Duff Review: Flying Vipers "Green & Copper: The First Two Tapes"

Vinyl LP (green or copper vinyl)
Jump Up Records/Music ADD Records
2022

Editor’s note: Since the Flying Vipers’ first two cassette-only releases were just issued on colored vinyl for the first time by Jump Up Records and Music ADD Records, it seems like a good idea to revisit my reviews of each of these tapes! 

(Reviews by Steve Shafer)

[The Green Tape; review originally published September 21, 2015] 

Brothers John and Marc Beaudette (the former on bass, guitar, and melodica; the later on drums and percussion) from Boston's mighty roots reggae outfit Destroy Babylon have teamed up with keyboardist Zack Brines from Pressure Cooker for a new dub project titled Flying Vipers--which is inspired by the incredible analog dub reggae of the 1970s and early 1980s produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry, Keith Hudson, King Tubby, Dennis Bovell, Scientist, and many others.

In seeking to capture that spirit, sound, and vision for their own original tracks, Flying Vipers recorded their instrumentals on an old-school, Tascam 8-track cassette console (and performed using vintage drums, bass, and keyboards). The final dub mix (by Jay Champany of Truth and Rights) was recorded live on the same Tascam deck, utilizing classic dub techniques and effects--and the results are really pretty phenomenal (and having Kevin Metcalfe, who has worked with David Bowie, The Clash, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Dr. Alimantando, UB40, Dennis Brown, Black Uhuru, Prince Far I, and others, master the final mixes certainly must have helped!).

Flying Vipers' The Green Tape contains six fantastic tracks of tangibly warm, vibrant, and crisp dub instrumentals with great melodies--earworms, really--that will move your body and elevate your mood. My favorite cut here, "Beacon Street Version," features a lilting, very Rico-like trombone melody on a song that sounds like it could have been off Warieka Dub. Other great touches abound throughout the tape--from the jazzy, bell-like sound of the Fender Rhodes on the lovely "Bell Crickets," to the haunting melodica lines on the slow spooling of "Tape Hiss," as well as the urgent and slightly dangerous "Dragon Snout," to the trippy, wah-wah pedal effects on the guitar line of "Cannabaceae" (which is a family of small flowering plants including Cannabis and Humulus, or hops), and the tension on display between the relaxed sax and the hyper, almost martial percussion in "Coffee Kush" (yes, apparently a strain of coffee-flavored marijuana now exists--does one have the Pavlovian jolt from the taste of coffee, but then mellow out when the THC kicks in?).

My only complaint about this release is that I want more of it. For now, hook up your dad's old tape deck to the stereo or bid on a used Sony Walkman on eBay--and then have someone over forty show you how to insert the cassette (and enjoy)!

[The Copper Tape; review originally published on April 2, 2017] 

This is the second release from Boston's mighty Flying Vipers, which is comprised of members of Destroy Babylon and Pressure Cooker, who specialize in '70s-sounding instrumental roots reggae and dub recorded on analog equipment that reminds this reviewer most strongly of Dennis Bovell's output. The Vipers create incredible, mesmerizing dub tracks that never quite deconstruct things to the point where the tune is entirely lost--melody is everything here (like on all Bovell productions). I love this whole tape (eight cuts on the cassette), but standout tracks for me include the sublimely ethereal "Smoke and Dagger" (paging Jackie Mittoo!), the Western reggae-ish "Heady Topper Headon" (of course, named after The Clash's phenomenal drummer), and the mysterious Lee Perry-like "Return of the Living Zero" (which rely on organ, melodica, and clavinet respectively to carry each song's tune). You may think me bold, but Flying Vipers' The Copper Tape is most likely the best new dub release you'll hear all year.

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Duff Review: Flying Vipers "Cuttings"

Music ADD Records
Digital (July 3, 2020)/LP and cassette (Fall 2020, Jump Up Records)
2020

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Back in the mid-nineties when I ran the Moon Records promo department out of a bedroom in my apartment (with my assistant and an intern or two), I often played dub albums (loads of Lee "Scratch" Perry after reading an extensive overview/ranking of his recordings in the Beastie Boys' magazine "Grand Royale"), as the rhythms and melodies would help keep us working at a steady pace without being too intrusive or overpowering. While I'm certainly not implying that dub is akin to background music a la Muzak, it is great music to play either while doing something else or when taking the time to do nothing but be alone with your thoughts. If Flying Vipers' Cuttings had been available back then, it would have been in heavy rotation on the office stereo, as well as during the off hours.

After releasing a series of superb cassettes (The Green Tape, The Copper Tape), and physical and digital singles ("Highest Region," "Nervous Breakdub (Pandemic Version)" b/w "PMA Calling") over the past few years, Flying Vipers have finally issued their first long-player Cuttings, which, as one would expect, is crammed with incredibly hooky, dubby roots reggae instrumentals reminiscent of Dennis Bovell's magnificent productions and Perry's recent and awesome collaborations with Adrian Sherwood and Daniel Boyle.

Cuttings, of course, refers not only to the leaves that have been harvested from cannabis plants, but these musical fruits of the band's labors in the studio--and they have one bounteous crop here. Highlights include "Leaf Miner," which has a wonderful interplay between a rigid and relentless bass riff and a series of answering free flowing Rhodes piano lines; the prescient, apocalyptic "Two Twenties Clash" (and people thought things were bad back in '77!); the Bunny "Striker" Lee tribute "Flight of the Gorgon" with its majestic, panoramic horns; the bad-ass "Scorpio Son" and its version "Son of Scorpio"; and the supremely confident and untouchable "Puff Adder" (many of the cuts on this album are ripe for being versioned by deejays and singers--and becoming well-known riddims in their own right).

Flying Vipers are comprised of the devastatingly good rhythm section of Marc and John Beaudette (Destroy Babylon, The Macrotones), the gifted Zack Brines (Pressure Cooker) on keys, and Jay Champany (10 Ft. Ganja Plant) on percussion and the master at the analogue controls (plus ace guests on horns, sax, flute, clarinet, and binghi).

If you haven't been paying attention to this band, Cuttings is a brilliant introduction to the mighty Flying Vipers; and if you have, you're going to love this album,

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Duff Review: Flying Vipers "The Green Tape"

Music A.D.D.
day-glo green cassette tape/digital EP
2015

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Brothers John and Marc Beaudette (the former on bass, guitar, and melodica; the later on drums and percussion) from Boston's mighty roots reggae outfit Destroy Babylon have teamed up with keyboardist Zack Brines from Pressure Cooker for a new dub project titled Flying Vipers--which is inspired by the incredible analog dub reggae of the 1970s and early 1980s produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry, Keith Hudson, King Tubby, Dennis Bovell, Scientist, and many others.

In seeking to capture that spirit, sound, and vision for their own original tracks, the Flying Vipers recorded their instrumentals on an old-school, Tascam 8-track cassette console (and performed using vintage drums, bass, and keyboards). The final dub mix (by Jay Champany of Truth and Rights) was recorded live on the same Tascam deck, utilizing classic dub techniques and effects--and the results are really pretty phenomenal (and having Kevin Metcalfe, who has worked with David Bowie, The Clash, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Dr. Alimantando, UB40, Dennis Brown, Black Uhuru, Prince Far I, and others, master the final mixes certainly must have helped!).

The Flying Vipers' The Green Cassette (available, natch, via a day-glo green cassette or digital EP, if you must) contains six fantastic tracks of tangibly warm, vibrant, and crisp dub instrumentals with great melodies--earworms, really--that will move your body and elevate your mood. My favorite cut here, "Beacon Street Version," features a lilting, very Rico-like trombone melody on a song that sounds like it could have been off Warieka Dub. Other great touches abound throughout the tape--from the jazzy, bell-like sound of the Fender Rhodes on the lovely "Bell Crickets," to the haunting melodica lines on the slow spooling of "Tape Hiss," as well as the urgent and slightly dangerous "Dragon Snout," to the trippy, wah-wah pedal effects on the guitar line of "Cannabaceae" (which is a family of small flowering plants including Cannabis and Humulus, or hops), and the tension on display between the relaxed sax and the hyper, almost martial percussion in "Coffee Kush" (yes, apparently a strain of coffee-flavored marijuana now exists--does one have the Pavlovian jolt from the taste of coffee, but then mellow out when the THC kicks in?).

My only complaint about this release is that I want more of it--and I also wish it had been issued on vinyl (music this good deserves it). For now, hook up your dad's old tape deck to the stereo or bid on a used Sony Walkman on eBay--and then have someone over forty show you how to insert the cassette (and enjoy)!

Pressure Cooker Video "Brooklyn Bridge" from Their New Album, "Wherever You Go"

Boston's Pressure Cooker have a fantastic new album out--Wherever You Go on CD and LP--that we'll soon be reviewing here at The Duff Guide to Ska. Below is their video for the track "Brooklyn Bridge," shot at the record release party at The Middle East Upstairs in Cambridge, MA on 12/22/12 (Destroy Babylon were also on the bill).

Duff Review: The Void Union "Higher Guns"

Jump Up Records
2011
LP (also available as a digital download from the band)

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Editor's note: I had originally planned to include this review in a huge "Best Ska and Reggae LPs of 2011" wrap-up, but never got around to finishing it, as I started a new job at the beginning of 2012. So instead of letting it languish in my to-be-published someday folder, I've decided to overcome my embarrassment about posting this so late and to share it with the world...

Hands down, The Void Union's Higher Guns is one of the best traditional ska albums of 2011. Side A is all ace Skatalites-inspired original jazz-Jamaica instrumentals (see "In Like Flynn," "Song for Lester" or the spaghetti Western-ish "Higher Guns"). The flip side features "Aiming," a song about trying to drink your troubles away, but only creating more (with King Django and Obi Fernandez); "Tea Party Girl," which is probably the first ska song about the ridiculous Tea Party ("Angry girl having the time of her life/Tea Party Girl hold the knife/Angry man hold the sign/Tea Party Man hold the line"); the sweet, bubbling toaster "Rock the Junction" (with Craig Akira Fujita of Pressure Cooker); the angry and defiant "Garden of Eden," which features the amazing lyrics, "tie my hair up in barbwire and bows/top it off with a red, red rose/doesn't matter where I'm going/I'll be there by tomorrow/entertaining faces, that's where my place is/I've been here to find what's left of humankind" (guest vocalist Haley Jane is spectacular on this cut); and "Fear of Flying," a hilarious monologue (with music) about that condition by Fishbone's Angelo "Dr. Madd Vibe" Moore, that will do nothing to alleviate your pteromerhanophobia (can't you fix it, Doc?!).