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A drummer with New Zealand acts like Ladi6, Opensouls, and Fat Freddy's Drop, Julien Dyne is also a producer, DJ, and artist who crafts electronic music inspired by instrumental hip-hop, jazz, and funk. Dyne began his career as a producer in the mid-2000s, learning by watching peers such as Opensouls' Jeremy Toy and James Duncan and experimenting on his own. After attending the Red Bull Music Academy in Rome in 2004 and again in 2007 in Cologne (this time working with Theo Parrish, Mark Pritchard, and Sa-Ra's Om'Mas Keith), he issued his debut EP, Phantom Limbo; the lead single, "Maddingos," was nominated for an award by bNet, a New Zealand student radio network. His 2009 full-length, Pins and Digits, which featured collaborations with his Opensouls and Ladi6 bandmates as well as his father Paul, earned praise from Gilles Peterson and Benji B. Two years later, Dyne returned with Glimpse, which built on the futuristic, synth-heavy direction of his previous album and featured vocal cameos by Electric Wire Hustle's Mara TK and Claire Duncan of Dear Times Waste. For 2013's December, Dyne took inspiration from modern R&B's layered vocal harmonies and fragmented beats. ~ Heather Phares

Ladi6 is a contemporary R&B singer and rapper who made her solo album debut in 2008 after years of group and collaborative activity. Born Karoline Tamati and based in Auckland, New Zealand, she began her career as a member of the all-girl hip-hop group Sheelahroc. Active during the early 2000s, the group had a minor hit with "If I Gave You the Mic." During the mid-2000s she was a member of a different group, Verse Two, a contemporary R&B band with a hip-hop edge. In addition to this group activity, she collaborated with a wide range of artists over the years, among them Shapeshifter, Scribe (her cousin), Fat Freddy's Drop, and 50Hz. At long last, Ladi6 made her solo album debut in 2008 with Time Is Not Much. Produced by Parks and Mu of Fat Freddy's Drop, Time Is Not Much was a Top Five hit on the New Zealand albums chart and was released in Australia as well. The album includes the single "Walk Right Up." The non-album single "Go Get It" was released by the renowned German electronica label Compost Records around the same time. ~ Jason Birchmeier