Born in Fiji and raised in New Zealand, breakbeat pioneer FreQ Nasty grew up listening to his father’s stories about his rowdy rock shows (“I remember him saying when he was 14 or 15, he was earning more in a week than his dad was in a month from playing in bands!”) and dreamed of bigger possibilities. He decided at the age of 14, while working his first manual labour job, that he didn’t want to succumb to mundanely being a cog in the machine. That very same boundary breaking sensibility has always transcended through his music, from his scene-shaking…

Life after bands: an idea with the most negative of implications. But there is indeed much vibrant life, brimming with heart and soul, left for James Ford and Jas Shaw, collectively known as Simian Mobile Disco. The name for their production/DJing outfit sings ballads about their musical history, from the very first word – Simian, a psychedelic indie band that had its moment of taking over the world in the early noughties, with Jas on guitar and James keeping time on drums. Simian celebrated two critically acclaimed albums, globeencompassing tours, working with Brian Eno (on their second album, “We Are…