour one we’re rocking some Polynesian and just generally chill vibes, so let’s get to what we just heard so you know a bit about it...
Lord Echo – Rhythm 77 (…this one dropped on the 2010 album Melodies. Lord Echo is the dance music project of Mike August from The Black Keys, an amazing dub outfit from New Zealand, or Aotearoa as the Polynesians called it when they discovered it, the land of the long white cloud.)
Liz Damon’s Orient Express – Woota (Feelin’ Good) (…interesting group right here, a 1970s soft rock band from Hawaii, USA, featuring lead singer Liz Damon, two female backup singers and a rotating backup band. The name apparently derived from the original backup band being entirely Asian, and this joint got reissued by Aloha Got Soul based in Honolulu, who do some great compilations and playlists so do check them out.)
Khruangbin – Time (You and I) (…one of the singles put out prior to the intergalactic funk band from Texas’ latest LP Mordechai, which came out last year. Is there a better surf-inspired funk band out there right now? I don’t see one.)
Moving along to the end of the first quarter, we’ll get a couple more Pacific vibes in to end part 1 & we’ll finish with another group based in Hawaii but from all over the Pacific including Fiji in Common Kings and this final tune is Lost In Paradise. THIS is The Drop on your Round Trip Wednesday night to Paradise.
Hot Rain – Hawaii
Common Kings – Lost In Paradise
II.
The Drop with Danno is back still on the train to ICN for this evening, and our Round Trip destination is sunny Honolulu for this week’s travel jaunt. Lizz Kalo will not be in the studio, but is still running it on the playlist for hour 2, we’ll see her back next week. We just started things in part 2 right there with some tropical vibes so let’s get to the liner notes…
Jeremy Passion – Lemonade (Ukelele vers) (…a nice uplifting tune from the San Francisco-based artist, who claims Philippino heritage. Plus, could we get through a Pacific show without hearing some uke? I don’t think so.)
The Beautiful Girls – La Mar (The Ocean) (…the group is an Australian roots group founded in Sydney in 2001 by Mat McHugh, Clay MacDonald, and Mitchell Connelly. For those interested and/or keeping score out there who are not familiar, this tune dropped in 2003 on an album called Learn Yourself if you’d like to hear more.)
Moving along SM, #9870, podcast let us know …
Up next we’ll get more tropical and Polynesian vibes in the block with cuts from Surfaces, Kolohe Kai, and The aforementioned Black Seeds, all of which we’ll discuss a bit after the gentle waves of the mighty Pacific lap ashore. THIS is The Drop on your Round Trip Wednesday to Fiji.
_________
The Drop has arrived at the departure gate and we thankfully have some extra time prior to boarding. For those just joining us, we head to Fiji’s capital Suva on Round Trip flight TD068 with Dunia Aljawad joining us aboard the jet, and we’re going through some chill and Pacific/Polynesian vibes here in hour 1. As to what we just sent over the ocean and into space, that was…
Surfaces – Palm Trees (…this tune dropped as a standalone single back in 2019, just perfect for the vibe tonight. This duo out of College Station, TX just continues to gain popularity with every release, now registering at over 10m followers on Spotify alone, and they’re out with a new cut last Friday called I can’t help but feel, which we bumped on Monday.)
Kolohe Kai – Ehu Girl (…this group is out of Hawaii and the name of the band means mischievous, unethical or unprincipled in the Hawaiian language. This tune is a bit older, having dropped on This Is The Life from 2009.)
The Black Seeds – Cool Me Down (…the aforementioned Black Seeds whence we rocked Lord Echo in part 1 are out of NZ. This cut appeared on Into The Dojo, released in 2006. The band along with Fat Freddy’s Drop used to feature Bret McKenzie in the ensemble, more well-known for his role as half of the Flight of the Conchords duo with Jermaine Clement. Murray, present.)
Okay, final call to board just rang over the PA but we only board as the very last person, so we got time as the line is still stupid long and full of people who don’t look like they’re into the relaxing vibe right now. To finish we’ll go with a long player from Poi Dog Pondering front man Frank Orrall and a bit of wistful acoustic poetics from the Hawaiian now based in Chicago called Never Trade These Days. THIS is The Drop on your Round Trip Wednesdays, and we are at halftime.
Frank Orrall – Never Trade These Days
III & IV Round Trip
Elena Baravilala - Keep On Walking
Natalie Raikadroka – Ciqomi Au
Jesswar (feat Pink Matter) – Venom
Fiji – Hey Girl
Saimone Vuatalevu - Tucake Mai
Sakiusa Bulicokocoko – Sa I Levuka Ga
Paulini - Rough Day
Santigold – Creator (vs Switch & Freq Nasty)
Sakiusa Bulicokocoko - Lik Lik Tin Fish
Common Kings – Today’s A New Day feat MAYDAY
Leessang (feat Ali)- Ballerino
BAECHIGI – 마이 동풍
Elena Baravilala - Keep On Walking
also known as Elena
• Five singles performed by Elena were nominated at the Fiji Performing Rights Association Music Awards. From which she has won Best Composition and Music video for "Fire" in 2014 and Best Composition for "Seven" in 2018.
Natalie Raikadroka – Ciqomi Au
- This is an artist that seems to have a very good local following but is just making her way professionally as a singer.
- A working artist, Raikadroka is soon putting out her debut album this year, but we’ll have to wait for futher details there as far as title and release date. Good following on social media, so we’ll see if that breaks out.
Jesswar (feat Pink Matter) - Venom
• Fijian Australian rapper based in South East Queensland. In 2012 (age 18) she formed a four-piece pop rap band, Sneeky Picnic, with fellow students performed at the Big Day Out festival in 2013 and 2014.
• She released her debut single "Savage" in 2017 and her debut EP Tropixx in 2021. In that year, she was also a winner at the Queensland Music Awards and the APRA (Australasian Performing Right Associatio) Professional Development Awards.
• Jesswar had collaborated with artists including Tasha the Amazon, Okenyo, DZ Deathrays, and B Wise.
Fiji – Hey Girl
- This artist, a national monolith. True name George Veikoso.
- Born in Fiji and raised mostly in Hawaii, Veikoso first rose to fame in the late 90’s, having won the prestigious award as Fiji’s vocalist of the year. Later on the artist was also nominated for a Grammy for best reggae album as well.
- From there, it’s been big numbers for Veikoso, who now has a world-wide following.
Saimone Vuatalevu - Tucake Mai
• He is a veteran Fijian musician who has had a career in music lasting more than 45 years.
• His career started in 1968 when he was aged 21, winning his first local talent quest. He found success with the hit "Tucake Mai" which would go on to become a classic.
• In July, 2019, his song "Tucake Mai" was danced to by around 60 year 7 and 8 students who also paid tribute to Fiji by singing the national anthem at the Pacific Games opening ceremony.
Sakiusa Bulicokocoko – Sa I Levuka Ga
- Okay, so Dunia has a shout on this artist that most call Sakiusa, so I won’t step on your proverbial toes in part 4.
- However, I will note that this tune came out on a 7” single in 2011, so it appears this was unreleased previously.
Paulini - Rough Day
• Paulini moved to Sydney in Australia with her family at the age of four. She rose to fame in 2003 as a contestant on the first season of Australian Idol and placed fourth in the competition.
• released her debut studio album One Determined Heart (2004), which debuted at number one on the ARIA (Australian music sales charts) Albums Chart and was certified platinum.
• Despite the underperformance of her second album “Superwoman”, the album included the moderately successful single "Rough Day" and earned Paulini two nominations at the Australia/New Zealand Urban Music Awards.
• She wrote songs for several recording artists in Europe, South Africa and the Philippines.
Santigold – Creator (vs Switch & Freq Nasty)
- Now, obviously Santigold is massive, but our DJ true name Daren McFadyn from Fiji aka Freq Nasty is doing quite well for himself, thank you.
- Now residing in LA, the artist is a famed producer of breakbeat-inspired crunky joints, having had a residency at London’s famed Fabric nightclub and being a fixture at Burning Man.
Sakiusa Bulicokocoko - Lik Lik Tin Fish
• The Fiji Times described him as a "legendary musician [...] whose rendition of Fijian classics. The government of the Solomon Islands has referred to him as "Fiji's most famous entertainer and musician",
• and credits him with turning Solomon Islands' "national song" "Walkabout long Chinatown" into an "international hit" by "transform[ing] it from a laid-back island country tune to a rock-and-roll number".
Common Kings – Today’s A New Day feat MAYDAY
- This is a band we featured in hour 1 that is a mish-mash of Polynesian people from all over the Pacific including Fiji along with Hawaii, Tonga, and Samoa.
- They gained a lot of following in the 2010’s after recording their own self-produced tunes, and now have around a million monthly listeners. And they’re currently going on tour in the US
Leessang (feat Ali)- Ballerino
• A South Korean hip hop duo composed of 2 members, Gary and Gil. The duo has released eight albums to date. Their last three albums broke numerous records and guided their entry to the mainstream Korean music industry.
• Leessang has been respected even before their mainstream success despite signing with a fairly non-mainstream label, rather than a well-known large K-pop entertainment company. Leessang are known to write and produce their own songs, direct their music videos, and keeping their private lives separate from their professional work.
BAECHIGI – 마이 동풍
- Gut Punch as this band would be called in English is a rap group formed in 2005 so they were around a while.
- It seems the duo is now defunct though, having put out their final EP in 2018.