Duff Review: The Frightnrs EP

Digital 6-track EP
Available via Bandcamp
2012

(Review by Steve Shafer)

The Frightnrs have got such an authentic reggae/rub-a-dub vibe going that by the time I finished listening to their remarkable new self-titled EP (which sports a rich and warm sound thanks to Victor "Ticklah" Axelrod and Agent Jay), I was unsure if what I had heard were mostly originals or covers of obscure tunes learned from well-worn 45s unearthed from the depths of the best used record store I've never yet had the pleasure to find. For the record--and I double checked with Frightnrs ace keyboardist Chuck Patel about all this--the only track they version is Jackie Mittoo's sublime "Ram Jam" on "Walkin'." But check out a track like "Zombieland"--with its frustratingly familiar keyboard riff (for about a day it drove me crazy that I couldn't figure out what it sounded like, but finally had the revelation that it mimics the vocal line from The Congos' "La La Bam Bam"--but then again, it also reminded me of Desmond Dekker's "Pretty Africa")--or anything else on this stellar six-track EP and you'll be stunned by how much this band understands, live in, and loves rocksteady, 70s reggae, and early dancehall.

With its killer vintage Jackie Mittoo/Harry J organ lines, the bubbly yet edgy "& I Wouldn't Tell You This" ("...if I didn't really care") corners you to bestow some wisdom on you via half a dozen proverbs and maxims--and even hilariously re-defines some of them ("It don't mean you're weak/if you turn the other cheek/As long as you come back around/and smack their face"). Knowledge is power, right? "Evening Time" is an answer record to Maddie Ruthless' track of the same name off her new album (about a couple only having the nighttime to share together, since the rest of their time is devoted to eking out a living); this one's from the boys' point of view ("The only time I feel alive/in the evening time/The only place I feel alright/with your hand in mine/So meet me at the familiar spot/that's where I'll be/'Cause I've been there a million times/waiting patiently/in the evening time"). If there's a way to translate the lonely beauty and shrouded mystery of nighttime and the feelings of anxiety, anticipation, and gonzo ecstasy when you're crazy in love into music, this is how it would sound--it's that perfect.

The urgent, minor-key, and damn catchy "Ties Been Severed" captures the singer stunned in the wake of a break-up, but not remotely ready to give up on his lady ("Now, the ties you have to sever/I'll stop loving you--never!/Not as I'm grieving/'Cause no matter what you do/I'll spend my whole life loving you/Still believing, oh yeah.") The sax and keyboard trade some great riffs here. "Walkin'" is another exceptionally smooth 'n' romantic pitch (via the aforementioned "Ram Jam" rhythm) to a special lady: "Walkin'/baby, I walk to you/and you know that it's true, yeah/Talking/baby, I talk with you/Hope/that you'll come back to me/Longing/baby, I long for you/and you know that it's true, yeah..."

Exhorting the listener to "think for yourself and trust your instincts," "Zombieland" decries how we're all "living a zombieland...you no see dem there...zombie dem all around" (shades of They Live!). The threat to humanity here isn't from zombifying infection or attack from the zombie hordes (see 28 Days Later or World War Z)--it's from people not using their own brains on a daily basis and opening themselves up to being manipulated/exploited by more powerful forces in pursuit of their own pernicious agendas. (Pretty much sums up the current Citizens United state of affairs in the USA right now, doesn't it?)

I have to say that The Frightnrs EP is one the most compelling new releases I've heard in a while--and it absolutely is on The Duff Guide to Ska's list of "best ska/reggae releases of 2012."

+ + + +

For a limited time, The Frightnrs EP may be downloaded for free from Bandcamp (but please consider paying something for it...this music has great value to it and the band obviously worked overtime to make something this incredibly good).

Elvis Costello and The Roots Mash Up Harry J and The Boss

Hat tip to Mike D! for alerting me to this insanely good cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Fire" using the Harry J's AllStar's "Liquidator" rhythm by Elvis Costello and The Roots.

Any day that you can catch a top skinhead reggae riddim on national TV in the USA (!) is a good day indeed.

Duff Review: King Hammond The King and I

N.1. Records
2010

After keeping him on ice for a couple of decades, Nick Welsh (Bad Manners, The Selecter, Skaville UK) has resurrected King Hammond, his late 1980s boss skinhead reggae alter-ego (influenced by--and a heartfelt tribute to--greats like Dave & Ansel Collins, Lee Perry & The Upsetters, Laurel Aitken, Harry J's Allstars, and Jackie Mittoo amongst many others) with a sensational new album: The King and I. Why bring the King back after all this time? There is the very welcome resurgence of skinhead reggae (think of acts currently on the scene like The Caroloregians, The Hard Times, and The Aggrolites). But Nick isn't necessarily capitalizing on this subcultural trend, rather he decided to revisit his King Hammond persona after writing and recording a new track as a unique 40th birthday present for a friend who was an enormous King Hammond fan back in the day. Nick found the whole experience so pleasurable and inspiring that he cut an album's worth of new KH tracks to share with us--a gift that truly keeps on giving to any fan of ska and reggae.

If you are old enough to have been young enough to pick up Revolution '70 (LP, Blue Beat, 1989) and Blow Your Mind (CD, Receiver Records, 1992--which included the Revolution '70 album) when they were first released, you'll be familiar with, and crazy about, the slightly naughty ("Pussy Got Nine Lives"), definitely campy ("The Satanic Rites of King Hammond"), and oftentimes brilliant ("Stay With Me Baby," "Skinhead Revolution," "Dracula A.D.'72," "Soul Up") skinhead reggae of King Hammond, produced at a time when most acts in the UK were pretty much either disciples of The Specials or The Skatalites. While the majority of tracks on The King and I seamlessly pick up where Blow Your Mind left off (see the terrific instrumental "Reggae Movement No. 1"), Nick has expanded King Hammond's repertoire a bit, at times venturing into big band, swing, and (on one track, "Floorshaker") electronic/techo ska (shades of acid ska) territory without betraying his fans' expectations or diminishing the awesome core of his sound.

The King and I abounds in great, catchy, memorable tracks--every song deserves a mention! The album begins with a wickedly cutting assault on ex-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in particular, but also politicians in general (note the Clinton cigar reference), on "Mr. Easy Talk." The almost bombastic big band/ska sound perfectly mirrors the oily proclamations being spewed forth by PM Brown as voiced by Mr. Welsh: "Just accept my words are true/there's nothing else that you can do/It's the politics of deja vu/I'm Mr. Easy Talk..." "Cool Down Your Temper" makes a plea for peace, in response to the rise in gun and knife violence in the UK. "The Rudest Girl in Town" is an affectionate tribute to woman who "wears her trilby like a crown," refusing to tone down down her rude roots and signifiers to conform to the straight world of adults: "Yeah I'm telling ya/When I'm calling her/her ringtone's Harry J/Not Jamelia, Anastacia/She don't do Dr. Dre." "Monkey Boots" is a Symarip-like celebration of this stylish, if sometimes impractical footwear (the soles of the Czech-made monkey boots that I used to pick up at 99X in the East Village always left big black scuff marks on wood or linoleum floors--though Dr. Martens now makes a version with soles that don't!).

"Blood Run Cold" echoes "Shame and Scandal" in sound and theme, though here the sexual transgression is cheating on a girlfriend or wife ("You've been a friend to me and a lover/I've been bad to you like no other"). You have to love King Hammond's explanation when he's caught with another woman in his bedroom: "You've got it all wrong! She's my social worker!" Perhaps the greatest track on the album is the pulsating, pitch-perfect "The Return of the Kung-Fu Skinhead," which manages to honor Lee "Scratch" Perry and The Upsetters' Kung-Fu Meets the Dragon obsession with 70's martial arts films without crossing over into parody.

The good King Hammond plans to sort fact from fiction in all the gossip flying about by obtaining a lie-detector to see if his girl is telling him the truth in "The Loop" ("The word on the wire, it's all over town/they say you walk a crooked mile"). Music fans world-wide will recognize the truth of "Dave and Ansel," that certain songs--particularly from one's youth--will affect you in profound ways and will travel with you as a source of comfort and inspiration throughout your life ("Back in 1971/just a kid with the radio on/Having fun, threw the dial around/that's when I first heard the Monster Sound--the Monster Sound/I didn't realize it at the time/but Dave and Ansel were friends of mine!"). "The Soho Skank" is a Bad Manners Eat the Beat-era sounding, bass-heavy tune to fill the dance floor. Hitting middle-age doesn't just sometimes injure the vanity of the fairer sex--check out the taunting (and humbling) "You Can't Get Those Sweet Things Anymore." Forty-ish men might have the outlook of a twenty-something in their minds, but "you can't pull the girls like you used to" because "you're old/and you're fat/and your hair ain't growing back." Ah, the ignominy of aging--it's all downhill from here, isn't it, KH?

The King and I is a triumphant return for King Hammond--and one of the best albums of 2010 that deserves a spot in every self-respecting ska fan's collection!

The Duff Guide to Ska Grade: A