RudeMaker is an online magazine with latest news about music and culture, new releases, reviews, interviews, festivals, movies and videos covering worldwide ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul scene.
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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on public events, concert and festival promoters are forced to cancel or postpone them. The Freedom Sounds Festival, scheduled for the end of April in Cologne, found itself in the latter situation. The promoters set a new date – 4/5 September and announced the first bands – The Bluebeaters and Kalles Kaviar. We will inform you about the new line-up as soon as it is confirmed.
Plenty of stars play at Freedom Sounds Festival, but usualy the artists listed slightly lower on the event poster cause my heart to beat faster. That was the case with Jesse Wagner & The Badasonics. After a great gig we had an opportunity to talk a little – listen or read the interview.
The Uppertones are coming back to Poland! Next week, with a refreshed line up and maybe also with some new songs, they will play in Poznań, Warsaw and Gdańsk. On this occasion, we want to take you back in time to last spring, when Mr. T-Bone and company visited us last time.
A week ago, nine years after shooting, “Short Movie About Skanking” had its premiere. What piece of work is that? – you might ask. Collaboration of Polish pioneer of punk rock and reggae, Robert Brylewski and cinema first of all brings to mind “Polskie gówno” (“Polish shit”) from 2014. Meanwhile, around 2010, Robert left his mark on musical and, as it turns out, also cinematic climate of Sosnowiec, city known for its dynamic ska and reggae scene.
Among the festivals that combine different alternative genres in one place, Mighty Sounds is my favorite. Every year you’ll find punk, hardcore, rock’n’roll bands and of course those that we like the most in their program . Check out why you should go to the Czech Republic this weekend.
One of the best summer ska festivals in Europe, it’s a well known fact. There’s always a great company there, picnic atmosphere till around 3pm and later on lots of great gigs until late night. Two or, if you’re really interested, even three days of great party in ska, rocksteady and reggae rythms. What more could you possibly want? I’ve been there many times and I’ve seen so many Jamaican legends at the Wasserburg castle, I think there’s no other place like that for me. What This Is Ska promoters prepared for this year? Here are my recommendations.
In May I’ve already shared with you my optimistic predictions about new Aggrolites album. Two tracks presented before the premiere allowed me to rub my hands with glee and to prepare my player for some intensive work. The physical record arrived just today, but the truth is I’ve already had it memorized.
This had to happen. Polish Ska legend finally goes into wax. Originally this self-titled album was released as a cassette in 1996. Few years later CD edition followed. Now it lands on vinyl by Oldschool Records and Jimmy Jazz Records celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.
NYSJE is kind of like a speeding train which races forward for 25 years now without any decelerations. Occasional exchange of passengers doesn’t have any serious impact on the general direction and definitely not on the great reputation of this ska-jazz torpedo. Last Saturday New Yorkers released “Break Thru”, their first studio longplay for eight years. Is there any break through here?
One of the best bands I got to know during last few years has finally released a record. Even if we’re only talking about a 45, I still consider it a big event. Energy that this band can put into several minutes tune could be envied by quite a few scene’s veterans with many albums on their accounts.
At the very beginning I must confess, that I actually have no clue about musical genre called mento. It doesn’t change the fact that the Los Apartamentos’ debut album is soo good and it raises so much positive emotions in me, that I feel downright obligated to write a few words about it and encourage you to make a closer acquaintance with it.
I’ve been at Riverside Stomp Festival only once and it was 12 years ago. That’s where I’ve seen Derrick Morgan for the first time and if only because of that I have very fond memories of this event. Mainz is not very close to Warsaw, so during all those years I haven’t been able to repeat my visit, but every year I observe line-ups offered by the promoters with true pleasure. This time it’s also interesting.
We like this kind of premieres. Polish reggae producer xRobBlack sends his instrumental to an american label Happy As A Lark. Guys from Chicago say they need a strong soul vocal here and they recruit a legendary falsetto of Renaldo Domino for this project. To make things even more fun they add Lone Ranger’s toasting to the set. And that’s how “Never Thought” song and its alternative version „Think Again!” were born.
Yes, you’re seeing this right. Brooklyn based label known for promoting such fantastic performers as Charles Bradley, Sharon Jones or above all The Frightnrs this time decided to bet on the classic 60s ska sound. Since yesterday you can preorder “Lover Like Me” 7″ vinyl by Leon Dinero and The Inversions.
There aren’t a lot of bands which had such a huge impact on contemporary reggae scene as The Aggrolites. You could say that their 2003 album “Dirty Reggae” was actually a new opening and started a whole wave of bands inspired by dirty funky early reggae sounds. Countless tours all over the world, five next releases and.. 8 years of break. Now they’re back and we’ll be able to judge the quality of this return on June 24th.
It was one of the largest teams on stage of Freedom Sounds Festival 2018. The North East Ska Jazz Orchestra consists of up to twenty people! They have been playing together since 2012, and set themselves a goal to rebuild the Italian ska scene. In March they released a new, self-titled album, which I talked about with the bassist of the band, Roberto Amadeo, last year.
In 1979, Jerry Dammers from The Specials founded 2 Tone Records, the label which name was to become the name of the entire musical genre.
Eastern Standard Time’s concert was from the start on my list of “gigs to see” at Freedom Sounds Festival 2019. In the first days of April the Americans released their sixth album, “Time For Change” and I was curious, how the new material will sound live. I took the opportunity to chat with the drummer and band founder, James McDonald and vocalist, I-Peace Unikue.
To say that Freedom Sounds is a great festival is not enough. Before we tell you exactly what happened during the memorable last weekend of April in Cologne, Magdalena prepared her Top 5.
It’s only few days left till 7th edition of Freedom Sounds Festival. We’ve written many times that this is probably our favourite recurring event in ska, rocksteady and reggae rythms. Spring indoors festival in Cologne, Germany has definitely earned this name. We’ve been there three times already and each time it was simply perfect. The bar is set very high but this year’s lineup allows to expect new record results.
Derrick Harriott once said, “Ask any Jamaican musician and they’ll tell you the rocksteady days were the best days of Jamaican music.” Despite its short lifespan, the influence of this genre is not to be underestimated. Keith & Tex, best known for their hit “Stop That Train”, were a part of this new craze.
There was no indication that RudeMaker would celebrate its tenth birthday in any way. When our good friend Victor Quero wrote that he would like to invite The Slackers to Warsaw, it became clear that this was supposed to happen. After all, users of the Soundcrazy forum, which a few years later transformed into RM, met personally in Kraków in 2003 at the New Yorker’s concert.
– Well, that’s life, when you want to record an interview with an artist. You can’t be everywhere – I thought when I was leaving the Soothsayers’ gig at this year’s edition of Freedom Sounds Festival. Susan Cadogan, a Jamaican singer who was famous in the ’70s with the hit “Hurt So Good” recorded for Lee Perry, was waiting for me at a hotel nearby.
California ska-punk band Mad Caddies has a musical gift for the fans for Christmas.
One of the best American ska-punk bands returns with a new album. Yesterday, Reel Big Fish released the first LP of brand new material in 6 years.
A few days ago DiscoBalls have premiered their new “Fly” videoclip, and you can check it out above. The song is the preview of the band’s new album. Previous album – “Dance like nobody’s watching” – was released in 2014. For now, DiscoBalls has recorded four songs, the rest is planning to record in the spring of next year.
When you’re passing by a ligthened up reindeer while going to work, you’re hearing “Last Christmas” for the fifth time this week, it’s a sign that it’s about time to get down to christmas gifts. If up till now you still didn’t have time to think about it, perhaps RudeMaker’s gift ideas will help you a little. These are the things that would make me or my partner happy, from stores I know and where I shop. Nothing in this article was sponsored (that’s a shame).
On December 7, The Recording Academy (formerly the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) announced a list of nominations for the Grammy Awards 2019, including for the Best Reggae Album.
Malambo Ska Band is a 2-Tone band formed in 2016 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. So far, their songs could be heard only on two compilations issued as part of The Specialized Project (“BOSS” i “Dance Crazy“) and on the compilation “Solo Como Un Hongo” by Argie Pop Records.
