New Zealand's reggae/funk sensations The Black Seeds are ready to take listeners one step deeper into the Other Down Under with infectious grooves, slamming brass, and booty shaking beats on the group's first North American release, Solid Ground (Easy Star Records; Released exclusively on iTunes September 15; everywhere else September 29, 2009), and on their debut U.S. tour with John Brown's Body this September. The Black Seeds have their roots in the coastal capital city of Wellington, New Zealand - a small, tight-knit creative community that in recent years has produced such things as The Lord Of The Rings films and the comedy duo Flight Of The Conchords (one of whom, Bret McKenzie, was a member of The Black Seeds until recently). The 8-piece group push out dirty dancehall and a deep throbbing dub that has topped the New Zealand charts since 2001.

It may sound like a Kiwi novelty but New Zealand's sparkling beaches and green, rolling hills proved the perfect place for transplanting Jamaican sounds. Reggae has been a passion for New Zealanders since the 1970s, marked by a pivotal Bob Marley concert in 1979 and the growing support and struggle for native Maori cultural and political recognition in their native land of Aotearoa, the Maori name for New Zealand. The music and lifestyle flourished in the laidback island vibe of Wellington, the country's small coastal metropolis with its village feel, vibrant arts scene, and penchant for jazz, dub, and hip hop.

Today's New Zealand reggae, thanks in part to bands like The Black Seeds, has dug into 1970's-flavored funk and soul, and spawned popular reggae festivals, #1 hits, and multi-platinum album sales. "New Zealand reggae is not strictly reggae. We have our own sounds. It's been a small but influential scene for a long time, and as a teen, I remember going to hear big sound systems," The Black Seeds' guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Barnaby Weir recalls. "We've been playing parties for something like fifteen years. But the scene now has hit a popular phase. It's almost a trend in a way. Being from an underground band, I've watched it really come into its own over the last five years."

Coming into its own has also meant hitting the world stage, as audiences and critics across Australasia and Europe have embraced The Black Seeds. Along with going double-platinum in New Zealand for previous releases and earning strong reviews worldwide for Solid Ground, The Black Seeds regularly sell out shows in Europe and perform at major festivals such as Denmark's Roskilde, London's Lovebox, Holland's Lowlands Festival, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Now, with support of renegade label Easy Star - the devious masterminds behind Dub Side of the Moon, Radiodread, and Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band - North America will finally get a taste of New Zealand's increasingly popular dub vibes in the spirit reflected by the Seeds' name: the legendary panacea of Black Seed Oil and the roots that remind humanity of our common origin.

"We are all from the cradle of civilization in the Congo, and it all developed from there and migrated all the way to the islands of the South Pacific," muses Weir. "We made it down here. There are African rhythms in every music, and we believe you can find the journey of the rhythm all the way down to New Zealand."