Duff Review: Smoke & Mirrors Soundsystem: "Second That Emotion" EP

(Review by Steve Shafer)

This new EP from the John Roy-driven Smoke & Mirrors Soundsystem musical collective is a terrific preview of their upcoming--and eagerly awaited in these parts--album of covers (which will feature their versions of David Bowie's "Let's Dance," Echo and the Bunnymen's "Killing Moon," Junior Byles' "Fade Away," Sam and Dave's "When Something's Wrong with My Baby," Edwin Star's "25 Miles," Spencer Davis Group's "I'm a Man," amongst others). Smoke & Mirrors Soundsystem's Second That Emotion EP (7" vinyl/digital, Badasonic Records, 2021) highlights two cuts off the covers album and includes their own "The Great Divide" (from SMS' excellent pandemic lockdown debut album Strength in Numbers--read my review of it here), plus its great new companion dub by Nico Leonard).

As advertised, there's a sweet rocksteady version of Smokey Robinson & The Miracles' "Second That Emotion" with the formidable Rebecca Jade on vocals, and devastatingly good take on Tears for Fears' dark and disturbing 1983 synth pop hit "Mad World" ("I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad/The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had") with The Hot Mess' Tori Roze at the mic. The ominous swells of brass at the edges and wistful trombone solo at the end (by Buford O'Sullivan!) are particularly wonderful and effective touches. "The Great Divide" is a fantastic duet of sorts between Mark QMaxx Lyn (ex-Slackers) and Dunia Best (Dubistry) that delivers an anti-racist plea for unity in a country that desperately needs it (Dunia sings in the chorus: "With a strength, joy, and love/We can all rise above"; Lyn toasts in response: "You’re on one side and I am the other/I’m not your enemy, I’m just your brother"). Mad world, indeed.

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Duff Guide to Ska Bullet Points: The Caroloregians "From the Congo Square" b/w "You Got to Be a Man," and Rocker T w/Maddie Ruthless "Fiyah Pan Racism" b/w Banda Rebel "You've Got to Learn"!

 (Reviews by Steve Shafer)

• I had the good fortune to catch The Caroloregians when they played in Brooklyn in 2010 (read my review of that gig and watch the videos I shot) and was blown away by their soulful funky reggae (make sure to check out their Funkify Your Reggay album on Grover and split LP with The Moon Invaders Hot Blood in Cold Weather from Jump Up). While the band is no longer around, their music (obviously) lives on (and members have gone on form Pyrotechnist and The Badasonics). "From the Congo Square" and "You Got to Be a Man" (Vinyl single/digital, Happy People Records, 2020) come from The Caroloregians' 2012 album Fat Is Back. Even though The Caroloregians hail from Belgium, singer Matthew Hardison is from New Orleans, LA. The Congo Square referenced in the title of the A side track is a place in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans where in the 19th century both free Blacks and slaves were permitted to gather on Sundays (the slaves' one day off) to trade, socialize, play music, sing, and dance; the Spanish and French were not as concerned as the British about converting slaves to Christianity and discouraging African cultural and religious practices. As a result, African music, dance, and culture endured, and eventually led to the birth of a unique musical form: Black American jazz. "From the Congo Square" celebrates New Orleans' incredibly rich and vibrant musical legacy and scene with a fantastic, booty-shaking cut that sounds like The Meters meet Jackie Mittoo: "From the Congo Square to the Mardi Gras/The city never ever sleeps at all...Can you give me the funk?" "You Got to Be A Man"--a cover of Helene Smith's 1969 "Miami Sound" soul single (that Prince must have been channeling when he wrote "Kiss")--slows the pace down for a rhythm and blues-skinhead reggae workout: "You don't have to be blind/To be in the dark/You don't have to be weak/To get a broken heart/All 'bout to got to be a man/Do what a man suppose to do/Oooh, refuse to give up now/See all the trials and revelations through/If you can do all these things/You're sho' 'nuff her type." Both tracks are boss dance floor fillers!

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   Utilizing the Earl Zero-penned "None Shall Escape The Judgement" instrumental tracks that he masterfully produced for the singer in 2011 (read my review of that single here), Brett Tubin of Channel Tubes has recorded two stellar vocal cuts for Rocker T with Maddie Ruthless, and Banda Rebel (Vinyl single/digital, Channel Tubes, 2020). Rocker T with Maddie Ruthless' "Fiyah Pan Racism" is another powerful and immensely catchy cut to add to your anti-racist arsenal of protest songs. With both Biblical and Rastafarian references, Rocker T chats, "I say a fiyah pan the racism/Because I can't take de wickedness ting/I want to fight racism with de heart and me being/'Cause I want the world rid that it's in/So hail up the Rastaman King...Him say love one another as your sister and brother/So we have to fiyah racism." Continuing with the Old Testament symbolism of fire as both God's punishment for evil and mechanism of purification, Jamaican singer Banda Rebel delivers an impassioned and soulful performance on "You've Got to Learn": "You can't legalize brutality/And then you claim the moral ground/You lords of war, so bloodthirsty/We're running you out of town/It's not my desire to see you on fire, no/Maybe that's how you're gonna learn!" For a year that has seemed near-apocalyptic--maybe it should have been, "when the two twenties clash!"--these tracks will help firm up your resolve when you need it.
  
  

Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: Victor Rice "Drink"

Easy Star Records
LP
2020

Victor Rice's Drink is the second album in a planned trilogy of what Rice calls his "samba-rocksteady" instrumentals (read The Duff Guide to Ska review of his first LP Smoke). Recorded in Belgium with Nico Leonard (Pyrotechnist, The Moon Invaders, Pum Pum Hotel studio) and New York with Ticklah (Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, and Easy Star All-Stars) at the controls and members of The Moon Invaders, Tommy Tornado, Mr. T Bone, The Slackers, The Scofflaws, and others performing, Drink is yet another top-notch album from Victor Rice and filled with evocative tracks expressing a gamut of moods. Indeed, as Rice comments in the album's press materials, “Most of these songs were written during a difficult period in my life, and there was a lot of drinking involved, so they were made under the influence of red wine. Once the sequence of songs were finished, it felt like a story arc, from the first glass to the last."

Within this context, one can infer what each song's rhythms and melodies might be meant to express. Drink opens with "La Mura" ("The Wall"), which has a bit of a dramatic spaghetti Western reggae edge to it--we're on a long, never-ending slog and soon hitting our limit--and the horns convey increasing tension as the song unfolds. "Simão" ("Simon") features a series of elaborate rock guitar riffs that seem to be in an increasingly heated conversation with the more restrained horns (but, it turns out, is named after Rice's cat), while the stately and cinematic "The Demander"--which refers to Rice's first car that he sometimes drove "recklessly"--has echoes of Prince Buster's "Gangsters" and "City Riot" (and sounds very much like Prince Busters' All Stars--which, of course, was comprised of many of The Skatalites). Like the meme of the cartoon dog drinking coffee while the room around him is ablaze, "This is Fine" is bright and chipper on the surface, but in denial of something more ominous--and "Bebida" ("Drink") sounds delightfully carefree, like when you have a good buzz going at an outdoor cafe and all your troubles recede from your thoughts. "Arouche" is refined, but busy--and refers to the slightly seedy, downtown São Paulo neighborhood known for its nightlife (where Rice lives). There's a nobleness to "Five," as if someone's valiantly grinding it out each workday until quitting time (so they can finally live at happy hour). "Madrid" has a muted, almost downcast melody, but with a stinging guitar solo (what went down here?). Last call is where we are with the dubby "Time to Go"; things have gotten pretty fuzzy and sloppy, and it's time to pour oneself into a cab.

While one is certainly sad for what Rice went through, his rough patch inspired the creation of some wonderful music. Will Comer round out this trilogy?

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Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: Pyrotechnist "Fire Crackers"

Badasonic Records (available in the USA through Fatbeats)
LP
2020

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Fire Crackers is the really excellent second LP from Pyrotechnist (read The Duff Guide to Ska review of their debut here), the brainchild of two former members of the now defunct Belgian ska-soul band The Moon Invaders--Nico Leonard on drums and keys (and the album was produced at his Pum Pum Hotel studio) and Pierre Haegeli on bass and guitars, plus Rolf Langsjoen on trumpet and David Loos on saxophones. While Fire Crackers ostensibly is a dub record, it's not spacey, stripped-down, stoner dub, but filled with catchy, dubby reggae instrumentals in the Jackie Mittoo, Upsetters, Prince Fatty, and Victor Rice realm (though all cuts are originals by Leonard or Leonard/Haegeli). "Blazing Commando" is funky and propulsive and could easily fill dance floors whenever you put it on (and it's versioned a little later on the album in a slightly Latin style as "El Torro"). The wonderful Skatalites-like "Lady Fingers" (think "El Pussy Cat Ska") features some beautiful piano lines and trumpet improvisation, while the sunny Dave and Ansel Collins-y "Boomer Special" is absolutely guaranteed to brighten your mood if you're down. "Red Devil" is a widescreen spaghetti Western reggae track with a wicked melody performed on melodica and "Big Stick" is a Henry "Junjo" Lawes-styled riddim readymade for some early '80s dancehall style toasting a la Yellowman and Fathead. Even though we're still early in 2020, Pyrotechnist's Fire Crackers already is one of the top ska/reggae albums of the year--it's that good!

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Duff Review: Pyrotechnist "Dub Rocketry"

Jump Up Records
2016
CD/LP

(Review by Steve Shafer)

The mad genius behind Pyrotechnist is Nico Leonard of The Moon Invaders, Caroloregians, and Pum Pum Hotel studios notoriety (aided by David Loos on tenor sax and Pierre Haegeli on bass and guitars). With a title like Dub Rocketry, one might expect this album to be filled with the radically deconstructed and reassembled dub of Lee "Scratch" Perry or Adrian Sherwood--but a better comparison would be with the instrumental funky reggae of Jackie Mittoo alternating with Augustus Pablo's (with support from King Tubby) "Far East" dub sound. And like those different approaches, Dub Rocketry is split between moody, introspective dub cuts (such as "Croch'on," "Really Hot Summer," and "Split Second") and shimmeringly bright instrumentals (like "In a Copan Mood," "Groove In," "Sunny Tubby" and "Bye Bye Beach"--shades of The Pioneers' "Long Shot Kick de Bucket"). I find myself putting Dub Rocketry on over and over--and if you're into the aforementioned styles of reggae, you will, too. This is top notch reggae!