Listen To This Band!!

Band: Fandangle

Country: UK

Notable Album: Fly Away

Favourite Track: "I'm High"

If you know me at all, you will probably know about this band, or at least heard me mention them once or twice. I found this Fandangle album in December 2008, and it absolutely blew me away. Less Than Jake's GNV FLA had come out in late June of the same year, and although they continue to be my absolute favourite band, I definitely listen to this album way more than I have ever listened to GNV FLA! Full of ska and horn-infused pop-punk tracks, Fly Away is easily one of my favourite albums of all time. Of course, and this seems to be a trend in my posts, Fandangle is not actually a band anymore - however, most of the members are still together in another ska-pop-punk band called New Riot, with their debut album Riot.Sleep.Repeat due out on March 11!

So, like I said, I found this album in December of 2008 (same year as its release), and almost right away it became my favourite album of that year. There is only one track out of the full 15 that I outright don't like, and even then I can listen to it without much complaint. Aside from that, the only real problem I have with the album is the opening track, "Once Over." I feel as though it doesn't actually do the rest of the album justice - it's a full-out pop-punk track without horns, but the majority of the other tracks are ridiculously good ska-punk songs! I have no complaint with the song itself, just don't base the rest of the album on it. Overall, Fly Away is absolutely stellar. The guitars are loud and clear, even in the ska sections, the bass walks everywhere and it sounds amazing, the keys cut through every once in a while for a fun refreshment, the drums are not complicated but they suit each track as well as they can, and the horns... oh the horns... Trumpet, sax, and trombone blast through each song with unbelievable power and each horn line is just as catchy as the rest of the music around it. in addition to all of this, each member of the band is a vocalist, so all of a sudden there's a Bad Religion-esque chorus of people singing vocal chords above the rest of the music! Unreal, absolutely unreal.

I'm having trouble writing this as I listen to the album. I keep getting distracted and singing along or tapping my hands or feet - and I've written way more than I planned already so I'm going to post my favourites below here for you to take a listen to. "I'm High" is my absolute favourite, but the others are worth the listen - and this album is definitely worth the money to buy if you can find it!

I'm High

Cheap Escape

It Came To This

And if you can find the song "S.I.C." from their Suburban Nights EP, check it out too!

EDIT** S.I.C. is on their MySpace playlist - if you enjoyed the other tracks, you will LOVE this song too!

Pick up the album here if you like what you hear - you won't be disappointed!

Another "E"xciting Post!

Band: The (English) Beat

Country: UK

Notable Album: I Just Can't Stop It

Favourite Song "Ranking Full Stop"

Well good evening to all you internet people! I thought today's installment could be something a little different - so I give you The (English) Beat! Known as The Beat in the UK, but as The English Beat in North America (there was another band already called The Beat), these Two-Tone rockers have been around since the late '70's! You may remember the song "Mirror In The Bathroom" - yup, that's them! Undergoing several lineup changes between their beginning, end, and reformation, they are now once again on tour playing their own brand of soul and reggae-infused British ska.

I Just Can't Stop It is actually the only Beat album that I can listen to all the way through. The others just don't have the same energy that this one does - and all my favourite ska tracks need to have that energy behind them to really allow me to enjoy them. Full of political messages, including lots about racial unity, these guys know how to speak and rock out at the same time! I nearly threw up from how lame that was... just sayin'. ANYWAYS, if you're a fan of any '70's or '80's ska, or you're interested in what kinds of music influenced current ska bands, check this album out!

Like always, I had a hard time choosing my favourite song - but this time, "Ranking Full Stop" takes the cake! This is one of the most fun songs I have ever heard, and although the entire album is full of energy, I chose this track because the offbeats were so much more apparent than with others. I love "Two Swords," "Tears Of A Clown" (Smokey Robinson & the Miracles cover, and a wicked one at that!), and "Best Friend," but "Ranking" is just perfection for these guys. Ranking Roger (get the title of the song now?) is featured doing his fun style of toasting throughout song, and that makes it one of the coolest songs I know.

And of course, you can buy their albums here - check back tomorrow for letter "F"! I am off to listen to the brand new New Riot tracks from their upcoming album!

A Dan-"D" Post!

Band: Dan Potthast

Country: USA

Notable Album: Eyeballs

Favourite Song: "I've Set Sail"

Hello all! Today's installment of my blog is all about Mr. Dan Potthast, lead singer of MU330. Dan is a member of several different groups - MU330, his own solo career, another band called The Stitch-Up - he is about as active in music as you can get! However, I'm trying to focus on his solo career, especially his debut album Eyeballs. Mainly composed of just his vocals and guitar playing, and an accompanying bass (and several auxiliary instruments for fun), he's put together 14 tracks of very original ska, folky, acoustic music. As always, it's a little unknown if what Dan sings about is actually a metaphor for something, or just musical nonsense - but no matter what, the music is fun and fresh to listen to!

"I've Set Sail" is by far my favourite track on the album. As you may have noticed, the first track of an album makes the biggest impression on me, and "I've Set Sail" comes in right after the 23-second introduction. This particular track sticks with me because it's odd for Dan to write a "conventional" song with overly-used chord progressions - but he chose to do so on this track... and it works! I was always impressed with MU330 and Dan's solo work because they were so good at staying away from boring, old chord progressions, but it's almost refreshing to hear something familiar for once. And even though the music itself is not necessarily extremely original, Dan's singing style still makes the track his own - definitely worth the listen.

As always, feel free to purchase the album here - and stay tuned for letter "E" tomorrow!

The "C" Word - I Mean, Band...

Band: Capdown

Country: UK

Notable Album: Civil Disobedients

Favourite Song: "Cousin Cleotis"

So things are very insane at the moment, so this post is going to be pretty short - but don't think that the band is any less important!

Capdown is a defunct ska-core band from Milton Keynes, UK. They have 3 full releases, but my favourite is their debut, Civil Disobedients, from 2000. This album has a lot more ska-punk than newer releases, which is why it stands out for me. Their music is very original, straying from traditional 3 or 4 chord punk progressions towards something closer to full-chord scales. I don't really know how to explain it, other than it's SUPER GOOD and you should check them out! Their lead singer, Jake, not only has a unique and powerful voice to go along with their political messages - he is also a saxophone master, and my favourite track, along with most of the others, feature his unique style of playing.

"Cousin Cleotis" is one of the coolest ska-punk songs I have ever heard. The sax is featured, doing some crazy chromatic scale stuff and although I can't even understand what they're saying, it's so catchy I've never gotten bored of it! It's a very tough song to describe, and I won't be able to do it justice, so check out the song here to see for yourself!

If you like what you hear, feel free to buy their albums here, and stay tuned for for a DAN-D post for tomorrow!

Oh wordplay...

The "B" Band!

Band: Big D & The Kids Table

Country: USA

Notable Album: How It Goes

Favourite Song: "The Sounds of Allston Village"

SO! Big D takes the "B" spot for my ska list! These Allston, MA ska-punksters have been recording album after album since 1995, with no signs of slowing down - well, that's not completely true. Everything after How It Goes has been steadily slowing down as they try to mature and find a more permanent spot in the realm of third-wave ska. I have to honestly say, however, it was a real disappointment to hear their newest album, Fluent in Stroll, after secretly dancing to songs like "Noise Complaint" and "Fly Away" from their 2007 album Strictly Rude. So I dance to ska when there's no one else around. Get over it. It's awesome. Try it.

Pretty sweet, right?  This was at Warped tour 2009

It's hard to choose between How It Goes and Strictly Rude, but How It Goes takes the cake for several reasons. Firstly, Dave McWane's voice has NEVER changed - ever. But it's hard to listen to a band mature while the singing style stays the same - and that's a big problem that I have with Fluent in Stroll. How can a band change their sound or style when not everything changes? Especially with someone with such a recognizable voice as Dave, the new style just doesn't fit. Anyways, I chose How It Goes over Strictly Rude because Dave's voice fits much more with their frantic ska-punk albums than their smoother, more melodic ones - and How It Goes is just as much ridiculous punk rock as it is ska-punk. This album is also a lot closer to the style they started out with, and that's another reason why I chose it. I believe that bands create music in a genre because that's the kind of music that they love to play, and it also gives the band itself an identifiable style or genre. But if a band all of a sudden decides to play something totally different, then it destroys what they've created as that band. I'm totally up for members of bands creating different music, but put it under a different name! But I digress. Although some tracks stand out more than others for me, I can easily listen to this album all the way through over and over, and I have been doing so all day!

"The Sounds of Allston Village" is an obvious throwback to Big D's stomping ground - Allston, MA. It's a semi-instrumental track, with backup girls singing some ooh's and ahh's and Dave's voice cutting in every once in a while to add some extra flair. It's a smooth and relatively short song, but probably the best out of all the tracks to open the album (did I mention it's the opening track?). Other tracks that I absolutely love from this album are "You Lose, You're Crazy," "My Girlfriend's On Drugs," and the greatest Specials cover ever (yes, Nobodies Home can't even do it better than these guys!) of "Little Bitch." But "Allston" is my absolute favourite because it's so simple - you'll know it each time you hear it, and it'll get stuck in your head so fast and so sneakily that you won't even notice that you've been humming it for the last three hours. 3 chords (perfect!), funky bass (snazzy!), fun little keyboard intro at the beginning (oh yeah!), very traditional ska drumming (bonus!), and one of the sweetest horn lines ever (cha-ching!) make this an absolute perfect song for anyone!

If you want to relax, listen to this song. If you want to pump yourself up but calm your mind first, listen to this song then the rest of the album. If you want an easy song for your band to cover, listen to this song.

If you want to support the band by buying any of their albums, go here.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's installment, the "C" word (GET IT?)!

"A" Band

Band: Antimaniax

Country: Austria

Notable Album: I'm Without Sleep... In This Desert of Concrete

Favourite Song: "

Don't Steal Because The Government Hates Competition

"

Hello all, today is "A" day for my list of ska bands! The band for today is called the Antimaniax, and they hail from Austria! Very cool crack rock steady, ska-core kind of music, obvious influences from Choking Victim (they cover the track "War Story" on the Choking Victim Tribute Album) and Leftover Crack. Although they're from Austria, all their songs are in English.

Antimaniax are a very "traditional" crack rock steady band - promoting anarchist values and outcries at the current way of life. If you are interested in anarchist and vegan beliefs, then this band is worth a listen - and if you like the music of bands like Choking Victim, Leftover Crack, and The Infested you'll sure like these guys too!

I've posted my favourite track as "Don't Steal Because The Government Hates Competition" but it's a tie with a track called "In Front Of Our Eyes." "Don't Steal" starts with some ridiculous dark, metal-sounding guitars, but quickly changes into a fast punky-ska thing for the rest of the song. It's a great opening song to the album, and sets the pace for the rest of the tracks. The changes from upbeat but dark-ish ska-punk to super-fast punk rock create an exciting song that can appeal to any ska-punk fan. "In Front Of Our Eyes" is a more upbeat ska track - happier music that makes you want to skank!

So this is my "A" band - the Antimaniax. You may not be a fan if you don't like angrier, more intense ska-punk, but for anyone who wants a powerful message or some different music, these guys are for you!

They offer both their albums online for free, so head on over here, and click on the albums on the right to grab them!