This may be a little late to post as a ‘New Year Mix’, but hey, its never too late for FREE, quality music. So trying to come off right in the new year, and to spread positivity around (because we all need it), we here at the Best Kept Sound present you hot-off-the-vinyl-presses of 7″ dancehall madness with a U.K. stylee (Nice up England, and especially cats in Brixton, Brighton, Leeds, Newcastle Upon Tyne, and South London who are always pushing it). 

This track list consists of a short evolution of reggae artists from the mid-1980s downright to late 2008 (hence the New Wave reference). It almost has a seamless transition when the melodies, guitar riffs, and basslines from today’s artists are really looking deeper into the past (ie. Jackie Mittoo’s Evening Time riddim), adding a phatter & fuller sound from today’s complex machines, sounding less digital and more analog along with softer, Lover’s-Rock-like lyrics complimenting with a dash of fast-chat machine-gun-grit. 

Tracklist:

1. Tony Tuff - Deliver Me @ 0:00:00
2. Spiritual & Alborosie - Marathon @ 1:48:09
3. Mr Vegas - Must Come A Road @ 4:27:64
4. Nylon Version @ 7:16:18
5. Richie Spice - Serious Girl @ 8:18:41
6. Morgan Heritage - In love With You @ 9:58:68
7. Taurus Riley - Start A New @ 11:44:34
8. Fall In Love Version @ 13:26:29
9. George Nooks - Hey Girl @ 14:09:59
10. Anthony B, Ken Booth, Mr Vegas - When I Fall In Love @ 16:00:71
11. Delly Ranks & Fiona - Close To You @ 18:40:33
12. Gyptian - This Love @ 20:34:69
13. Frankie Paul - Draw Out @ 21:29:00
14. Jr X - Change Dem Heart @ 22:29:72
15. Asher - Rise @ 23:41:31
16. Beres Hammond - Feel Good @ 25:14:49
17. Peter Huningale - This Is Life @ 27:19:40

 

 Nu Wave To Nu Skool [30:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (54)

They say that the way one starts a year is the way one ends it. From Hepcat’s show in December and seeing The Slackers on January 2nd, I couldn’t have started mine better unless I slept in Scrooge McDuck’s money vault on New Year’s Eve and woke up coughing gold coins and crapping diamonds in the toilet. 

Putting ass-diamonds aside, The Slackers stands among other great contemporary ska bands but with a Brooklyn, New York twist. They’ve been around since 1991, fire-starting the third wave of American ska, and haven’t stop playing since, even enduring the bullsh*t hipster dj 80s mashup scene around Bayridge and Williamsburg (so sad for Brooklyn). With over a hundred-plus shows and 12 albums under their belt, their fan-base has grown worldwide along with numerous side projects like The Stubborn All Stars, Dave Hillyard & The Rocksteady 7, and Vic Ruggiero’s acoustic solo project among others in the Hellcat and Stubborn Records camp.

Their sound is very reminiscent of the original and legendary ska band The Skatalites, due to their well-rounded musical outfit, with Vic Ruggiero’s organ playing (Jackie Mittoo stylee), jumpy & jazzy licks from the brass crew (Glen on the trombone, Dave with the sax), and scale-crawling bass-lines by Marcus Geard. In fact, Marcus plays that non-upright bass guitar as an upright-bass like a rockabilly champ with a dedicated stool and complete with cushioning.

(Notice that subtle in-show advertising on the chair…)

I think the way I respond with this band is the same with my first love of Jamaican ska by way of The Skatalites, and to hear this group play without being too revivalist is a breath of fresh air from all these Sublime-substitutes here in SoCal, and makes me skank in my seat forgetting about that Dirty Spunk(Crunk/Junk/Bunk/Whatever) that’s polluting the airwaves nowadays.

If you happen to catch them live, you know they’re such a great act that there’s never a dull moment even when playing the slower rocksteady tunes. They’ve got so much character and energy, its hard to hate them (unless you hate reggae and ska, or pretend to hate them because you don’t want anyone to know that you like ska). Towards the end of the main set, trombonist Glen Pine and saxophonist Dave Hillyard jumped down from the stage and resumed their solos, sans microphone. Who needs microphones? Live is LIVE, baby.

I couldn’t even begin where to pick my top 4 tunes to post because like picking your Top-10-Songs-Of-All-Time, this was pretty hard. I’ll just pick the best ones (IMO) from each of the first four albums. Also, I copped the show’s set-list again but unfortunately they didn’t include the double-encore set (3 songs per encore), which was kinda odd, but great for us nevertheless. 

More photos after the cliched-jump…