Your ultimate barbecue playlist
Fat Freddy’s Drop are icons of the Kiwi summer, writes Kate Robertson.
Fat Freddy’s Drop are icons of the Kiwi summer. The two have become so synonymous it’s impressive any other music breaks through at humble New Year parties and drinks at the bach.
Their music is smart, fun, and easy to consume. It’s a universal crowd pleaser that rarely comes up against opposition in a group environment, making it a goto for social gatherings across the Aotearoa.
But what do you play when it’s the middle of summer and you’ve come in way too hot on your alltime favourites?
You can’t play AC/DC or Metallica because that’s far too polarising for a catchall group. Same goes for weird house music or particularly alternative and sparkly pop music (what I would play on loop, if given the opportunity).
It’s surprisingly stressful deciding what to ‘‘chuck on last minute’’ when you actually leave it until the last minute. Enjoy my pickings for music that might not be your guests’ usual jam but will win them over and, most importantly, won’t have them rudely trying to commandeer the AUX cord.
Aotearoa Alt: You love New Zealand music but can’t be having any of the stuff that’s already had major airplay this year (Mitch James, Openside, Son of Zion, Broods and the like). You also want to show your friends that you’re hip, cool, and down with the kids. Cue some of the most poppin’ slightly alternative but still very palatable acts in Aotearoa right now.
The Beths are a logical starting point. Their album Future Me Hates
Me became an instant classic.
Rolling Stone named Happy Unhappy their song of the summer, they topped Paste magazine’s Best New Artists list for 2018 and were a finalist for the APRA Silver Scroll Award. Chelsea Jade’s debut album
Personal Best is left-of-centre pop
done to perfection. Tracking back to 2017, Kane Strang’s album Two
Hearts and No Brain is incredibly satisfying and Fazerdaze’s self-titled debut goes seamlessly with a warm, hazy summer afternoon.
For the Top 40 pop fiends:
No good social occasion should be soundtracked to a Hot Hits New Zealand playlist. Ed Sheeran is great, but no-one wants to hear that rolled out a full two years after he first dropped Shape of You. Sigrid, ALMA, Charli XCX, King Princess, Khalid and Billie Eilish are all killing the pop game right now. All six of them comfortably cover everything from upbeat bops to quietly dark pop songs, without ever becoming sickly sweet or generally painful. Bang together a playlist with their biggest hits and you’ll be away laughing.
You want Led Zeppelin but . . . As someone who grew up in a semirural bogan town, I get the classic rock thing. If you’ve got your heart set on a head bangin’ affair, that’s cool, but you want to save that good sing-along classics for later in evening. The following new age thrashers have a bit of pep, meaning
they work well for the daylight hours. Think Snail Mail’s debut album Lush, local dance-rockers Racing and high-bpm Aussie rock duo Polish Club. Responsibly sink some Cody’s and, when the sun is gone, crack into the old stuff.
Throw it way back: Disco music implies you need to be dancing to listen to it, but I disagree; 1970s disco music is the most uplifting thing you could put on at any kind of gathering. It’s got funk, soul and a whole lot of sex appeal – three things every Kiwi barbecue needs more of, in my opinion.
It’s no-one’s first choice because it’s not at the forefront of our minds, but put on a bit of Sister Sledge while you’re tossing the salad? Bliss! There is nothing better!
Spotify and Apple Music’s premade playlists for the genre are pretty bang on but if you fancy
spotlighting some of the greats, Earth, Wind & Fire’s 1979 album I
Am is loaded with hits, Kool & The Gang’s live album Golden Legends will add to the atmosphere, and Donna Summer’s Bad Girls is all fierce, all the way through.
The Byron Bay shaka brahs: You might not be soaking up the sweet New South Wales sun, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pretend.
Eternally nonchalant siblings Angus and Julia Stone do the ultimate salt-in-your-hair music, as do Melbourne-based dreamboat Vance Joy, earth warrior Ziggy Alberts, ethereal electronic goddess Vera Blue and the entire Triple J Hottest 100 list for 2017 (the playlist can be found on Triple J’s Spotify page).
Good vibes for days, mate. Consider this offering your saviour for times when you need the easiest option possible.