Good, then you’re all caught up to check out her new video for Into Action, this time she steps up and takes the lead.

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Here’s the original Tim Version filmed in the Hellcat style:

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Brian and I discuss The Aggro’s writing process and their belief that everyone can love good Reggae, on this, the last episode of Small Talk.

Get The Aggrolites newest record Reggae Hit LA Link

Watch The Aggrolites Videos on YouTube Link

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This was recorded (not by me) live at the KROQ Weenie Roast ‘07 and features Tim and the Aggrolites performing a lot of songs from A Poets Life. Plus, for the last two songs, Lars Fredrickson joins the group for some old fashioned Rancid tunes. The recording itself is better than average, with only a little bit of noise and glitch- if I had to grade it, I’d give it a B.

Click here for the zShare link.

Related Ska Blah Blah coverage:

A Poets Live Review and Vids

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The Aggrolites – Reggae Hit L.A.

Add to My Profile | More Videos

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Top Ska Albums

1. The Pietasters – All Day I hesitate to call this a Ska album since it is largely Reggae with a fair share of Rock n’ Roll and Garage mixed into the track list. But the Pietasters will always be a Ska band at heart, and this album is their best yet.
2. The Pepperpots – Shake It! I’d really like to hear the Pepperpots get a bit rawer. Shake It! is fantastic all over, although sterile at times. These girls are onto something.
3. The Skatalites – On the Right Track I’ve reviewed this album previously, so to make a long story short: It’s far from the original line-up, but this album delivers new songs in the quintessential, straight forward Ska that you would expect.
4. Kingston Kitchen – Today’s Special Not a full album, but Dr. Ring Ding fronts this Jazzy outfit through 6 tracks that push the stylistic boundaries of Ska-Jazz.
5. Deals Gone Bad – The Ramblers These guys seem poised to be major players in the Ska scene. This album, once started, has a tendency to play all the way through. The soulful vocals and jazzy solos keep my fingers off of the skip button. But don’t rest on your laurels yet DGB, with power comes responsibility.

Top Dub Albums

1. The Drastics – Waiting Easily my most played album of last year, and I haven’t had it for very long. Their brand of Dub is heavy and multifaceted, but never a nuisance. It’s mellow enough to be background music, but experimental enough to pay attention too. It is perfect Dub.
2. Crazy Baldhead – Has a Posse Agent Jay has a very home made approach to Dub, and his recording aesthetic directly effects the end product. Warm and analog- very Version City.
3. Ticklah – Ticklah vs Axelrod Brilliant Ska and Jazz Dubs in the style of Victor Rice. Rice is, in fact, on about half of the tracks. However, unlike In America, TvA has vocal tracks by a handful of musicians, while Rice tends to play straight instrumentals. I predict big things for Ticklah in the coming years.
4. The Eternals – Heavy International This is not the mellow Dub Reggae that you used to see in the genre, this is noisy- circus style syncopation with mind warping effects, urban poetry and unsteady beats. The Eternals aggression has not fallen on deaf ears.
5. Unnamed – The Good, The Bad and The Queen Damon Albarn now has side projects to his side projects. Blur and The Gorillaz front man, teamed up with the Clash’s Paul Simonon and Danger Mouse. Not a Dub album, and certainly not a Reggae album, GBQ is slow tempo Rock with moody Dub elements that make it worth mentioning here.

Top Early/Skinhead Reggae

1. The Aggrolites – Reggae Hit LA My downstairs neighbor must hate it when I play this disc, because nothing gets my feet going like The Aggrolites.
2. Tim Armstrong – Life of a Poet This record, backed by The Aggrolites is like a night out with the band and Armstrong, themselves. The tempo is steady and the drop is Skinhead, but there’s a Punky- sometimes Clubby sound to Life of a Poet.
3. Green Room Rockers – Hoosier Homegrown These guys seemed to pop up out of nowhere, and now they’re winning over audiences on the East Coast. There is room for them to grow still, but a very impressive first album.

• I have to give Honorable Mention to a few other bands who had Early-Style Reggae offerings from 2006, but didn’t become easily available (to me) until this last year. The Upsessions and The Caroloregians both released records that would have rivaled The Aggrolites for the top spot. I hope that in ‘08 I will hear more from both bands.

Favorite Tracks

1. Dr. Ring-Ding and Vic Ruggiero – What it Takes
2. Tim Armstrong – Inner City Violence
3. The Slackers – Mind Your Own Business
4. The Pietasters – G to F
5. Bedoin Soundclash – Nico on the Night Train

Albums Worth Mentioning

Some of these listed here are being noted for being torch carriers in other revivalist genres; and some for adeptly mixing various traditional sounds. It’s this that I look for in music, Jamaican influenced or not.

1. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings – 100 Days 100 Nights
2. Antibalas – Security EP
3. Beastie Boys – The Mix Up
4. Manu Chao – La Radiolina
5. Ozomatli – Don’t Mess with the Dragon

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I’ve already written up a bit about Yo Gabba Gabba, which you can read here, but I wanted to post these two clips:

AQUABATS VIDEO REMOVED

It’s crazy how little the Aggrolites had to clean up the Banana song, to make it kid friendly. Everybody like it!

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This Rasta-free Reggae isn’t so much about social messages as it is about funky organs and foot stomping. This episode is exclusively Skinhead Reggae, and in keeping with this series’ theme, I’ll be interrupting the music as infrequently as possible.

The Vulcans – Vulcan-ized
The Aggrolites – Make it Reggae
Crazy Baldhead – Eye Jammy
Pama International feat Dave & Ansel Collins – It Ain’t Funny
Tim Armstrong feat. The Aggrolites – Among the Dead
The Moon Invaders – Don’t Touch the Dog
The Upsessions – Pharaoh’s Last Wish
The Skoidats – Smash Your Fucking Head
The Rhythm Doctors – Mark’s Mood
Downbeat Alley – Nobody but You
Westbound Train feat. Alex Desert – Soul Revival
Monty Alexander and Ernest Ranglin – Double Barrel
The Slackers feat. Glen Adams – Live Injection
The Aggrolites – Don’t Let Me Down

Other links of interest:
-A lengthy but informative essay on the Skinhead/Reggae connection. link
-A brief bit on early Skinhead culture. link

Oh, and Nazi Punks can Fuck-Off.

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It’s called Yo Gabba Gabba! and it premieres on NickJr. on Aug 20. It’s a kids show, naturally, but it seems to have enough musical and psychedelic elements to keep the grown-ups paying attention. Guests like Elijah Wood and Biz Markie, along with the design styles of such artists as Kid Robot and Paul Frank, should lend Yo Gabba Gabba a high degree of production value. Here’s an official description:

Yo Gabba Gabba! is a fun live-action program for young children ages 1 and up. Join our host DJ Lance Rock as he introduces us to friendly toy monsters in a magical land full of music, dance, colorful cartoons and simple life lessons that will get you and your children up off the floor to learn and dance along.

So, why am I posting about this on a Ska Blah Blah? Well, not only is the show created and run by the Jacobs Bros (Christian and Parker of The Aquabats and GoGo13 fame) but scheduled musical guests include The Aggrolites, Mark Mothersbaugh, The Aquabats, GoGo13 and Alex Desert. Other (non-scene musicians) include Smoosh, Sean Kingston, Rahzel, and The Shins.

YGG song, Party in my Tummy, feat.
a very Don Hertzfeldt style of animation,
though I doubt that it his actual work:

Links of Interest:-Offical Yo Gabba Gabba! site
-YGG MySpace
-YGG Music MySpace (lots of songs)
-Nick Jr.’s official Yo Gabba Gabba page (you know? for kids. Iron-ons, masks, and activiteis)
-Yo Blogga Blogga (the shows production blog)
-YGG at IMDb
-YGG on YouTube

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It took a band like The Aggrolites to help Armstrong realize his Reggae dreams. This Hellcat team-up has just released, A Poet’s Life, evidence that Armstrong is capable of making the big leap from Ska influenced Punk to Punk influenced Reggae. The Aggro’s hard rhythms and grease bubbling organ are a nice compliment to Tim’s, mouth-full-of-marbles vocals.

The CD itself comes with a ton of music videos, they made one for every track.
- Buy A Poet’s Life from Amazon

I found a few of the above mentioned videos on YouTube:
- Hold On
- Translator
- Take This City
- Inner City Violence
- Among the Dead
- Oh No
- Cold Blooded

And while I’m on a recommendation roll, don’t forget to check out The Aggrolites new (Armstrong Free) album, Reggae Hit LA.
- Buy Reggae Hit LA from Amazon

Links of Interest:
- A collection of officially recorded Rancid Live Sets – dead link
- A video of The Aggrolites Live in the Studio

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