Thursday, March 29, 2018

The Duff Guide to Ska NYC Spring/Summer 2018 Ska Calendar #5

The Beat (Photo by Syd Shelton, Coventry 1981)
Saturday, March 31, 2018 @ 5:30 pm

45 Adapters 10th Anniversary Party w/Hub City Stompers, Duffy's Cut, Legion 76, Guns Don't Run, No Parole, Los Perros, Lvger

The Kingsland
269 Norman Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$10/16

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Saturday, April 14, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

The Pandemics, Abracadabra, Go Big, Raise the Kicks

El Cortez
17 Ingraham Street
Brooklyn, NY
$10/21+

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Friday, April 20, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

The Annual 4:20 Reggae Fiesta on the River w/Dub is a Weapon, Crazy Baldhead Dub Apparatus, plus Specials Guests TBA

Rocks Off Concert Cruise - Aboard the Harbor Lights
Boards at 23rd Street and the FDR
Manhattan, NY
$29 in advance/$35 day of show
21+

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Friday, April 20, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

Vic Ruggiero, The Hempsteadys, Charlie Whites

Gold Sounds
44 Wilson Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$10

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Sunday, April 22, 2018 @ 2:30 pm (Note: Matinee show!)

Brooklyn Rising w/The Ladrones, Escarioka, Babe Patrol, Ensemble Cavalera

Brooklyn Bazaar
150 Greenpoint Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$10/All ages

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Friday, April 27, 2018 @ 10:00 pm

Dubistry

Silvana
300 West 116th Street
New York, NY

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Sunday, April 29, 2018 @ 1:00 pm (Note: Matinee show!)

Mephiskapheles, 45 Adapters, ACHE, Suburban Sensi

Knitting Factory Brooklyn
361 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$15 in advance/$18 day of show
All ages

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Thursday, May 3, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

H.R. (of Bad Brains), Super Hi-Fi, Beat Brigade

Bowery Electric
327 Bowery
New York, NY
$12 in advance/$16 day of show
21+

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Saturday, May 12, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

Hub City Stompers (album release show), No Redeeming Social Value, Ladrones, NAA

El Cortez
17 Ingraham Street
Brooklyn, NY
$12/21+

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Saturday, May 12, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

Buster Shuffle w/Mickey Rickshaw

Gold Sounds
44 Wilson Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$12/21+

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Friday, May 18, 2018

Roddy Radiation and The Scotch Bonnets

Hank's Saloon
46 Third Avenue (corner of Atlantic)
Brooklyn, NY

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Friday, June 1, 2018 @ 9:00 pm

The Slackers

White Eagle Hall
337 Newark Avenue
Jersey City, NJ
$20-$25
18+

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Sunday, June 24, 2018 @ 7:30 pm

The Toasters, Beat Brigade, Joker's Republic

Knitting Factory Brooklyn
361 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$15 in advance/$17 day of show
All ages

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Friday, March 16, 2018

Duff Interview: Heavyball!


[Editor's note: Thanks to the members of Heavyball for taking the time to answer our questions (and to their manager Ed for arranging everything)! If you haven't heard about their brilliant new album "When Can You Start?," read The Duff Guide to Ska review of it here!]

The Duff Guide to Ska: What inspired you to write "When Can You Start?" as a concept album about a week in the life of British workers? Were any of the songs based on some of your actual work experiences? (Do you all have day jobs?)

Iball: "All the band have jobs. I guess it's just part of the music scene now; having to do a day job when you have another passion. It ends up highlighting the both of them. It doesn't matter what I am doing at work, sometimes you can't help but think about the band and the music that you would rather be doing. In lots of ways it's good to have a job, as the characters you meet inform a lot of what we do and write about. The album is about the grind that so many people go through."

Bigface: "I think it would have been a difficult album to get right if we didn't have day jobs - at least it's authentic art! 'Retail is Detail' was inspired by eating a ropey pasty in my car, on a lunch break, in the carpark of an 'out of town shopping village.' Really fucking depressing."

Frosty: "We can only write about what we know and the day job is something we all have in common. It’s one of those difficult situations where we don’t want to sound like tortured artists because we are forced to work the 9-5 and our lives are terrible, but at the same time we want to talk about the monotony of the 9-5."

The Duff Guide to Ska: What were you listening to, watching, or reading when writing these songs? 

Iball: "I can't really think of anything in particular, but possibly the way I have been consuming things is different than it used to be and informed what I wanted to bring to the album. I know there is a tendency to assume times have changed and it's all about the immediate, but I love podcasts like 'Serial' and 'Shit Town.' They aren't quick. They take a story and investigate it over a number of weeks. We wanted to tell a story rather than a collection of 'singles.' The hope is that people will listen to it as an album."

Bigface: "A lot of the Beatles/WHO/Kinks, quite a bit of Two-Tone, and a dash of Country 'n' Western!"

Frosty: "We recorded the album over a long period of time and wrote it over an even longer period, so it changed a lot. No doubt I had a lot of The Clash and Jimi Hendrix for most of it. I was listening to a lot of The Smiths around the time we wrote and recorded 'After Dark,' which definitely influenced how the riff ended up sounding."

The Duff Guide to Ska: I think of "When Can You Start?" as kind of a mod-ska-Britpop opera (kind of like The Who's "Tommy" or "Quadrophenia"). Is that on the mark? Are you playing the album in its entirety live? Are their plans to make a long form video or do something else with this cycle of songs? 

Iball: "To be mentioned alongside those albums is as good as it gets! We all listen to The Who. It's great that they were ambitious with the music they did. Personally, some the of the slower songs on our album are the ones I like the best, but we get to play them the least. Our live set tends to be more high tempo and we bring a few slower ones in as we go. Maybe as the album gets out there and better known it might give us more licence to play 'Yesterday's Man' for example. I would love to play the album live in its entirety at some point! We work with the film director Sameer Patel and he has done a great job with our videos. I know if we had the time and budget he would love to pull the album together into one video/film."

Bigface: "I'd actually listened to a great deal of 'Tommy' on vinyl, and that kind of interconnected journey is what we were going for. Something good about the resurgence of vinyl in the digital age, which means you can go back to a collection of joined up songs, rather than random singles on your phone. Suppose it's easy to disappear up your own arse with a concept album, so glad you like it!"

Frosty: "We haven’t been able to play the whole set live so far, but we are looking into how we can start bringing parts of the slower songs in. It really feels like we have just started with this album and are still exploring the full possibilities and potential of what we can do with it, so I wouldn’t rule anything out yet. We tried songs like 'No More 9 to 5' live a few times, but the reception can be hit and miss. Now the album is out and people have had a chance to hear it then we might be able to start bringing it out again."

The Duff Guide to Ska: I love the track "After Dark" and how it describes how London "breathes" at the end of the workday--and suggests that there's another way to live and work. Overall, the album is critical of Western capitalism--what do you think is the better alternative to aspire to?

Iball: "'After Dark' has a different feel to the rest. I think it means different things to different members of the band. For me, I see a late night/early morning walk home at that cross over time where you pass people coming home on a night out and people heading to work. I imagine the lads will all have something else it means to them. They way we live and the system we are in is fucked. It functions, but only a few really get what they want out of it. I love London and love living here. However, it is a huge beast that sucks the money out of people and pushes people hard in the process."

Bigface: "We're not Communists or anything, but I suppose a lot of people feel trapped in the system. I suppose Capitalism is the worst system there is, apart from all the other ones we've tried!"

Habs: "There is something about the city being a living thing...maybe even a monster for some. There is a history of London by Peter Ackroyd called 'London the Biography,' which talks about the city as a living thing with each area having its own distinct personality. I think there is a sense of that in 'After Dark.'"

The Duff Guide to Ska: The album closer "No More 9 to 5" is both defiant and defeated--death is the only way out. Why did you chose to end the album in that fashion? 

Iball: "We originally recorded this track in Leeds and in a classic rock and roll story, that we can't go into, the whole session was lost. It was written and recorded just after the band lost someone close to us and there is no doubt that it made the song what it is. It is defiant and takes the end of the world head on. If the world was going to end tomorrow, you wouldn't be going to work. That shows you how important work really is."

Bigface: "It was inspired by the death of someone very close to the band, and it was a kind of black swan event that shows you how these unexpected, catastrophic moments can hit you out of the blue. Makes you realise how pointless working a shit job you hate, to pay off a shiny car you don't need is - in the grand scheme of things!"

The Duff Guide to Ska: What does the name Heavyball mean or refer to? 

Iball: "I am not answering this question! Ha!"

Bigface: "Ask Johnny."

Habs: "It was the name of a family dog Bigface and I had when we were young. Think it was a Bedlington terrier."

The Duff Guide to Ska: What's next for the band?

Iball: "We just want to get the album out there to as many people as possible. I can't tell you how proud I am to have been part of the process and to do it with my best mates makes me feel honored."

Bigface: "Keep playing, keep writing - have some fun. What more could you ask?!"

Frosty: "Hopefully, anything and everything. We are looking forward to a year of festivals, tours and anything else that comes with being in a rock band."

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Thursday, March 15, 2018

Duff Review: Super Hi-Fi "I'm Only Sleeping" b/w "Hole In My Life"

Electric Cowbell Records
Vinyl single with picture sleeve
2018

(Review by Steve Shafer)

On this incredible single, Super Hi-Fi cover "I'm Only Sleeping," which, of course, is a John Lennon-penned tune from what is probably one of the greatest rock albums of all time--The Beatles' Revolver. In this version, dual trombones take on the vocal lines, often harmonizing--and this instrument is a perfect choice to express the lethargy (and rejection of the world outside) of Lennon's song. Super Hi-Fi's "I'm Only Sleeping" weaves back and forth from a 60s AM pop instrumental with the classic horn arrangements of that time (see The Beatles' "Got to Get You Into My Life"--an ode to pot, not a woman) to a stripped-down, dubby reggae skank with the t-bones floating drowsily on top. (The bits of backwards guitar in the middle of the track are a particularly sweet touch and tribute/link to the original.) The flip side is a wildly good free-form jazz/rock/reggae interpretation of The Police's "Hole In My Life" that appears on their Blue and White album (which we reviewed)--and has a Beatles connection tucked in there, too.

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Saturday, March 10, 2018

Duff Review: The Busters "Straight Ahead"!

Ska Revolution Records
CD (Available in the US through Jump Up Records.)
2017

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Germany's Busters (whom I once described as The Specials crossed with The Skatalites on speed) have been chugging along in various permutations since their fantastic debut album Ruder Than Rude way back in 1988 (when they were one of the leaders of the late '80s/early '90s Germany ska scene that included El Bosso und die Ping Pongs, No Sports, The Frits, Skaos, The Braces, The Butlers, Blechreiz, and more). In addition to a slew of live recordings over the years, Straight Ahead is their 15th studio album and features the great Dr. Ring Ding, AKA Richie Alexander, as a full member of the band (he was also in El Bosso und die Ping Pongs back in the day). This development is sort of a mixed blessing for the band--Dr. Ring Ding's songwriting and performing skills significantly enhance the quality of the album, but several of these tracks end up sounding less like Busters songs and more like unadulterated Dr. Ring Ding cuts ("Hunky Dory" in particular), which certainly isn't a bad thing (and in all fairness, some of his tunes are bona fide Busters songs, like "Straight Ahead"). Perhaps this album should have been conceived and presented as Dr. Ring Ding Meets The Busters?

Apart from the split-personality of this album, The Busters' Straight Ahead is another excellent release in a long string of them from this unstoppable band. Amongst these 17 tracks, there is a lot to like here. Some of the top tunes composed by Dr. Ring Ding include the nostalgia for the 2 Tone era in "The Best of Times" ("I was a three minute hero/On a night boat to Cairo/I went one step beyond/with Pauline and James Bond"); the fiercely anti-racist/pro-immigrant "Chase Them Away" ("Some people walk around the streets of Germany/Mess up everybody's mind with their imbecility/With nothing to to be proud of but their nationality/And denying needy folks help and hospitality"); the fantastically funky, trying to change my bad ways "Ain't Gonna Do It Again" ("Used to do my dance and fake romance/Ain't gonna do it again..."); and "The Devil Made Me Do It" (a blistering track condemning priests who molest underage boys--and the first time I've heard a reference to St. Pancras in a ska song!). Other terrific songs by other members of The Busters are the pro-science "Love and Prayer Mania" ("Worship is their cure to save the earth/I'd feel much safer with some good engineers/To turn down the heating right now, right here/And some psychiatrists to soothe everybody's nerves"); the encouraging, roll with the punches of life "Rope-a-Dope"; the Ayn Randian, dog-eat-dog lusting for the good life of "Famine or Feast"; the creepy stalker of a celebrity in "No. 1 Fan" ("When you act like you don't know me/I still know that we are homies"); and the absurdly hilarious Chuck Berry-ish "T.I.N.A. to Ska" ("Some choices are quite awful/The devil or the deep blue sea/But then again in a deli/You will pick quite happily/It's clear from here to Srinagar/There's no alternative to ska!").

If you don't already know The Busters or lost their thread over the years, Straight Ahead is a great (re)entry point--and up-to-date fans will, of course, need this record in their collection.

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[Ich spreche/schreibe kein Deutsch, also hoffe ich, dass Google Übersetzer gut funktioniert!]

Deutschlands Busters (die ich einmal als die Specials bezeichnet habe, die sich mit den Skatalites auf Speed ​​kreuzten) tuckern seit ihrem fantastischen Debütalbum Ruder Than Rude im Jahr 1988 in verschiedenen Permutationen mit (als sie eine der führenden Bands der späten 80er/Anfang der 90er Jahre Deutschland Ska-Szene, die El Bosso und sterben Ping Pongs, No Sports, Die Frits, Skaos, The Braces, The Butlers, Blechreiz, und mehr). Neben zahlreichen Live-Aufnahmen ist Straight Ahead im Laufe der Jahre ihr 15. Studioalbum mit dem großen Dr. Ring Ding, AKA Richie Alexander, als Vollmitglied der Band (er war auch in El Bosso und die Ping Pong Zurück in den Tag). Diese Entwicklung ist für die Band ein zweischneidiges Glück - Dr. Ring Ding's Songwriting und Performing Fähigkeiten verbessern die Qualität des Albums erheblich, aber einige dieser Tracks klingen weniger nach Busters Songs und eher nach unverfälschten Dr. Ring Ding Kürzungen ("Hunky Dory" im Besonderen), was sicherlich kein schlechte Sache (und in aller Fairness, einige seiner Songs sind echte Busters Songs, wie "Straight Ahead"). Vielleicht sollte dieses Album als Dr. Ring Ding Meets The Busters konzipiert und präsentiert worden sein?

Abgesehen von der Split-Persönlichkeit dieses Albums ist The Busters' Straight Ahead eine weitere exzellente Veröffentlichung in einer langen Reihe von ihnen aus dieser unaufhaltsamen Band. Unter diesen 17 Tracks gibt es hier viel zu sehen. Einige der Top-Tunes von Dr. Ring Ding enthalten die Nostalgie für die 2-Ton-Ära in "The Best of Times" ("Ich war ein Drei-Minuten-Held/Auf einem Nachtboot nach Kairo/Ich ging einen Schritt weiter/mit Pauline und James Bond"); der heftig anti-rassistische/pro-immigrant "Chase Them Away" ("Manche Menschen laufen durch die Straßen Deutschlands/Versammeln jeden mit seiner Schwachsinnigkeit/Mit nichts, worauf man stolz sein kann, aber ihre Nationalität/Und bedürftigen Menschen zu helfen und zu helfen Gastfreundschaft"); der fantastisch funky, versuchend, meine schlechten Weisen zu ändern "wird nicht es wieder tun" ("verwendete, um meinen Tanz zu tun und gefälschte Romanze/wird es nicht wieder tun..."); und "Der Teufel ließ mich es tun" (ein glühender Track, der Priester verurteilte, die minderjährige Jungs belästigten - und das erste Mal, dass ich in einem Ska-Lied einen Hinweis auf St. Pancras hörte!). Andere großartige Songs von anderen Mitgliedern von The Busters sind die pro-Wissenschaft "Love and Prayer Mania" ("Anbetung ist ihre Heilung, um die Erde zu retten/Ich würde mich mit einigen guten Ingenieuren viel sicherer fühlen/Um die Heizung jetzt abzulehnen, genau hier/Und einige Psychiater, die alle nerven sollen"); das Aufmuntern, Rollen mit den Schlägen des Lebens "Rope-a-Dope"; der Ayn Randian, Hund, der nach dem guten Leben von "Hungersnot oder Schmaus" lechzt; der gruselige Stalker einer Berühmtheit in "No. 1 Fan" ("Wenn du dich benimmst wie du, kennst du mich nicht/ich weiß immer noch, dass wir Homies sind"); und die absurd urkomische Chuck Berry-ish "T.I.N.A to Ska" ("Einige Entscheidungen sind ziemlich schrecklich/Der Teufel oder das tiefblaue Meer/Aber dann wieder in einem Deli/Sie werden ganz glücklich/Es ist klar von hier nach Srinagar /There's keine Alternative zu Ska!").

Wenn du The Busters noch nicht kennst oder im Laufe der Jahre den Faden verloren hast, ist Straight Ahead ein großartiger (Re-) Einstiegspunkt - und aktuelle Fans werden diese Platte natürlich in ihrer Sammlung brauchen.

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Thursday, March 8, 2018

Rhoda Dakar Releases "A Change is Gonna Come (#Never Again)" in Support of the Parkland Student Activists and Gun Control!

Rhoda Dakar and her band have recorded a powerful version of Sam Cooke's 1964 track "A Change Is Gonna Come" (which became an anthem for the US Civil Rights movement) with new lyrics in support of the students who survived the Parkland school shooting and have banded together to lobby for sane gun control laws to be implemented in order to prevent future mass shootings at schools and elsewhere.

Here are Dakar's lyrics:

"I was born in a place where firearms were rife
and the right to those guns was worth more than my life
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come
Oh, yes it will

I'm just a school student and I'm afraid to die
I demand politicians don't just walk on by
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come
Oh, yes it will

So, I turn to the Congress
I say people, 'help me, please!'
But they wind up knocking me
Back down on my knees

I'm not safe at a movie, a nightclub, nor at school
These weapons they kill children, we must change the rules
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come
Oh, yes it will"

The video lists the death tolls from mass shootings in the US from 1984 to the present day and Parkland.

Here is Dakar's statement about the video: "After the latest mass shooting in the US, the surviving schoolchildren have found their collective voices and are calling for gun control to finally be implemented. For the first time I can remember, their campaign has gained traction and the NRA is losing corporate support. More power to them, I say! Anyway, I wasn't able to follow George and Amal Clooney and donate half a million dollars, but we did record a song for them. Hope it helps! #NeverAgain"



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Update from Rhoda Dakar (3/15/18):

"We will donate some of the money (if we make any) to the March For Our Lives--London. We can't donate it all, as the publishers have to be paid, which is as it should be. For now, the track is available to download from my Music Glue site. It will, however, go up on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc. Once again, not sure how long that will take, but iTunes will take longest. For now, you can get it from here: https://www.musicglue.com/rhoda-dakar/products/a-change-is-gonna-come-number-neveragain.

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Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Record Store Day 2018: US and UK Ska and Reggae Releases!

As always, the UK Record Store Day ska and reggae offerings outshine their US counterparts (I'm looking at you, Madness, Jackie Mittoo, and Prince Fatty!). Good luck tracking these down if you're not in the UK--they're gonna be pricey (and then there's the shipping...).

I do want to highlight that Chuck Wren's Jump Up Records is participating in the US RSD and issuing The Skatalites' 1994 album Hi-Bop Ska for the first time on vinyl! This is a big deal! Congrats, Chuck! And the fantastic DC-area indie record shop Crooked Beat is releasing the second volume of Recutting the Crap (read The Duff Guide to Ska review of Recutting the Crap, Volume 1).

Record Store Day 2018 is taking place on Saturday, April 21, which gives you some time to stockpile some cash for when you hit the shops and (hopefully) buy some of these beauties.


Record Store Day 2018 UK

Bim Sherman: "Lightning and Thunder (Mungo's Hi Fi remix)" 10" (Scotch Bonnet Records)

Black Slate: "Peaceful Demonstration"/"Redemption Song"/"Should I Go or Should I Stay" 12" (Slate Records)

Bunny Striker Lee: Reggae Going International 1967-76 2xLP (Kingston Sounds)

Creation Rebel: Dub from Creation LP (On-U Sound)

DJ Spooky: Phantom Dancehall LP (VP Records)

Duke Reid All Stars/Roland Alphonso: "Judge Sympathy" b/w "Never To Be Mine" 7" single (Trojan)

Eek-A-Mouse: "Ganja Smuggling" b/w "Smuggling Version" 7" single (Greensleeves)

The Hempolics: "Riding for a Fall" b/w "Come As You Are" 12" (Shark Free Records)

Madness: I Do Like To Be B-side The A-side 12" heavyweight black vinyl (Universal) -- This is a compilation of their b sides, includes "Madness," "In The City," and "Mistakes."

The Maytones: Only Your Picture LP (Burning Sounds)

Jackie Mittoo: Showcase ("Disco Jack," "Earthquake,"Brain Mark," "Drum Song") 7" (VP/17 North Parade)

Prince Fatty: "Sunshine (featuring Omar and Fatlip)" 7" (Evergreen Recordings)

V/A: Rock Steady Box 7" box set (Trojan)

V/A: Soul Jazz Records Presents Studio One Dubplate Special 7" box set (Soul Jazz) -- This features eight singles featuring Alton Ellis, Cedric Brooks, Brentford Road All Stars, Jacob Miller, and more!


Record Store Day 2018 USA

Creation Rebel: Dub from Creation LP (On-U Sound)

DJ Spooky: Phantom Dancehall LP (VP Records)

Duke Reid All Stars/Roland Alphonso: "Judge Sympathy" b/w "Never To Be Mine" 7" single (Trojan)

Eek-A-Mouse: "Ganja Smuggling" b/w "Smuggling Version" 7" single (Greensleeves)

The Maytones: Only Your Picture LP (Burning Sounds)

The Skatalites: Hi-Bop Ska LP (Jump Up/Shanachie)

V/A: Natural High: The Bongo Man Collection 2xLP (Studio One)

V/A: Recutting the Crap, Volume 2 2xLP (Crooked Beat Records)

V/A: Soul Jazz Records Presents Studio One Dubplate Special 7" box set (Soul Jazz) -- This features eight singles featuring Alton Ellis, Cedric Brooks, Brentford Road All Stars, Jacob Miller, and more!

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Happy hunting!

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Sunday, March 4, 2018

Duff Review: The Porkers "Make Hey" b/w "Emulsified"

Radley Records
Vinyl single with picture sleeve
2018

(Review by Steve Shafer)

After a bit of a hiatus, The Porkers are back on the beat with an excellent new single for the masses. "Make Hey" (a little bit of twist on the idiom) is a catchy, upbeat, mid-tempo ska track about owning up/making peace with your mistakes and, more importantly, moving on: "I'm gonna make hey/While the sun don't shine/Forget about my yesterday/And leave it all behind/I make hey/With just a little time/I paid you back my debt/So, let's drink a beer for the past." The Porkers shift gears on the b-side and let it rip on an early rock 'n' roll-styled cover of Rex Garvin and The Mighty Cravers' great 1961 rhythm and blues single "Emulsified" --which is about being all stirred up inside from being in love. (Specials fans know, of course, that Garvin also wrote "Sock It To 'Em J.B.," which they recorded for More Specials.) Both tracks are more than suitable for play on dive-bar jukeboxes and at boozy (finished) basement dance parties.

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Friday, March 2, 2018

Duff Review: Super Hi-Fi "Blue and White"!

Very Special Recordings
CD/digital/Limited-edition LP with hand silk-screened cover
2018

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Blue and White is the terrifically inventive and adventurous second album from Brooklyn's Super Hi-Fi, who play a riotous but fascinating mix of ska, reggae, dub, post-punk/rock, and free-form jazz (think Skatalites, Specials, Lee Perry, Sun Ra), sometimes all within the confines of the same track (check out the amazing, epic musical odyssey of "Biking to Bushwick"). Die hard ska fans might want to focus on the more traditionally-minded songs, which make great use of the double t-bones in the band, as an entry point. Go to the brisk, trad ska instrumental "Gale Caution," the sweet and sad, '60s-styled vocal harmonies of the countrified "Fergie" ("Now this fighting seems unending/I don't recall why we're not two"), even the dread, almost militant "Dub to the Bone." But once you're in, head straight for the spectacular ska/rock/dub of "Space Needle" (mixed by Victor Rice), which begins as a wicked ska stomper (reminding me one of Bad Manners' late '80s instrumentals) before settling into a dubbed/chilled-out groove. Then move on to the alternately punky and ska "Keep It Dirty" (a tribute of sorts to the sadly discontinued Dirty Reggae Parties in Bushwick), the distorted, mega-bass driven and kind of menacing "Blue and White" ("We're going down, down, down, down underground/Come with me and you'll see how easy"), and the almost unbearable tension generated by being trapped in life you hate and becoming hateful yourself in "Little Black Book."

I'll cop to being a ridiculously huge fan of The Police back in my high school years in the '80s, so I'm thrilled by Super Hi-Fi's radical--in every sense of the word--version of "Hole In My Life" (off of The Police's debut 1978 album Outlandos d'Amour) that so aptly expresses the desperation and high drama of Sting's original--and make sure to listen to the how the trombones quote The Beatles' "Fixing a Hole" at the end! (On a related note, "Hole In My Life" is also available as a vinyl single, backed with a incredible cover of The Beatles' "I'm Only Sleeping.") Super Hi-Fi's "Gone" also explores the similar feelings of being left behind, abandoned, and discarded when the relationship's over and you haven't moved on (the video even has a sly nod to another Police track with a tiny message pulled out of a bottle on a beach!).

This is a stellar album from a band you need to know (if you don't already!).

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Thursday, March 1, 2018

The Duff Guide to Ska NYC Winter/Spring/Summer 2018 Ska Calendar #4

"2 Tone Fans Dance" by Janette Beckman
Saturday, March 3, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

Super Hi-Fi ("Blue and White" record release!), Cameramen

Nublu 151
151 Avenue C
New York, NY

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Friday, March 9, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

Coolie Ranx Birthday Bash with Pilfers, Full Watts Band, Reggay Lords, Love Always, Typhoid Rosie

Brooklyn Bazaar
150 Greenpoint Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$20/All ages

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Thursday, March 15, 2018 @ 9:00 pm

Fidel Nadal (with The Heart Beaters), The Ladrones, The Applecores, Ensemble Calavera

Studio Square/Bulb Room
35-33 36th Street
Long Island City, NY
$30/21+

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Saturday, March 17, 2018 @ 8:00 pm

St. Patrick's Day Celebration with Beat Brigade, The Ladrones, Super Hi-Fi, Joker's Republic, Thirteen Towers, The Screw-Ups, plus DJ Ryan Midnight!

RUBULAD
Bushwick, Brookyn
Get in touch with Dj Gorilla Presents through FB event page for address.
$10/All ages

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Friday, March 23, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

Hollie Cook, The Far East

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

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Saturday, March 24, 2018 @ 8:00 pm

Dave Hillyard and the Rocksteady 7 w/DJ 100Dbs

Hank's Saloon
46 Third Avenue (corner of Atlantic)
Brooklyn, NY

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Saturday, March 24, 2018 @ 7:30 pm

Lonely Atom Records presents Powdermaker, The Pandemics, Joker's Republic, plus DJ Ryan Midnight

Wayward Social
35 Ingraham Street
Brooklyn, NY
$5/21+

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Sunday, March 25, 2018 @ 8:00 pm

The Mighty Might Bosstones, Bigwig, Westbound Train

White Eagle Hall
337 Newark Avenue
Jersey City, NJ
$27.50-$32.83
All ages

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Sunday, March 25, 2018 @ 8:00 pm

The English Beat w/Dave Wakeling
City Winery
155 Varick Street
New York, NY
$40-$60

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Monday, March 26, 2018 @ 8:00 pm

The English Beat w/Dave Wakeling

City Winery
155 Varick Street
New York, NY
$40-$60

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Saturday, March 31, 2018 @ 5:30 pm

45 Adapters 10th Anniversary Party w/Hub City Stompers, Duffy's Cut, Legion 76, Guns Don't Run, No Parole, Los Perros, Lvger

The Kingsland
269 Norman Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$10/16+

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Friday, April 20, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

The Annual 4:20 Reggae Fiesta on the River w/Dub is a Weapon, Crazy Baldhead Dub Apparatus, plus Specials Guests TBA

Rocks Off Concert Cruise - Aboard the Harbor Lights
Boards 23rd Street and the FDR
Manhattan, NY
$29 in advance/$35 day of show
21+

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Friday, April 20, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

Vic Ruggiero, The Hempsteadys, Charlie Whites

Gold Sounds
44 Wilson Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$10

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Saturday, May 12, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

Hub City Stompers (album release show), No Redeeming Social Value, Ladrones, NAA

El Cortez
17 Ingraham Street
Brooklyn, NY
$12/21+

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Saturday, May 12, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

Buster Shuffle w/Mickey Rickshaw

Gold Sounds
44 Wilson Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$12/21+

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Friday, May 18, 2018

Roddy Radiation and The Scotch Bonnets

Hank's Saloon
46 Third Avenue (corner of Atlantic)
Brooklyn, NY

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Friday, June 1, 2018 @ 9:00 pm

The Slackers

White Eagle Hall
337 Newark Avenue
Jersey City, NJ
$20-$25
18+

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Sunday, June 24, 2018 @ 7:30 pm

The Toasters, Beat Brigade, Joker's Republic
Knitting Factory Brooklyn
361 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$15 in advance/$17 day of show
All ages

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