Ska can be baffling. It’s hard to believe that a genre that is so rich in cultural diversity, talent, and energy, can have such a lack of diversification in sound. Having grown up in the middle of the third wave, this was painfully evident. Sooner or later, everything sounds like Catch-22 and it’s time to move on to something else. Luckily, there are standouts that keep the genre alive and fresh, even if their music was released nearly 3 decades ago.
These three albums are welcome departures from the typical releases of the genre, each bringing a different sound that sets them apart from others – in some cases from even their own catalog.
Big D and the Kids Table – Fluent In Stroll
Boston’s Big D and the Kids Table’s latest release is a complete departure from their earlier works. The high energy ska/punk sound has been replaced with something new - “stroll,” a mix of double-dutch, ska, reggae and soul. The group’s ska/punk sound was fully realized with 2004′s How it Goes and improved upon with the follow-up, Strictly Rude, but went in a completely different, and welcome, direction with this release.
Gone are the high energy tracks like “Noise Complaint” and “You Lost, You’re Crazy”, replaced with love songs like “Describing The Sky” and “A Kiss A Week”. Dave McWane’s vocals, accompanied by the Doped up Dollies, are smooth, melodic, and for the most part an absolute pleasure to listen to. The album takes a bit of a downturn at “My Thoughts Take Me Away”, but quickly recovers with the final track, “We Can Live Anywhere!”
Oh, and the Doped up Dollies are sexy. 2 out of the 4 are from CT’s Tip The Van.
Kid British – It Was This or Football (First Half)
I stumbled across this album just a couple of weeks ago, and have listened to it at least a dozen times since. It really isn’t hard to do, though, as there are only 5 tracks. As the title says, this is only the first half of the album and I can’t wait for the other half to be released in January 2010.
Kid British, a ska/pop/hip-hip band from Manchester, UK has only been around for about 2 years, but has accomplished quite a bit in such a short amount of time. They’ve toured with 2-tone legends, The Specials, and released a single in June that performed well, despite being in the middle of a flood of Michael Jackson re-releases coinciding with his death. The Single, Our House is Dadless, makes use of a sample of Madness’ Our House and is terribly catchy. These guys are making some wise decisions when it comes to influences and who they spend time with, and I’m sure they’ll be putting out some really great tunes in the new year.
The English Beat – I Just Can’t Stop It
UK band The Beat’s first album was released several months before I was born and is one of my favorites. Even if you’ve never heard of them, there is no doubt that you’ve heard their music before. Mirror In The Bathroom, a classic song, was featured in 1997′s Gross Pointe Blank and Hands Off… She’s Mine was featured in 2004′s 50 First Dates. Their cover of Tears Of A Clown in unmistakable and Best Friend is a classic 80′s tune and this doesn’t even touch upon the album’s bright spots.
More than 30 years later, Dave Wakeling continues to tour with The English Beat and is still making the crowd twist and crawl like it’s 1980. Just check out the video clip on this page from a show I caught just a few months ago. There are 2 more clips from the show on my YouTube channel.
So, the next time you find yourself looking for something to listen to, give one of these 3 albums a shot. You probably won’t regret it, but if you do, you can always take solace in the fact that you probably illegaly downloaded them and didn’t spend a cent in doing so. Fucking pirates.
