Duff Review: Rhoda Dakar "The Man Who Sold The World" b/w "The Man Who Dubbed The World"

Sunday Best
7" picture sleeve vinyl single/digital
2022

(Review by Steve Shafer)

In celebration of what would have been his 75th birthday (January 8), David Bowie acolyte Rhoda Dakar has released a great reggae cover of "The Man Who Sold The World" that captures the wonderful grandiosity, drama, and tension of Bowie's 1970 original, while recasting it so fits right in with her recent output (see my review of her "Everyday Is Like Sunday" single). The song also takes on another dimension in these gender-fluid times, since Dakar doesn't alter the pronouns in the lyrics--which are about a man meeting his spiritual or corporeal twin/self (read a fascinating analysis of this song at Pushing Ahead of the Dame); though it should be noted that Bowie and his Pin Ups-era band backed Lulu's 1974 cover of this track, too (which Bowie and Mick Ronson co-produced). The repeating guitar riff of the original (performed by Ronson) is replaced here by Joff Watkins' harmonica--a fantastic touch--and celebrated reggae keyboardist Roger Rivas also contributes keys. Lenny Bignell's warm production and dub are excellent, as always. And Pete McKee's Clash-referencing cover art tops off a fine, heartfelt tribute to the Thin White Duke.

+ + + +

Duff Guide to Ska Bullet Points: Do the Dog Skazine, The Juks, and The Night Owls!

(Reviews by Steve Shafer)

• The August 2020 issue of Kevin Flowerdew's Do the Dog Skazine has graced my mailbox with the late and very much missed Millie Small on the cover (side note: there's a great entry for Small in Heather Augustyn's new book Women in Jamaican Music that fleshes out her life and career well beyond "My Boy Lollipop"). As always, Flowerdew's Do the Dog puts my blog to shame, in terms of how comprehensively he covers the worldwide ska scene (though I'm happy to note that there's a fair amount of overlap in this issue with what I've reviewed lately--but we, of course, each offer our own takes on things--including releases from Danny Rebel and the KGB, Megative, The Players Band, Victor Rice, Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra, Rude Boy George, The Officinalis, Steady Social Club, Erin Bardwell, Smiley and The Underclass, Rhoda Dakar and The Dub Pistols, The Skapones, Detroit Riddim Crew, Rudebeard, and The Equators). Kevin also has just released The Ska Librarian's 2 Tone Time Machine, which consists of four zines covering the pre-Rude skazine years between 1979 and 1988. Details for subscribing to the essential, print-only Do the Dog and purchasing The Ska Librarian's 2 Tone Time Machine are available at dothedogmusic.tumblr.com.

• I missed the release of The Juk's spectacular debut album Way Back (Vinyl LP/digital, J-Beat Record, 2020) earlier this spring (I was sick with what I think was the coronavirus, and NYC was entering its really unnerving lockdown phase, as we all tried our utmost to help stop the spread of this plague and slow down the awful number of deaths--it was a bleak time). This band, which features several powerhouse UK ska musicians including Lenny Bignell on guitar (Pama International, Phoenix City All-Stars, Rhoda Dakar, The Sidewalk Doctors), Louis Vause on keys (Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra, Rhoda Dakar), and Paul Tadman on bass (The Riffs, The Nutty Boys, Rhoda Dakar), creates gorgeously sophisticated, jazzy-rocksteady guitar-focused instrumentals like Lynn Taitt and Ernest Ranglin used to make 'em. The title track, "Gerry Baldly, "Blood Orange," and the fantastically titled "When I Woke...(I Was Still in South London)" are stratospheric highlights. I only wish that this album included a few vocal tracks--an all instrumental album can sometimes be a tougher sell, and this record should get into as many hands as possible.

• Hot on the heels of The Lions' recent ace 45 "The Loser" comes this Lions-Aggrolites side hustle of sorts, the Night Owls. Like "The Loser," the new mind-bogglingly good Night Owls single "Gossip" b/w "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get" (Vinyl/digital single, F-Spot Records, 2020) sports two soul classics done in a vintage JA style. The core of The Night Owls is three Lions (Dan Ubick on guitar, Blake Colie on drums, and Dave Wilder on bass) plus an Aggrolite (keyboardist Roger Rivas)--and there are even more Lions and Aggrolites when you include the vocalists. The Lion's Malik "The Freq" Moore knocks it out of the park on Cyril Neville backed by The Meters' 1969 magnificent soul/funk track "Gossip" (and the sitar echoing the original keeps everything grounded in the psychedelic side of the '60s), while Alex Désert (Hepcat/Lions) and Jesse Wagner (The Aggrolites) trade vocals on their amazing cover of The Dramatics' 1971 cut "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get" ("Some people are made of plastic/And you know some people are made of wood/Some people have hearts of stone/Some people are up to no good...But baby I'm for real"). The selection of songs covered here is impeccable, and the performances outstanding.

+ + + +

Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: K-Man and The 45s and Pama International!

(Reviews by Steve Shafer)

I've been hearing really good things about Montreal's K-Man and The 45s for several years now (mostly in relation to the annual Montreal Ska Festival), so it's great to finally have a chance to review a new record from these ska/rock 'n' rollers (who veer into reggae, punk, even '80s hardcore--see the excellent, fiercely anti-heroin track "Don't Touch It"). Stand with the Youth (CD/digital/LP, Stomp Records, 2019) is K-Man and The 45s' dynamite fourth album (if you include their CD of ska covers of Ramones tunes) and its title track was written and recorded in response to the activism of the student survivors of the horrific Parkland school shooting and their allied peers who are organizing and advocating for sensible gun control laws in the US to help prevent future mass shootings, which continue to occur with alarming (yet increasingly numbing) frequency. K-Man and The 45s firmly side with the kids in this righteous cause: "We got a bullied young boy who wants to shoot it up/Then we watch it on the news how he went and lit it up/And now the youth of the nation ain’t giving it up/Because they’re fighting for their freedom and ain’t never going to stop." "Hooligans" pushes back against the gentrifying real estate developers ("goons with clipboards") who destroy vital and funky neighborhoods/communities for greed; the hard rocking "Paranoid Panic" is about succumbing to the fear created by the never-ending barrage of sensationalized crime stories in the media ("Another drive by on the news tonight/Seems like the neighborhood is one big fight/It’s a revved up panic that’s pushing her through the night"); and "Free to Go" encourages a woman to leave her physically abusive partner. But it's not all grim. The ridiculously catchy--and best cut on the album--"I've Got a Minute" ("...I want to waste it with you") is about working up the nerve to ask her out. "Hero with a Death Ray" is an homage to Cold War-era TV sci-fi characters like Flash Gordon or Captain Kirk ("Flying around going to slingshot in deep space/Hyper drive winning at the space race/Pick up the trophy, kiss the girl/Then he sets off to save the world." And the reggae track "Cooking Out the Pans" is concerned with nothing but the simple pleasures of hanging out on a beach, eating fish, smoking weed, and listening to live music. Anyone itching for a new Toasters record should absolutely grab this--most of the fantastic horn lines and arrangements sound like they could have been written by Bucket himself (and both bands share an admiration for '60s ska influencer Chuck Berry; on this record, K-Man and The 45s deliver a cool ska cover of "Never Can Tell"...).

Temporarily shedding their ska and reggae to fully explore the "altruistic soul" aspect of their sound, Pama International's Stop the War on the Poor (CD/digital/LP, Happy People Records, 2019) is a spectacular concept album of sorts, full of Motown and Stax-like songs by Sean Flowerdew and Lenny Bignell about love in all its forms--romantic love between people; the spiritual/moral love in forgiveness and redemption; and the love expressed through compassion and empathy for your fellow human being. Cara Jane Murphy and Jewels Vass split the vocal duties here (sides A and B, respectively) and both are are nothing short of amazing. Top cuts here include the Birmingham gospel/soul of "Get Up Off Your Knees" ("Lord he dared me/Raised my heart and compared me/To something he had trod in/Spreading disease/To my shame/I played him at his own game/Lord, get me off my knees"); the Detroit soul of the wonderfully named "Sure You Know the Price (But Do You Know the Cost)," which asks if you're willing to go all in--being vulnerable and risking hurt and more--for who you love ("I put myself in your heart/For all the good it did/Failed to understand/All that you kept hid/What's the use in worrying/If you never doubt/You get all that you give out"); the magnificent "Stop the War on the Poor" pleads for our collective focus to turn towards the corruption and criminality of the rich and powerful (who have rigged the system in their favor at the expense of everyone else) that is largely being ignored while the indigent are blamed for society's ills and punished/humiliated for their own supposed moral failings for not being materially successful; a great Temptations-like cover of Billy Preston's "You Are So Beautiful To Me"; and "I Love You (Wake Up)," which conveys sweetly intense longing and loneliness ("Four o'clock/Still awake/Waiting for/the day to break/Where are you?/Lying in silence/Deafened still/Don't want to spend/Another night/without you"). I'm not an expert on soul, but--damn--I know brilliant music when I hear it and Pama International's Stop the War on the Poor is it! All CDs and LPs come with an additional, free CD to share the musical love with friends, family, or strangers on the street!

+ + + +

Duff Review: Rhoda Dakar "The Lotek Four, Volume II"

Self-Released
7" vinyl EP
2018

(Review by Steve Shafer)

This is the second--and really superb-- crowdfunded EP from the always extraordinary Rhoda Dakar and her boss band (Louis Vause on piano and Paul Tadman on bass--both of the Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra; Lenny Bignell of Pama International and The Sidewalk Doctors on guitar; Mark Claydon from The Get Up on drums; and Terry Edwards of The Higsons and sometime Madness collaborator on horns). On The Lotek Four, Volume II, the soul influences that were quite present on Dakar's debut EP are even more pronounced--to great effect--on this set of really fine originals, all co-written with various members of the band (full disclosure, I was a supporter of this release; also, make sure to read our Duff Guide to Ska review of Dakar's first EP).

EP opener "Comfort Zone" is a fantastic jazzy-soul-ska cut that wouldn't have been out of place musically or thematically on The Special AKA's stellar In the Studio (Dakar's vocals, of course, were essential to the success of that album). The song's about going through life on auto-pilot--detached, ambivalent, without enjoyment; doing what you have to in order to get by ("The 9 to 5 is no good for me/Just busy keeping myself fed/To make a buck don't get me horny/I'd rather stay at home in bed...Save up that cash for that one rainy day/When the worst comes, I'll be up anyway..."). It's comfort zone as trap not refuge. "Welcome To My Themepark" is a Madness-y pop piss-take on the gentrification of Brixton, though it could just as easily apply to any formerly vibrant and funky urban neighborhood ruined by real estate developers' greed (huge swaths of Manhattan and Brooklyn have been transformed into playgrounds solely for the rich and fabulous). Dakar alternates between being an amusement park barker ("Ladies and gentlemen, by visiting Brixton police station at the end of your stay, anything of which you have been robbed--with the exception of your dignity--will be returned. Thank you for coming!"), and lamenting what has been lost: "It used to be a real town/Was a good life, not a fake one/And we lived that real good life/With our husbands and our wives."

The straight-up Stax-like "Back for More" finds the singer repeatedly trying to exit an emotionally abusive relationship: "You bide your time/I come back for more/Like a fool, I'm back for more." But the repeated chorus ends on a defiantly optimistic note: "I'm not coming back for more/I'm not coming back..." Everything ends too quickly with the ethereal "Love Notes (From Your Soul Team)," a wonderfully radiant, spirit-lifting track that is a sure-fired cure for anyone's blues. It also serves as a reminder of how vital close and caring friends are for staying sane and making it through this life: "You're on the same team/Not sure what it means/But you've faith in the friends who make it seem alright/We're your soul team/Here to stop you feeling sad/Takes a whole team/To antidote the bad/We're your soul team/Best support you've ever had/Sending love notes..." This is soul-pop perfection.

On the sleeve's liner notes, Dakar thanks her supporters for their leap of faith in funding both EPs in advance--well prior to hearing a note. And, once again, Dakar and Co. have delivered on their promise to their fans and then some. This is one small, but mightily impressive release.

+ + + +

Duff Review: Pama International "Love and Austerity"

Heavyweight LP, CD, digital download (the album is also being released as a series of four singles via Record Kicks)
Happy People Records
2017

(Review by Steve Shafer)

I've been listening to Pama International's ninth album for weeks now, ruminating about whether or not this is a political concept record of sorts (read on to find out!). However, during that time, what's never been in question is the sheer excellence of all of the ska-reggae-soul songs contained on Pama International's Love and Austerity. The LP is anchored by two incredible covers that kick off each side: Martha and the Vandellas' "Heatwave" and John Holt's "Man Next Door." The former could be read as a metaphor for climate change, while the latter might be interpreted as being about societal breakdown ("I've got to get away from here/This is not a place for me to stay/I've got to take my family/And find a quiet place"). Even the one catchy instrumental on the album is named "Gasoline" (the literal fuel of our planet's destruction and a prime example of humankind's extreme folly). To this mix, add their original "Austerity Skank," which tries to shake off the gray of the punishing Cameron--and now Theresa May/Brexit--years through PMA: "Hard times have come/Now, hard times be gone/No more illusions/System delusions/Our hard times are done...I'm stepping out to a better place/Tired of all of the lies getting in the way/I just want to be free/With no austerity..."

Even most of the lush love songs on this album (with the exception of "Skies Are Blue"--for now!) are filled with friction, dysfunction, and entropy. Life is passing by a man sleepwalking through his relationship in "Wake Up" ("We spend hours/Worrying about the business/Just to go and miss the sunset...Wake up, my darling/For you are the reason why/I celebrate life every time you smile"). Another couple is on the verge of breaking up in "I Cried Until I Stopped"--she's heartbroken over what must happen (but even her tears have limits)--though by the end of the song she defiantly sings that she'll "never stop loving you." The last track on the LP is a soulful cover of John Loudermilk's 1962 tune "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye," which on its face is hopeful about a couple's future together, but can't quite push away the reality that not everything lasts ("Kiss me each morning for a million years/Hold me each evening by your side/Tell me you'll love me for a million years/Then if it don't work out/Then if it don't work out/Then you can tell me goodbye").

On Love and Austerity, Pama International's lyrics may be downbeat, but the exquisite music and wonderful performances pack a staggering emotional wollop. This is the music to help get you through the rough days that most likely lay ahead...

+ + + +

Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: Hollie Cook's "Superstar," Pama International's "Man Next Door" b/w "Austerity Skank," and Neville Staple's "Return of Judge Roughneck"

(Reviews by Steve Shafer)

Hollie Cook "Superstar" b/w "Superdub" (free Record Store Day 7"/digital download, Merge Records, 2017): The physical release of this single was a last minute addition to the 2017 Record Store Day line-up and was said to given out for free at select indie shops in celebration of Cook's joining the Merge Records line-up in the USA (did anyone receive one?). The choice of cover here--The Carpenters' AM pop staple "Superstar"--is definitely inspired, continues to fulfill Cook's mission to create "tropical pop," and is well matched to her wonderfully pure voice. And while this is no slight to producer/drummer Ben Mckone (who does a very fine job here), I have to admit to kind of missing the Prince Fatty touch. No word on the new album yet, but it bodes well, based on this teaser...

Pama International "Man Next Door" b/w "Austerity Skank" (clear vinyl 7" single/digital download, Record Kicks, 2017): Following their fantastic cover of Martha and the Vandellas' "Heatwave" comes Pama International's second single off their forthcoming Love and Austerity album (to be released any time now via Record Kicks and featuring the amazing co-lead vocals of Jewels Vass and Anna Uhuru). John Holt's rocksteady urban living lament (most memorably versioned/deconstructed by The Slits) is beautifully rendered here. Even better is Pama International's original tune "Austerity Skank," which tries to shake off the gray of the punishing Cameron (now May/Brexit) years through PMA: "Hard times have come/Now, hard times be gone/No more illusions/System delusions/Our hard times are done...I'm stepping out to a better place/Tired of all of the lies getting in the way/I just want to be free/With no austerity..."

Neville Staple Return of Judge Roughneck (CD/2 x LP, Cleopatra Records, 2017): When I first put on Neville Staple's new record (after first seeing it on Chuck Wren's FB feed) and heard the opening notes of "Gangsters"/"Al Capone" in "Return of Judge Roughneck" (referencing his "Stupid Marriage" persona, natch), I braced myself for an album trading heavily on 2 Tone/Specials nostalgia (even note the use of The Specials' font on the back cover). After having listened to the LP several times through now, my initial impressions haven't been dispelled, but it's all done so winningly and well that any cynicism melts away at the sheer joy of it all. About half the tracks are safe but good covers (Stranger Cole's "Bangarang," Peter Tosh's "Maga Dog," The Melodians' "Sweet Sensation," and Sigman and Magidson's via Prince Buster/The Specials "Enjoy Yourself," among them)--though, the "Ghost Town"-like version of his own Fun Boy Three's "The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum," an apt tune for the times if there ever was one, and gleeful rendition of Jimmy Soul's "If You Want to Be Happy" are truly ace; but think of them as warming you up for the really good stuff. Just about all of the new tracks--the Toasters-like modern ska of "Down My Street," the rocksteady rude boy anthem "Crime Don't Pay," the Madness-y sing-along music hall ska of "Gang Fever" ("Every time you read The Mirror or Star/Kids shot dead, rumours of war/It's a fever"), and "Politician Man"--are really good in their own right (more of these, please!). Oh, and there's a full album of inventive dubs included on the second LP or extended CD ("Crime Dub," Roadblock," "Dub Fever," "Bang Bang," "Dub Crazy," and "Legal Dub" in particular are fantastic!). This one is very much worth picking up.

+ + + +

Rhoda Dakar Releases Bonus Digital Track As Preview of LoTek Four PledgeMusic Project!

If you're a supporter of Rhoda Dakar's LoTek Four PledgeMusic project (see our write-up about it here), you found an email in your inbox today announcing the release of a free digital track exclusively for pledgers, which will not be included on the band's forthcoming vinyl or CD.

Eager to hear what the LoTek Four have been working on in the studio, I downloaded the track and was really pleased to find a terrific rocksteady version of Dolly Parton's and Kenny Rogers' 1983 country hit (#1 on the pop charts in the USA) "Islands in the Stream," which was written by the Bee Gees! Since the Gibb brothers know their way around writing massively popular hooks, this track easily makes the jump to another musical genre--and Dakar and company (Louis Vause and Paul Tadman from Crunch aka the Nutty Boys/Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra; Lenny Bignell of Pama International and The Sidewalk Doctors; Mark Claydon from The Get Up; and Terry Edwards of The Higsons) deliver a really sweet version of this song.

I can't wait to hear what else Rhoda and her collaborators have in store for us!

(If you're interested, there is still time to support the LoTek Four project and pre-order a 7" vinyl EP or CD.)

+ + + +

Pama International's "Love and Austerity" Vinyl PledgeMusic Campaign!

Pama International recently launched a new PledgeMusic campaign for the vinyl versions of their upcoming Love and Austerity album, which are slated to be sent out in February 2017 (the album also will be released on CD/digital by Cherry Red/Happy People in January 2017). As always with this type of fan crowdfunding, there are signed copies of the album available, as well as a very limited edition boxset (only 100 will be made) of the album's tracks released as a series of eight 7" singles. My pledge made today for the Love and Austerity LP just put them at exactly 50% of their project goal! (The campaign has 79 days left, but act now!)

Sadly, I won't be able to take advantage of a special offer currently extended to Pama pledgers this week--a free ticket to experience Pama International support Misty In Roots on November 26, 2016 at The Garage in London (dub legend Dennis "Blackbeard" Bovell will be mixing Pama live that night)! Now, if only I could score some free airline tix to the UK...

The digital version of the band's first single off the album, their reggae cover of Martha and Vandella's "Heatwave," will be available from iTunes and other digital retailers tomorrow, Friday, October 14 (and you can pre-order a "Heatwave" 7" through the PledgeMusic campaign now).

Here are Pama International's upcoming tour dates:

26.11.16 London: Garage - w/Misty In Roots and Dennis Bovell
09.12.16 London: Garage - w/King Prawn & Don Letts
06.04.17 Glasgow: O2 Academy 2 supporting The Dead 60s
07.04.17 Sheffield :O2 Academy 2 supporting The Dead 60s
08.04.17 Birmingham: Institute 2 supporting The Dead 60s
09.04.17 Brighton: Concorde 2 supporting The Dead 60s
13.04.17 London: Electric Ballroom supporting The Dead 60s (part of The London Intl Ska Festival)
14.04.17 Liverpool: O2 Academy supporting The Dead 60s

+ + + +

Pama International Returns with New Single, Upcoming Album, Shows, and UK Tour with Dead 60s!

After taking a seven-year break to work on other projects, Pama International is back on the beat with a new single (a fantastic, grooving reggae cover of Martha and the Vandella's "Heatwave" featuring Pama Intl's extraordinary vocalists Jewels Vass and Anna Uhuru, to be released digitally on October 14, 2016), a new album (Love and Austerity on Cherry Red Records/Happy People, to be released digitally and on vinyl in January of 2017--all tracks produced by Pama Intl songwriter/founder Sean Flowerdew and guitarist Lenny Bignell), and are playing upcoming shows with Zion Train, King Prawn, Dennis Bovell (!), Don Letts (!), Misty In Roots (!), and a UK tour with a recently reanimated punky-ska'n'reggae The Dead 60s (see "Ghostfaced Killer")!

Based on what I'm hearing on "Heatwave," we're in for lots more incredible music from Pama Intl in the months ahead. If you're in the UK, make sure to catch one of their upcoming shows...

Pama International Gig Dates
23.09.16 London: Trojan Thames cruise (sold-out!)
24.09.16 London: Garage w/Zion Train, General Roots & Solution Sound System
07.10.16 Swindon: The Vic w/Destination Anywhere & Shocks of Mighty DJs
08.10.16 London: Trojan - Trojan Records official club night - Heatwave launch party
26.11.16 London: Garage - w/Misty In Roots and Dennis Bovell
09.12.16 London: Garage - w/King Prawn & Don Letts
06.04.17 Glasgow: O2 Academy 2 supporting The Dead 60s
07.04.17 Sheffield :O2 Academy 2 supporting The Dead 60s
08.04.17 Birmingham: Institute 2 supporting The Dead 60s
09.04.17 Brighton: Concorde 2 supporting The Dead 60s
13.04.17 London: Electric Ballroom supporting The Dead 60s (part of The London Intl Ska Festival)
14.04.17 Liverpool: O2 Academy supporting The Dead 60s

+ + + +

The Duff Guide to Ska's 2015 Year in Review, Part 4!

Buster and friends dancing in the streets!

(By Steve Shafer)

I'm still playing catch up on all the releases that I meant to review in 2015 (and I've been sick for the last week with something like the flu, but not the flu). So, here's the latest batch of my quick takes on great ska albums from 2015...

The Sidewalk Doctors: The Sidewalk Doctors digital album/limited edition CD (self-released through Bandcamp) -- Full disclosure: I feel really dumb for being so slow to catch onto The Sidewalk Doctors, despite all of the good word I've heard about this band from trusted sources (as well as noting guitarist Lenny Bignell's involvement in the Phoenix City Allstars and the recent Rhoda Dakar Sings The Bodysnatchers project). So, let me declare far and wide that London's The Sidewalk Doctors are a phenomenal ska/rocksteady group topped by powerfully soulful/bluesy vocals from Nathan Thomas--and this album is amongst my absolute favorites of 2015! Top tracks include the major ska groove and urgent restlessness/dissatisfaction in "Everybody's Looking" ("...for something better!")--which might just be my best-loved song of 2015--the unreserved and unabashed love and adoration (accompanied by 70s reggae strings and ice rink organ!) expressed in "You'll Be the Only One" ("You're my fairytale/My favorite work of art/You lift me up from the very darkest parts"); the haunting loss and debilitating emotional pain in the rocksteady song "In My Shoes" ("My bed's been empty far, far too long/Yet, the space beside me holds deathly harm/I look my demons dead straight in the eye/And another woman's solace ain't going to make me right/No one's calling me, shaking from the pain/One question still rings out loud/What would you do baby, if you were in my shoes?"); and the sad resignation/desperation of not being to escape the self-medicating that "keeps the demons at my feet" in the twitchy, Skatalites-like "This Life is Killing Me" (and the short, redeeming answer song, "Let It Rule," that follows it with the repeated refrain: "Oh, you've got to let it rule, where you find love!"--which is fleshed out on the record's shining final track, "Where There is Love"). This is an incredibly accomplished, confident, and brilliantly appealing album--and one that is not to be missed!

Various Artists: Pressure Drip limited edition blue cassette (Jump Up Records) -- A recent article on the history of Stomp Records reminded me of just how vital compilations were to the rise of ska in the late 1980s and early 1990s--putting local (NY Beat, Mash It Up, NYC Ska Live), regional (American Skathic, California Skaquake), national (Ska Face, Skarmageddon), even international acts (Skankin' Round the World) on every ska fan's map--all during a time when any news about a ska band and their release was very difficult to come by (often only delivered via word-of-mouth or a skazine). From the '80s on, ska compilations certainly super-fueled my love of ska and turned me on to amazing bands all over the world. To some degree, I suppose the internet has made compilations less essential--information and music files flow so freely now--but the democratization of everything has made it harder and much more time-consuming to sort the wheat from the chaff (and what happened to all of those intrepid zine reviewers from the '90s--so few people actually write about ska music these days!). So, obviously, there's still a place for an edited or (I hesitate to use the word, as it's been hijacked in so many awful hipster-y ways) curated collection of songs for your consideration. In this instance, it's to promote acts that are associated with Jump Up (as opposed to a particular scene) and a ska coffee(!)--but what an incredible batch of bands are featured here, from all over the globe (look through this list of bands on the Pressure Drip comp)! Jump Up chief Chuck Wren is very selective about who he works with and the proof of his high standards is in these 23 impeccable tracks. I happen to be pretty familiar with all of these acts, but Pressure Drip properly introduced me to The Crombies (previously, I've only heard them on a single, doing two covers) and I can't wait to get my mitts on more of their music (the comp achieved its goal)! Lastly, even if you don't have a Walkman, boom box, or tape deck, you should own a copy of this cassette--it's a work of art in itself (illustration and design by the always amazing CHema Skandal) and highly collectable.

+ + + +

Read The Duff Guide to Ska's Year in Review, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3!

+ + + +