Saturday, April 10, 2021

Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: Desorden Publico & Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra "Ska Mundo Ska," Travelers All Stars "Don't Give Up" b/w "Sabata"!

(Reviews by Steve Shafer)

If you're not already doing so, it would be wise to keep Del Corazón Music on your radar. For the unfamiliar, they're an indie label out of San Francisco that re-issued Laurel Aitken's En Español LP in 2019 (which I reviewed here), as well as a single from that album--and they recently issued two amazing singles that I almost completely missed from Desorden Publico (with Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra) and Traveler's All Stars. The Desorden Publico single features two versions of "Ska Mundo Ska" (from their extraordinary Bailando Sobre Las Ruinas LP, which I reviewed here)--one, a ska take with TSPO (which is so infectious you won't be able to get out of your head for days); the other a great spirited ska/mariachi version with Big Javy from Mexican ska band Inspector. The song itself celebrates how ska music is popular among diverse people on a "planetary scale" (Del Corazón's motto is Sin Fronteras--without borders) and the wildly upbeat music video from a few years ago features reflects that with guest spots from TSPO, The Busters, Buster Bloodvessel, Dan Vitale of Bim, Oi-Skall Mates, Neville Staple, Alex Desert and Greg Lee, Mark Foggo, Jesse Wagner, Fred Reiter, and many more. As you can see from the image above, Del Corazón Music devotes an incredible amount of attention to the design and packaging of their releases. The Desorden Publico single features an actual obi strip (a nod, of course to TSPO), the paper label notes that the music contained in the grooves is Latino Ska, and it comes, as all of the label's 45s do, with a jukebox strip (if you're old enough to remember what those were used for)! The Travelers All Stars single (marked as Reggae Gordo or Heavy Reggae on the paper label--which also pays tribute to the Doctor Bird paper label design) features the bright and hopeful skinhead reggae cut "Don't Give Up," while the more hard-driving "Sabata" was inspired by the 1969 spaghetti Western of the same name, directed by Gianfranco Parolini and starring Lee Van Cleef. If you can find these singles (Liquidator still has them), don't hesitate to grab them!

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