Ska Oddity: The Notables

Posted on March 21st, 2008 by JJ Loy.
Categories: album review, oddity.

I had noticed the disc, Quite Notable, in the Ska section of Vintage Vinyl since ‘97. Despite the fun ska sticker on the cover and crazy named band members, I never ponied up the $13 that Vintage was charging for this mystery album. It wasn’t until last year that my buddy, Doug Morgan, from KDHX’s The Underworld, gave me a copy of this Skatalites influenced wonderfulness.

I was immediately disappointed in myself for letting such a great instrumental band slip through the cracks of my attention. Further research revealed that this “band” is actually a fantasy front for the two fellas behind the sound, and those crazy names are merely fiction. It’s an impressive feat to emulate an entire Ska-Jazz combo with only two musicians- and one that deserves comparisons to both Chris Murray and NYSJE.

Read More:

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Ska Oddity: The Terrorists (NYC)

Posted on February 19th, 2008 by JJ Loy.
Categories: oddity.

Here’s another of those “bands that time forgot”. When we tell the story of Ska we tell how the Two Tone movement revolved around the UK in the late 70’s- we say that the US had very little interest in the sound until years later, when the likes of The Toasters and Fishbone hit the scene- we tell a story that isn’t inaccurate, just incomplete.

What would you say if you learned that a New York band was playing Traddy Ska and Roots Reggae before anyone had even heard of The Specials? They were called The Terrorists and you can still hear their original material compiled by ROIR records.

From CDBaby.com-

The number one band playing reggae, ska, dub and punk on the East Coast, particularly New York City, were Terrorists. They were regularly gigging in N.Y.C. at Max’s Kansas City, CBGBs, Irving Plaza, Mudd Club, Hurrah, Tramps, the 80’s. Their unique punky, reggae, dub, ska were in great demand….

Because of the involvement of Lee “Scratch” Perry, who traveled with and fronted the Terrorists over 20 years ago, and the many tracks with Roland Alphonso of the Skatalites, also from 20 years ago, this is an important slice of reggae, ska, punk, dub from Manhattan in the late ’70’s. This is an historic document with material that is absolutely marvelous and unique. It puts a totally new perspective on reggae in Manhattan evenings during that period just before Marley was breaking through internationally with “Exodus” and brought reggae to a new tidal wave.

You can get the CD at Amazon, CD Baby and eMusic.

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Ska Oddity: Early Tears for Fears Ska Demo

Posted on January 26th, 2008 by JJ Loy.
Categories: oddity.

I’m not a big Tears for Fears fan, but I’m familiar with their sound. Naturally, I was a little surprised when I found this post at Tone and Wave, which is sharing a single from TFF’s early incarnation, Graduate.

This single was in response to Elvis Costello complaining about how everybody seemed to be hopping on the ska bandwagon and nobody cared much for his sound at that time. Link

Check out the other posts at Tone and Wave, while you’re over there. It’s essentially a file sharing site, but I like it’s focus on rarities and Two Tone inspired randomness. I also like the well informed commentary on each post.

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Oddity: Ska vs Acid House and Hip Hop

Posted on June 22nd, 2007 by JJ Loy.
Categories: MP3, oddity, video.

Here’s another Rarity/Oddity from the archives of Soul Seek. The album I downloaded was called Ska Rap, although I can’t find any evidence of this compilation having existed at all. The individual artists are easy to find with a quick Google search, but most of what’s available are in vinyl singles. In fact, from the sound of the mp3’s, I’d say the album itself is a vinyl rip.

It seems that in the late 1980’s, while Acid House was blowing up, several DJ’s attempted to add a little ska influence into the mix. The result is very silly as is most house and techno from that era. But it’s very catchy in places, and recognizing familiar hooks is always fun for me. You can also hear how the ground is being laid for Jungle and Drum & Bass which would dominate the scene, 10 years later. A couple of the DJ’s featured on the Ska Rap album would go on to change their names and become huge in the Jungle world.

Some of the Tracks:
MP3’s REMOVED

Videos of Interst:

Longsy D’s static video, This is Ska:

VIDEO REMOVED

Wyclef Jean and the Rock lay down some Ska Rap:

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I’m not posting this as an endorsement of this music. I’m a big believer that Ska can mix well with almost any kind of music, but this is an interesting failure.

I have some more Ska Rap/Ska Electronica tracks that I will post in the near future, so check back. Also, if anyone has more info on these DJ’s or the music, I’d love to hear from you.

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Ska Oddity: Original Mexican Ska

Posted on June 5th, 2007 by JJ Loy.
Categories: MP3, news, oddity.

Here’s something you might not know about. I found this 60’s era Mexican Ska record on SoulSeek a couple years ago, and it definitely falls into the category of Ska Oddities.


The album was from Tono Quirazco, who’s fan-run-MySpace page, touts as “El Byron Lee Mexicano.” An apt comparison for sure. There isn’t much information online that is in English, but from what I gather Quirazco was a very popular guitarist in 1960’s Mexico. Not only was he a fan and contemporary of the Skatalites, but his guitar style is clearly Hawaiian influenced.



Links:
- Merida Ska.mp3
- La Mucura.mp3
- Pepe el Navaja.mp3
- The above mentioned MySpace page has more songs for download.

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