Ska Blah Blah

Adorable New Video from Chris Murray Combo

Posted on August 31st, 2008 by JJ Loy.
Categories: video.

Right on the heals of thier new release, Why You Bad Soh, The Chris Murray Combo drops an awesome new video.  Love Flame features the Combo as puppets from the neck down and the effect is hilarious and adorable.

Click here to buy Why You Bad Soh from UnstrictlyRoots.com Link

1 comment.

New Video from Black Cat Zoot

Posted on August 21st, 2008 by JJ Loy.
Categories: video.

Not brand new- but new enough.  This is one of the nicest looking videos I’ve ever seen come out of the scene- it features a heavy dose of Dr. Ring-Ding and a lot of motion controll camera work.  Check it:

0 comments.

Winehouse Does The Ska

Posted on July 7th, 2008 by JJ Loy.
Categories: Ska Online.

Earlier this year, I followed a link to an underdeveloped MySpace page that boasted some Specials covers by the retro-licous, Amy Winehouse.  These not-so-impressive tracks were obviously demos and weren’t worth repeated listenings- let alone an official release.  That’s why I wasn’t in too big of a hurry to check out what’s been described as her Ska EP, when I read about it here and here.

Man, was I wrong.  Winehouse’s versions of Monkey Man, Hey Little Rich Girl, You’re Wondering Now and Cupid are clean and polished- spic and span.  Cupid is done as an upbeat Reggae tune while the others are arranged a lot like the Specials’ versions, but Winhouse’s vocal flourishes save the tracks from feeling unnecesarry.

But the tracks from iTunes from the Back to Black B-Sides Collection

Or if you want The Ska EP for Free.

3 comments.

Rude Boy for President

Posted on May 28th, 2008 by JJ Loy.
Categories: news, video.

I can’t find any evidence that the future President of the US enjoys Reggae or Island music, but Jamaica is behind him anyways.  I can’t say that I really enjoy any of the songs for the various candidates- and I know they aren’t all meant to be enjoyed, some of them are jokes- but I’m impressed that Reggae hasn’t missed the train on the most socially conscious hopeful in decades.

Obama embodies many of the ideals espoused in Reggae Music. His calls for drastic reform, an end to the war, transparency in the government, and support and compassion for the least of us is decidedly anti-Babylon.

Here’s a big roundup of Obama themed music videos- some Reggae, one calypso tune from the legendary Mighty Sparrow, and one that has nothing to do Ska or Reggae but is simply irresistible.

0 comments.

Rumor Becomes News - Specials Will Reunite

Posted on May 27th, 2008 by JJ Loy.
Categories: news.

You’ve no doubt heard the rumors buzzing around the past few months regarding a full reunion of the Two Tone legends, The Specials.  I had always heard that any Specials reunion will never be complete due to longstanding personal feuds that go back nearly 30 years.  I’ve seen Golding fronted reunions dissolve into screaming matches with the crowd;  I’ve heard unimpressive live stuff from the Special Beat, in recent years; and who could forget the train wreck that was Today’s Specials- but a full member reunion might recapture that magic of ‘79- maybe.

This video has given me a pinch of hope:

0 comments.

Vic Online - Full Live Set on YouTube

Posted on May 27th, 2008 by JJ Loy.
Categories: Ska Online, video.

These vids were recorded a little over a year ago, at The Elbow Room, but they are new to me.  Maybe they’re new to you too.  This set is automatically better than your average Ruggiero live video set, in that you can actually hear the music and see the artist.  This is Vic in full One-Man-Band mode, playing mostly stuff from his solo songbook, and a little bit from The Slackers’ cannon.  Please enjoy:  Link to The Entire Set

Here’s a sample from the set in question, California:

Bonus!  Not from the Elbow Room set- but what a great performance:

0 comments.

Ska Blah Blah: Small Talk Episode 02 - Green Room Rockers

Posted on May 1st, 2008 by JJ Loy.
Categories: interviews, podcasts.

If you’ve been following the scene this past year- If you read blogs like this or Musical Occupation- If you lurk around forums like Dancin’ Mood or Chatty Mouth- then you’ve surely heard the buzz surrounding Indiana’s own, Green Room Rockers.

I talked with Green Room Rocker Mark about acoustic Ska, the Mid-West scene and the formation of his band.

1 comment.

Tommy McCook Interview on YouTube

Posted on March 14th, 2008 by JJ Loy.
Categories: Ska Online, video.

Here’s a cool little vid from the 70’s or early 80’s, where Mr. McCook covers his early career and plays a few of his Skatalites compositions. My favorite part is how seriously he shoos away the noisy kids from the back yard- you really get a sense of how important it is to McCook to put his story on record. His story covers a lot of familiar ground, but it’s fun to see the man speak and play live.

This is only a partial clip, if anyone has leads to the full presentation I’ll add it to this post.

0 comments.

DJ Wade and The Skalars Reviseted

Posted on February 28th, 2008 by JJ Loy.
Categories: podcast spotlight, video.

I ran across this mixtape podcast and the DJ’s name immediately struck me as familiar. After digging a little deeper, I found that the man in question, DJ Wade, was a Ska and Reggae jockey for a St. Louis college radio station, and toured with the STL’s own Isaac Green and The Skalars. You might also recognize his name from his dub version of the Skalar’s Don’t Count, which appeared on the Bang Soundtrack.

His podcasts are literally mixtapes, which he made in 1995- ripped, encoded and organized by side. They lean towards Roots Reggae, Dub and Dancehall, and he knows a lot about where his various riddims come from. Link to DJ Wade’s Reggae Mixtapes

If you aren’t familiar with the Skalars (or it’s earlier incarnation, Isaac Green and the…) then hot tail it over to Amazon for a cheap used copy of either of their albums. They were the best local Ska band during my youth, and raised the bar considerably for the marching-band turned-ska-band wannabes that flooded the STL scene in the 90’s.

However, their tempos were often too fast to be considered First Wave revivalists, like their colleagues in Cali, Jump With Joey and Ocean 11. Still, their lack of power chords and abandonment of any punk elements set them apart from the Ska-Rockers that shared their bill. They weren’t doing the Big Band-Ska thing, but there were some Swing elements to their approach. Many of their songs could be considered Rocksteady, but bursts of tempo changes and heavy horn solos prevent them from being strictly so.

They were college kids who, while trying to figure out how to play this music got signed to Moon and hit the ground running. The resulting sound was completely unique, Rootsy Ska played on the banks of the Mississippi in the last years of the 20th Century.

Link to Keep on Keepin’ on With IGATS (a documentary of the Skalars tour of the West Coast)

Links to The Skalars YouTube videos presented by 3rd Wave TV clip 1 clip 2

Link to The Skalars video for the single, High School

0 comments.

New Dub Trio

Posted on January 29th, 2008 by JJ Loy.
Categories: dub, news, video.

The word from Dub Trio is that their new album, Another Sound is Dying, is in stores today! I haven’t yet gotten my hands on a copy, but the last album was such a surprise to me, and their sound is so fresh; I’m sure I’ll go ape shit for it.

Here’s a couple of extended live videos from WoozyFly.com

VIDEOS REMOVED

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