Artists - Kava Kava

Kava Kava

– are a turbo charged rocked out and funked up live dance act from the UK with distinctive soulful vocals, guitars, electronica, brass, strings and beats. They have played gigs across Europe, Asia and the USA and recently featured in smash FX US TV series "DIRT", the first episode of Golden Globe winning TV series ‘Weeds’ featuring Mary Louise Parker, new Hollywood independent film "Boys & Girls Guide To Getting Down" HBO's new surf series "John From Cincinnati" and receiving airplay all over, including plays on KCRW in Los Angeles (Nic Harcourt/Morning Becomes Eclectic). “should be on every funk and disco playlist, period!.....Love it!" (DJ Magazine)

Kava Kava have recently played Festivals as prestigious as Beijing Midi Festival - China, SXSW Festival - Texas, Glastonbury Festival (dance stage) - UK. They been profiled as one of the bands from the Yorkshire area of the UK to look out for via the New Yorkshire project (Yorkshire? think Corrine Bailey Rae/Kaiser Chiefs/Arctic Monkeys etc), track 'Bank Job' being featured on the Music Week magazine (MIDEM edition) cover mount CD with a glowing write up on the band and initiative. http://www.newyorkshire.net Sneaky bootleg China footage: here

New Kava Kava Digital Singles

New Digital singles: Don't Stop The Music, Bank Job and Tic (Jon Kennedy Remix) via our shop and sites like ITUNES JUNO and with loads of new mixes/remixes

Kava Kava Myspace, Videos and a new remix

Visit Kava Kava's MYSPACE! and follow the blog to see an ace new video of gig favourite Bank Job. It's a great piece of work, organised by Blink Media and directed by Licorice Films - who have worked with Portishead, Goldfrapp etc) We've also streamed an exclusive preview of an amazing Jon Kennedy remix + a raunchy clip from that naughty Hollywood independent film 'Boys and Girls Guide To Getting Down' featuring Kava Kava's music (the soundtrack also features Goldfrapp, Dirty Vegas and Stanley Clarke) and showing in Europe for the first time at Raindance (7th October)

Kava Kava background

Kava Kava hail from Yorkshire in the UK. Originally starting out as a 4 piece live psychedelic funk outfit with heavy George Clinton influences, they comprise core members Pat Fulgoni as Singer, Brass and Keyboards; Jason on Bass and Electronica, Matt on Guitars and Matt on Drums. In the UK the Kava’s cut their teeth through the underground festival/party scene, with NME describing the band as "gorgeous new psychedelic funk". The band expanded into a six piece and recently the Kava’s have been receiving some serious props for their self produced album “Maui” and digital singles "Tic" "Don't Stop the Music and "Bank Job"

For audio files click 'Maui', 'Funked Up and Freaked Out', 'Bank Job'.

Kava Kava are a very experienced live act having played clubs and festivals right across Europe, Asia and the USA. They have developed their own unique sound as a truly cutting edge live dance act. The "Funked Up and Freaked Out" EP earned the band a No 1 slot in the NME Club Guide Chart (‘funky as hell kids’ said Freddy Fresh) and revealed a timely fix of old school soul influences, over washes of lush bleeps, big beats, rocked out live funk and ass kicking underground grooves. New album “Maui” builds on this yet further, with some startling results and has been played on over 300 college radio stations in the US.

So what is it? Impossible to pin down musically, one thing’s for sure.... On “Maui” Kava Kava are pretty damn original! Disco Funk Rock anyone? Space Funk? Nu School Big Beat? Whatever it is, its Big sounding, its Groovy and its Fresh!

A special edition of Maui has been released in Russia and CIS countries via Moscow label Soyuz Entertainment and has achieved some excellent press in this territory. A special ltd edition digipack version has been released in the US with wallpaper, downloads, posters etc and (doh!) a parental advisory sticker! Key track ‘Don’t Stop The Music’ was used in the first episode of Showtime’s Golden Globe winning TV series ‘Weeds’ featuring Mary Louise Parker.

Tracks from the album have also been licensed to some great compilations on such labels as IRMA (Italy) Sonic (Poland) - first track alongside Michael Stipe, Koop and Zero 7!....... and not forgetting Chocolate Fireguard! (UK) as well as covermounted CDs from mags like DJ magazine (UK) and Ultramix (Czech Republic)

Some press reaction:

BILLBOARD MAGAZINE (US) 9/06 "Despite a hard rock appearance, Kava Kava creates party-worthy music by combining rock, funk, dance and soul.......Kava Kava has already been heard on Showtime series "Weeds" and has been spun by Nic Harcourt on noncommercial KCRW Los Angeles"

MUSIC WEEK MAGAZINE (UK) 1/07 "quietly pricking the ears of the international music community with their rollicking psychedelic dance....look out!"

Some press reaction (Maui CD):

DJ MAGAZINE “should be on every funk and disco playlist,
period!.....Love it!" (4.5/5)

BLUES AND SOUL "It's not often that a debut artist album grips me on first listening but the organic vibe, inspired songwriting and impeccable production of "Maui" is a jaw-dropping phenomenon" (5/5)

M8 MAGAZINE "A bit of an undiscovered gem, this album has a glut of deep soulful grooves and funk-driven songs with a vinyl album sampler to suit many different moods..........check this out for your more laid back gatherings and some essential summer listening." (M7/M8)

FUTURE MUSIC "the future of dance .......... you can hear why they are an essential live experience...."

"Kava Kava has created a musical chimera that is equal parts P-Funk and Roxy Music, as indebted to Stax soul and the Philly sound as it is to the Manchester beat and Brian Eno. Maui is a strong antidote to the bland, lifeless music you'll hear on the radio, an energetic blend of heart and soul that will have you shuffling your feet in spite of your bad self" ALT.CULTURE.GUIDE (US)

"What sets Kava Kava apart from other trancey, vibey electronica is the vocals of Pat Fulgoni. He's got a soulful, powerful voice that is also pretty hypnotic on its own" COSMIK DEBRIS (US)

“Every song in this collection has a nice clean club sound that is distinct and different from anything else on the market. Definitely the hottest dance album in quite some time" STYLUS (US)

“If you're in the mood for social commentary or introspection, keep searching. But if you dig on pretty sounds and funky beats (and I think you do), look no further.” SPLENDID (US)

“...intense dance-music (intense as in Junior-Senior, not the 300bpm dance marathon tracks).rich instrumentation and solid production ensure for a tremendous experience" NEUFUTUR (US)

"Cool grooves, phat beats, funky sounds. Awesome feel-good music...Funky, heavy synth, Brit R&B Hip-Hop dance vibe.” HYBRID MAGAZINE.COM (US)

“...a funky, soulful, bluesy feel with a dance house (almost break beat) rhythm. Kava Kava really raises the bar on dance music with ‘Maui.’ The energy level is through the roof.” 1340 MAG (US)

Live reviews:

"Kava Kava is another mixed bag not afraid to experiment in what they do. They are a concoction of electric soul, funk, blues and rock. On this evidence you can tell why they’ve been round Europe, played Glastonbury and been praised by DJ magazines worldwide. The Huddersfield group are the most eclectic band of the weekend for me, which is why I liked them so much. The fact one minute they would dabble in bleeps, big beats and even horns and the next brass and strings were apparent, left the audience guessing all day long. Each song has about a zillion different phases in and these rare oddities do sound like nothing I’ve heard before" Live review of Scarborough Beached Festival 2006 BBC.CO.UK

"From there, after the Englishwomen in the Pipettes, and a taste of New York jagged funksters the Rapture (who are gamely bringing the saxophone back to indie rock), it was off to see Kava Kava, a band I knew nothing except that adult alternative guru Nic Harcourt had allegedly said they were groovy. (This is how a buzz begins.) Turned out they were big burly guys from Huddersfield in Yorkshire in the north of England, where love for American soul music has always been ardent. Lead singer (and trumpeter!) looked like Pierre Robert crossed with David Clayton Thomas, and was unafraid to bellow out the words "Oh Lawdy Mama!" at the top of his lungs. Excellent guitarist doing strange things wiith foot pedals a la Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, but otherwise it's a staggering (and blessedly) unhip band, with a hard-blowing horn section that reminded me of Tower of Power" Live review of SXSW Festival Texas (Dan DeLuca / Philadelphia Inquirer)

Kava Kava gigs coming up

Saturday 18th August 07 On Top Festival, Hebden Bridge, UK

Sunday 22nd July 07 Eastern Haze Festival, UK

Saturday 21 July 07 World On Your Doorstep Festival,

Hebden Bridge, UK

Saturday 30th June 07 Workhouse Festival, UK

Friday 22nd June 07 Gastonbury Festival, UK

(Dance Village 13.00)

Saturday 5th May 07 4 Live, Shanghai, CHINA

+ DJ Jon Kennedy

Friday 4th May 07 2 Kolegas, Beijing, CHINA

Thursday 3rd May 07 BEIJING MIDI Festival, Beijing, CHINA