Packed with positive messages, powerful dubs and pulsing and quick-paced rhythms, The Black Seeds are already being heralded as part of  “the forefront of the New Zealand reggae/roots scene” — and damned if I knew there was even such a thing — but after hearing this 8-piece, all of whom provide a spectacular cacophony of drums, keyboards, bongos, trumpets, and one of the best voices in modern reggae, I’m on board.

From the Wailers-tinged, slowed-down, brassed-up groove of “Send a Message” to the more Specials-ized “Rotten Apple,” and the Funkadelic-ish “Afrophone”, you’ve got a reggae group which has wisely — if brazenly — chosen to wear their influences much like they wear their emotions: unabashed, on their sleeves, and touting a hopeful outlook on life in songs like “Love is a Radiation”, “One Step at a Time, ” and “Strugglers,” which hopes that the listener will “give what they can” and  be a contributing member of society even throughout their own respective hardships.

The point is: This is great, if somewhat rehashed, modern reggae, and you can get a little of the new and a lot of the old right now on Red Bull Music Academy Radio. As a random side note, Flight of the Conchords member Bret McKenzie is one of the original members of The Black Seeds. It’s kind of interesting to hear his somewhat-more-serious side, and hearing yet another facet of his multi-talented musical personality come out.