Duff Review: King Kong 4 "More Than Just a Plate Full" Single

Winterbeard Records
Two-track digital download
2017

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Given the unbelievably disastrous times we live in (at least here in America), it's hard for me not to think that the kids-learn-bigotry-at-home lyrics of King Kong 4's fantastic "Profile Of A New Elite" are anything but a blunt commentary on the current American president's pernicious and brazenly open cultivation of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, Islamophobes, and their despicable ilk ("Well, boys it's not unlike your father to be hateful/So, eat up because it's not polite to be ungrateful/Deep under every home there's buried a secret/Daddy's digging them out, should they think to keep it/Every member of every family is guilty/Oh, guilty/It's a guilt that is not allowed..."). Then again, it could just be about the awesome power parents have to raise either good and decent human beings or menaces to society.

"Speaking for the Skeptics" is a charming--if melancholy--song told through a paranormal lens about unrequited love with a telephone psychic ("The medium is love/The message is extrasensory/Because you won't even look at me /Clairvoyance has its charm, you said/So does telekinesis, my dear/Use it to let me know you're here/I have had enough/J.B Rhine, or Mirabelli/Well, they might have seen the time/or the love that I'm sending you/But then you won't read my mind/What's the word that I'm searching for/When it's you I want to find/Trying to make that connection/But you're always on the line"). It reminds me of a sticker on a lamppost I see every day on the way to work: "The only magic I still believe in is love."

These are incredible songs (think late 70s Elvis Costello/Joe Jackson meets The Specials) by a stellar band that many more ska fans should make a point to know (and will then love!).

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Want more King Kong 4? Read The Duff Guide to Ska reviews of their There's Not Much That You or I Can Do About It and You Like Awake EPs.

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Duff Review: Susan Cadogan: "Don't Know Why" Single

Three-track digital single/Stonyhill Records
7" single (the flip side is "I Don't Want to Play Around")/Parking Lot Sounds (Japan)
2017

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Masterfully produced by Mitch "King Kong" Girio and backed by the superb King Kong 4, Susan Cadogan's "Don't Know Why" is a phenomenal re-recording of her 1982 Lovers Rock single (written by her brother Paul Cadogan and released in Jamaica during an early 1980s resurgence in her career when she scored a series of hit singles, including "Tracks of My Tears," "Piece of My Heart," "Love Me" and two duets with Ruddy Thomas, "(You Know How to Make Me) Feel So Good," and "Only Heaven Can Wait"). This track and its two versions (my favorite is the "Don't Know Why Not Mix") are heartbreakingly beautiful ("I touch your body with my mind/A sad affair with a sweet memory")--Cadogan's voice is as resplendent and expressive as ever. According to Girio, despite having collaborated on several (excellent) releases now, the Toronto-based producer and JA-residing Cadogan have never met, but what incredible music they make!

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For more on Susan Cadogan, read The Duff Guide to Ska review of her Take Me Back EP (also produced by Girio and featuring King Kong 4).

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Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: The Red Stripes "In the Ska East"

Mod Sound Records
CD
2017

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Made up of British, Canadian, and Aussie ex-pats residing in Hong Kong, The Red Stripes' sound is similar to many bands in the late 80s and early 90s who were heavily influenced by 2 Tone, but shed that scene's rougher edges in favor of the traditional jazzy/big band ska of The Skatalites and their contemporaries (think The Scofflaws, The Busters, Potato 5). Produced by Sean "Cavo" Dinsmore (of the Skaboom and Thrill Me Up era Toasters, who also contributes some vocal effects on one track) and featuring Neville and Christine Staple on "Hong Kong Special," In the Ska East offers a mix of fine instrumentals ("Hong Kong Dub," "Theme from 'Rocky,'" and "Rude Rude Rude") and catchy originals with male and female vocals (and lovely harmonizing) by Fred Croft and Sarah Watson ("Julia Posh," "Let Me Tell Ya," and "OK La"). Based on this album, The Red Stripes seem like they'd be a fantastic night out.

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(Speaking of connections to The Toasters, The Red Stripes' drummer's name is Matt Davis--can't possibly be that one, right?)

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Record Store Day Black Friday 2017 Ska and Reggae Releases

There aren't many RSD Black Friday releases to temp the ska and reggae fan, but what is on offer is pretty enticing!

First up is the Disco Devil red vinyl 12" from Lee "Scratch" Perry and the Full Experience, featuring both the 12" and 7" mixes of the track (versions of Max Romeo's "Chase the Devil"--one of my absolute favorite songs of all time).

The other--and probably harder to track down--release is the double LP (plus bonus 7") Studio One compilation From the Vaults (Obscure Singles Compilation), which is being billed as a collection of 18 "lost" tracks from the late 1960s to the early 1980s by artists like Alton Ellis, Johnny Osbourne, the Gaylads, Roy Tomlinson, the Soulites, the Officials, Glen and Dave, and more.

Happy hunting (for the vinyl above) and Thanksgiving!

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Duff Review: The Selecter "Daylight"

DMF Records
CD/LP
2017

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Ever since this iteration of The Selecter with Pauline Black, Arthur "Gaps" Hendrickson, and (secret weapon) Neil Pyzer began releasing new music, starting with Made in Britain in 2011, each subsequent record has topped the last. Their most recent release, 2015's excellent Subculture (read our ridiculously in-depth review of it), has been surpassed by The Selecter's latest entry Daylight, which may be this band's best record yet.

As one would expect from a 2 Tone act, there are uncompromisingly political songs addressing social, economic, and racial injustice that stimulate one's mind, conscience, and body. The wildly catchy "Frontline" is critical of our smartphone/social media addicted society, where we have significantly more access to (dis)information and each other than ever before in the history of humanity, but actually seem to be increasingly disconnected, numb, and apathetic as a result ("My mind is full/my heart is empty...I need to believe/In something more/Than I wanna stay free"). "Frontline's" reference to the extrajudicial/racial police killing of Eric Garner makes it also a call for real-world, in-person protesting and organizing for justice and change--not Facebook posts that float without impact in the ether of cyberspace. "Taking Back Control" is a potent, fists-in-the-air call to action to counter the rise of ethno-nationalism and right-wing extremism in the UK in the wake of Brexit, while the "arc of history bends towards justice"-themed "Pass the Power" posits that it's long past time that it be given over to "the righteous side." There is great and uncommon empathy expressed in "Paved with Cold" (where the capitalist dream is a nightmare for many), which is sung from the point of view of a lonely homeless person simply trying to survive the winter in a cruel and heartless land ("Spikes where I want to sit...No money is my only crime"). Gaps takes the mic to sing about impending mortality on the Latin ska track "Remember Me" (half its lyrics are in Spanish) and to decry the futility and waste of never-ending war in "Mayhem" (which sounds like it has some Jackie Mittoo/Sound Dimension "Full Up" DNA embedded in there).

But not all is grim in The Selecter's world, Daylight also contains some phenomenally upbeat tunes. "Daylight" is a 1960s AM pop radio ska/soul gem (with Jools Holland on piano!) about the bliss of being in alive and in love. There's an incredibly sprightly and laid-back reggae groove in "Big Badoof," as Pauline and Gaps urge you to keep your chin up, no matter what comes your way. And perhaps the most extraordinary song on the album is "Things Fall Apart," a joyous, Highlife-tinged ska track about black self-empowerment and interdependence--in addition to being an unequivocal demand for equal rights ("I am the master/The master of my fate/I am the captain of my soul/I can make the centre hold...I'll be/Right here behind you/In whatever you do/I won't desert you...If you take/You'd better give me something back!"). "Things Fall Apart" is a reference to Nigerian author Chinua Achebe's novel of the same name about the pernicious effects of British colonialism from an African perspective--and the track's lyrics also relate to books by James Baldwin ("Go Tell It On The Mountain" and "I Am Not Your Negro," an unfinished book about Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr.) and Alex Haley ("Roots"), all of which explore African-American identity, history, and experience in an horrifically racist nation.

Buoyed by an absolutely winning set of songs, this version of The Selecter has never sounded more relaxed and self-assured--Daylight is a triumph!

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The Duff Guide to Ska NYC Fall/Winter 2017/2018 Ska Calendar #56

The one and only Gaz Mayall of The Trojans!

Saturday, December 9, 2017 @ 7:00 pm

The Pandemics, Mad Conductor, Freya Wilcox, MJT, Love is a Fist

The Gateway
1272 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY
$10

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Saturday, December 16, 2017 @ 10:00 pm

Women of Ska, Reggae, and Soul w/Dubistry and Caz Gardiner

Silvana
300 West 116th Street
New York, NY

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Friday, December 22, 2017 @ 7:00 pm

The Slackers (playing the "Red Light" album in its entirety)

The Bell House
149 7th Street
Brooklyn, NY
Tix: $20 in advance/$25 day of show/$32 two-day pass
21+

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Saturday, December 23, 2017 @ 7:00 pm

The Slackers (playing the "Peculiar" album in its entirety)

The Bell House
149 7th Street
Brooklyn, NY
Tix: $20 in advance/$25 day of show/$32 two-day pass
21+

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Wednesday, January 10, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

The Original Wailers, Tribal Seeds, The Expanders

Gramercy Theatre
127 East 23rd Street
New York, NY
$20

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Friday, March 23, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

Hollie Cook

Elsewhere (Hall)
599 Johnson Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$20 in advance/$22 day of show/16+

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The Ninth Annual Montreal Ska Festival: November 23-26, 2017!

The Ninth Annual Montreal Ska Festival (organized by the Montreal Ska Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of Québécois and Canadian ska music and culture) is fast approaching! If you're a fan of the amazing Canadian ska scene (as well as a few American interlopers!), this is the place to be.

Of note, this year's edition of the festival features the return of two very much missed bands, The Kingpins and 2 Stone 2 Skank.

Details on each night's line-up are below and through the links.

Vive le ska!

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Thursday, November 23, 2017 @ 7:00 pm

Kman and the 45s, The Peelers, The Resojets, Les Séparatwists

Cafe Campus - Montreal
57 Prince-Arthur E.
Montreal, Quebec
$15/18+

Friday, November 24, 2017 @ 7:30 pm

2 Stone 2 Skank, Danny Rebel and The KGB, Les Happycuriens, Sammy Kay

Cafe Campus - Montreal
57 Prince-Arthur E.
Montreal, Quebec
$15/18+

Saturday, November 25, 2017

The Kingpins, The Beatdown, Vic Ruggiero and Chris Murray, Skatton Club

Cafe Campus - Montreal
57 Prince-Arthur E.
Montreal, Quebec
$22/18+

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And there are afterparties each night.

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For some more background on the Montreal Ska Festival, read an interview we did with the organizers, Valerie Desnoyers and Lorraine Muller, back in 2011.

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Duff Review: The Stiff Joints "First Proper Album"

Self-released
CD/digital download
2017

(Review by Steve Shafer)

On the surface, the new(ish) First Proper Album from The Stiff Joints is simply incredibly good fun, as the cover image suggests. The band plays amped-up, hook-filled, sing-along-to-the-chorus modern/2 Tone-inspired ska that may remind one of Madness, The Busters, or The Toasters (they must be a blast to see live). However, despite the good-time musical zaniness, the lyrics (full of word-play) reveal that life in The Stiff Joints' version of the world is kind of off-kilter and crappy--and some of the catchiest and most compelling tunes on the album are the darkest. "Mona Lisa"--the sublime, idealized example of Renaissance beauty--is about coming to the realization that it just might be in your own best interest to let your dream girl go. The blistering "Pop A Knocker" (punch a boob?) relates the story of a marriage gone real sour real fast ("Everybody's bringing presents to my wedding because/They are told they have to/As if all these nice pretty things that all my buddies will bring/Will help me love you...Complications have arised/Cannot look you in the eyes/You're a cheating, rotten liar/Breaking us and full of fire/Broken lives and broken dreams/Things are never what they seem...Stick our love right up your bum!"). The positively swinging "Bubble Bubble" is an ode to less painful living through chemistry ("Gotta little something in the palm of my hand/To keep the big bad wolf from coming around (and blowing me down)...Give me a kiss from the sweet angel bliss...I talked to Frankie, he said relax..."), while "Bruno" is about someone completely devoted to drink and drugs and sex in the pursuit of an effortless life (chorus: "I'll do anything/Just as long as I can sit down"). It's a wild ride with The Stiff Joints on First Proper Album (where will you find yourself waking up in the morning?), but completely worth it.

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The Bakesys Release Free "Golden Brown Slices of Toast" Single!

Do The Dog Music
2017

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Following hot on the heels of their excellent new More Bakesys EP (which we've just reviewed), The Bakesys have released a great free digital single, "Golden Brown Slices of Toast" b/w "The Modern Office." Using found bits of audio from 1950s and '60s TV shows and commercials (apparently an obsession of their bass player Stef White) layered over two jaunty ska keyboard instrumentals, they've created sly commentaries on imagined but never really realized "Jetsons"- like idealized futures when "thinking" domestic machines would free housewives from housework ("Golden Brown Slices of Toast") and automated workplaces ("The Modern Office") would allow middle-management men to achieve maximum efficiency with minimal effort ("Very nice. No distractions. Just me and the work."). Good stuff here!

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Rhoda Dakar Launches Crowdfunding Project for "The LoTek Four, Volume II" EP!

Rhoda Dakar (The Bodysnatchers, The Special AKA, Madness collaborator) is preparing to record the second volume in her LoTek Four crowdfunded series of EPs. (Read The Duff Guide to Ska review of The LoTek Four, Volume 1--we liked it a lot!)

If you're interested in supporting this project and receiving a vinyl single or CD in return (you can even opt to have them signed by Ms. Dakar!), you have about a month to make your pledge (the expected delivery of the CDs is February 2018 and the 45s will find their way to fans' mailboxes in March of next year). Since I'm a bit of a music obsessive, I'm going for both CD and vinyl...

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Rhoda is currently touring the UK this November and December--do make sure to catch her if she's playing near you (which means that I need to get myself down to the 2018 Supernova International Ska Festival in Virginia next May)!

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