ROUND 2!

Band: New Riot

Country: UK

Notable Album: Riot.Sleep.Repeat.

Favourite Song: Days Like These

Happy New Year! I KNOW I KNOW IT'S BEEN ALMOST A YEAR AND I'M SUPER EMBARRASSED but I have been inspired. I don't know how or when, but yesterday I got a Twitter account and today I felt like starting this ol' thang up again. Maybe it's because mom and dad make up 50% of my followers and I don't want to let them down. Maybe it's because I need creative stimulation now that I'm not at school for a term. Maybe it's because I have absolutely nothing better to do. Who really knows? I certainly don't.

So hey there! How have you been? Long time no ska. Actually that's a lie - I've been to at least 15 ska shows since I got back from Saskatchewan (did you know I went to Saskatchewan all summer? And Banff. And the arctic. It was rad.) including seeing The Specials' 30th Anniversary Tour in Toronto and winning tickets to see The English Beat the next night but being 2 kool for 2 nights of 2Tone ska. Also I had no one to go with.

This is sort of a test - I have an urge to expand my online presence but until I make the blog that I have in mind (which will consist of many things, not just ska posts, but mainly ska posts) I want to see if I have enough dedication to finish this. So come along on this magical journey... who knows where we'll end up?

New Riot formed out of the ashes of Fandangle - who put out my favourite album of 2008. They released a demo (with an awesome re-recorded I'm High) in 2009, and we saw their full-length Riot.Sleep.Repeat. in early 2010. If you liked Fandangle, you won't be disappointed with New Riot - 3 to 4 chords, real loud brass, walking bass lines, and all the sing-along choruses you can handle. Some may say that the music is all the same, and those people (I have to grudgingly admit) are right. HOWEVER New Riot does the "same thing" really well, and I highly recommend this to any 3rd-wave ska-punk fan.

This was my first summer album of 2010. I can remember taking my brother to the Avondale Dairy Bar, getting our ice cream (too much ice cream was consumed before I went on that trip), and then sitting on top of the car with all the windows down - listening to the album and waiting for a boat to go under the Welland Canal lift bridge. We must have listened to that album every day before I left. The music is great, but I was surprised and slightly disappointed by the way it was recorded. The distorted guitars are as expected - loud, powerful, perfect - but the clean sound for the offbeats is totally muted. That's what I wanted to hear! I think the music would be much more skankable (IT'S A WORD) and enjoyable if the offbeats were easier to hear. Maybe they'll read this and record the next album differently.

I have a mix CD of my favourite Fandangle and New Riot songs - most of the tracks from R.S.R. are on it. But my favourite track on the album is definitely Days Like These. It's perfect - 3 chords, not too fast, not too slow, and I love the saxophone that pops up in the chorus. Anyone who likes 3rd-wave ska-punk is going to like this track. It's re-recorded from New Riot's Blood Sweat And Beers EP from 2009, but I don't notice any real differences (minus the absence of post-performance silliness at the end of the album version). Days Like These is the second-last track on R.S.R. but I highly recommend listening to the rest of the album first and then going OH MY GOD MITCHELL IS RIGHT THIS IS THE BEST SONG ON HERE right near the end. It'll be like a fun surprise. Plus one song after like a less-awesome encore.

You can buy the album here (I did!), and stay tuned for letter O! Hopefully tomorrow.