URBAN PACIFIKA - Pioneers of a Pacifikan Frontier

(Urban Pacifika)

****

Reviewer: Russell Baillie

As featured in these pages last week, this debut long-player by Urban Pacifika Records is really quite something. Not only does it serve the purpose of a progress report on the label's young hip-hop and r'n'b roster, some of whom have already achieved chart and radio hits on various singles included here, but it's an album of consistency, class and relevance.

Across a hefty hour-plus, the tracks by UPR's four acts (and some collaborations between them) make for a vibrant, funky epic as well as ready-made time capsule of one of New Zealand's pop presents.

Individually, there's a sense of progress, confidence and the acts growing out of their influences - as in the case of Moizna, who deliver increasing punch to their smooth girl-group harmonies on recent numbers.

R'n'b duo a.k.a Brown emerge as the love men of the bunch, rapper Dei Hamo is UPR's court jester-cum-raconteur and Losttribe show they've developed a slow, spooky, and often funny line in hip-hop.

Highlights include the Brotha D's David Tua Theme. Dave Dobbyn's reworked Beside You, featuring the veteran backed vocally by a.k.a Brown, is a real slice of heaven. There's the all-in label supergroup Urban Pacifika on the Split Enz-sampling One; Dei Hamo's International Whirl Rocker has a De La Soul-flavoured fizz; Losttribe's rumbling 5 B.U.N.G.A mixes hip-hop bravado while having fun with the racial epithet.

Yes, the "arrival" of Polynesian pop has been announced a few times over the years. But here it is again and logdrum free - the sound of swingin' Auckland, 1999.