16 December 2020 - 0 Comments

Wellington’s much loved, 10 piece, Hip-Hop crew, Raw Collective, are back with their long awaited 2nd studio album and will be hitting the road for their national album tour. The album is out on Feb 19th 2021 with the tour to follow!

Featuring nine brand new tracks, all recorded at Surgery Studios, and with an accompanying full length video. Get set to party with The Good Things LP + live album video which perfectly showcases the band’s electric live performance and exceptional musicianship!

“The garden bar is packed and a hum of excited chatter is released into the ether... Raw Collective – all ten of them – take to the stage and we’re off, like a cork out of a bottle. The dance floor's a jam, the crowd pied-pipered in by the big brass accents and heart thumping bass.” - Rosheen FitzGerald (The Hook)

The Good Things LP, presents the perfect soundtrack to summer with The drum kit hammering in tight hip-hop grooves, stomping horn section riffs, layered energetic raps and soulful vocal harmonies, this album has a wise, natural energy and writing style. Currently rolling out singles from their upcoming album, their tracks have levelled up once again. Choosing to record the whole project 100% live in studio, the crew have developed their formula and writing partnerships, creating an album combining their studio and gig experience developed over the years.

“This group of musicians have to be heard to be believed. Flawless arrangements and clever songwriting incorporates the personality of each band member” ★★★★★ - Corinne Rutherford

The band wanted to sonically branch out for this release, commenting on their previous album For The Ancients Raw Deazy (producer/emccee) states “It was an album we wrote for ourselves, it was slow building and gloomy, we loved it but it was missing something”. The Good Things LP contains a much larger spectrum. Pauly Lowe, the bands singer/ songwriter mentions; “we wanted each track to be its own personality, instead of trying to fit everything into one epic song”

There's slow burners like Moira Jean’s solo efforts on Calling, then sprinkles of upbeat brightness like Good Things (All We Need) & Waiting for Sunrise. No tempo has been left out, and no mood has been missed. The songs are more refined, the vocalists know their roll, slotting in cohesively. The songs are written with every instrument in mind, rather than recording jams to see what fits.

The live factor is a huge difference to previous releases, coming from years of live shows and festivals, gaining a feel for enticing a jumping crowd. “We still didn’t have a track that reflected the raw energy of our live shows” Raw Deazy states. The simple answer was recording live, bringing in the full drum kit, played by Sam Notman, known for his superhuman playing and after many rehearsals the crew were ready to bring their live show into the studio. In only one day, with the full band plugged in, Raw Co played through their album set, nine new songs, live at The Surgery Studios in Newtown.

You can hear the sweat pouring, feel the vocalists jumping and waving their arms to the horn solos, it's a live show but played flawlessly to a click, with each player adding his or her parts, the years of experience shining, it can only be good things! It’s this energy that fans can expect to see on the National album tour..

Raw Collective is made up of ten songwriters and performers, each from their own genre and accomplished musical acts or solo careers, forming a team of muso heavyweights. The Good Things LP is their third, highly anticipated studio album, with the first two gaining 500,000+ online streams. After hitting the road with several NZ tours and regular festivals such as Homegrown, CubaDuba, Festival of Lights, Garden’s Magic, Raw Co have become a household name in their home city of Wellington NZ. They’ve played support for hip-hop icons such as GZA, Ghostface Killah, Tech9 and Raekwon, and have over 15,000 kms of touring behind them, including a successful tour of Australia last year.

The past few years have snowballed into this forthcoming album with three singles already released this year in the build up. Each one gained the band more credibility with A rotation & Top 10s on numerous indie & student radio stations nationwide. Waiting for Sunrise saw 17,000 views on the video premier, in the first few days, followed up with the release of Good Things (All We Need) both singles picked up 5 star reviews.

Raw collective will be on tour with seven album release shows across New Zealand in February & March 2021:

Napier Friday 26th February - Paisley Stage

Tickets at Undertheradar.co.nz

Auckland Saturday 27th February - Tuning Fork

Tickets at Moshtix.co.nz

Christchurch Thursday 4th March - Cassels Blue Smoke

Tickets at Undertheradar.co.nz

Queenstown Friday 5th March - Yonder Bar

Free entry

Dunedin Saturday 6th March - Starters Bar

Tickets at Undertheradar.co.nz

Wellington Friday 12th March - Meow

Tickets at Moshtix.co.nz

Kapiti Sunday 14th March - Raumati Social Club

Tickets at Undertheradar.co.nz

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Raw Collective’s latest single Waiting for Sunrise is optimistic and impressive. The track rolls jazz keys, smooth brass/ woodwind and a killer groove into the first 20 seconds; it’s gripping from bar one” ★★★★★ - Isla Norman

“Feel-good grooves are part of Raw Collective’s DNA. The Wellington-based 10-piece have been sowing sunflower seeds of optimism and cheerfulness for many a year now and it seems the well of goodness never dries.” - ★★★★★ Mike Alexander.

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