Do the Dog Music2008
Wales-based Dirty Revolution offers up a good hybrid of rough and ready, guitar-based punky-reggae/ska similar to Citizen Fish, though this band sports alternating male and female vocalists (always welcome in ska--why aren't there more female-fronted ska bands?!--Reb Sutton has a terrific, powerful voice, reminding one of Rhoda Dakar). On this five-song CD EP (all tracks can be sampled on their MySpace page), Dirty Revolution also share many of the same concerns as Citizen Fish with their socially-conscious lyrics promoting peace, understanding, unity, and freedom (no complaints here).
"Dirty Revolution" is the band's fired-up manifesto: everything that is messed up in the world can only be solved by all of us getting our hands dirty, so to speak (Everybody knows the times are changing/Everybody sees the mess we're making/Everybody's in the fight we're facing/If it's set on fire only we can save us"). "I Love Reggae" recounts the tale of being tripped up by subcultural signifiers--trying to pick up a skinhead she assumes is anti-racist...("I said I love reggae/I said I love ska/He said he loved Screwdriver...You can call me naive/call me stupid/I can't believe people still listen to nazi music...Him and me wear the same clothes?"). Either way, an ironic lesson in judging a book by its cover, eh?
"Failure to Communicate" features a great melodica line, while noting how far too many people talk at each other and, as a result, solve nothing ("Now everybody's talking and I think that what is missing/Is ability to listen to what is being said/Instead of blankly nodding your head/Ignoring what you hear 'cos you're waiting for your chance to speak"). "50p" is a funny, kind of sweet deflating of idiotic superstar posturing (a la 50 Cent and Britney), while the hard, angry reggae skank of "Police" (melodica here, too!) bemoans the fact that the coppers never seem to be around while things are going to hell, but "as soon as you deviate from the norm/then they'll come/then they'll swarm."
Dirty Revolution is certainly an up-and-coming band to keep tabs on--can't wait to see what they're going to bring to the barricades next time...
Grade: B/B+
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