Two years ago, Italians from The Magnetics played their first concert in Poland, at the second edition of the Gdańsk Ska Jamboree festival. They liked it so much that they decided to come back. Tomorrow, we’ll have a chance to check how their sound has changed over the last 3 years. And as an appetizer before the gig, we recommend the transcript of a conversation we had in 2018 with the vocalist and founder of the group, Olly Riva.
The last two years went by with hardly any concerts and festivals. There have been very few ska related music events in Poland, and travelling abroad has been difficult. But there is light at the end of the tunnel – the fourth edition of Gdańsk Ska Jamboree.
The Polish ska scene has never been too thriving. You can count the bands regularly releasing new albums on the fingers of one hand. No wonder it’s been already 20 years since the last compilation presenting Polish ska bands was released. SKAsety.PL vol. 1 is the latest attempt to showcase contemporary Polish ska.
Nobody planned this conversation. I certainly didn’t, and the guys from The Aggrolites didn’t expect it either. Sometimes, however, fate knows better what RudeMaker readers need. After the dirty reggae legends’ show in Cottbus in November 2019, it decided that they had to read about “Reggae Now!”, marinating records and the best skinhead reggae in the world.
We’ve been waiting a long time for this and it finally happened. The “Tribute to Alibabki” album is ready! It features the group’s greatest hits in Jamaican versions developed by Warsaw’s finest ska-jazz ensemble, The Bartenders.
It’s getting hotter and hotter and the pandemic restrictions on the organization of cultural events in Poland loosen up. Small concerts and open-air parties are slowly coming back to Warsaw. But in other parts of the world, online events are still the best pastime. This weekend, it’s worth staying at home and virtually going to a ska festival in Peru.
I’ve spent the last two weeks embracing summer heat and sweet laziness. Yet, there are some topics that enforce you to write a few words. This time it’s the premiere of not one but two Travelers All Stars singles and it’s definitely worth your full attention.
After almost 20 years, Long Beach Dub Allstars are back with a new record. A self-titled album often means a new opening, sometimes a big change of a band’s sound. Is it the case with this Californian legend known for merging reggae, punk rock, ska, dub, hip-hop, and pretty much everything around?
Do you sometimes order a record without first hearing it? Without knowing even one song? Steady Social Club’s album was the first in a very long time that I purchased without hearing a single second of it.
We have a 4-day weekend ahead of us in Poland and although we’re coming out of lockdown, sometimes it’s important to ask oneself if I really need to leave my flat. The promoters of virtual festivals made sure that it was worth spending the next few days in front of the screen.
Sometimes reality catches up with the words of a song. The new Dub Pistols single was released on June 4, when people in the United States were protesting and rioting after the death of George Floyd, who was suffocated by a police officer. “Stand Together” seems to be a song written for the moment, but it was created two years ago.
Have you ever wondered what do producers do after the last musician leaves their studio in the evening? Well, they just take all their toys – microphones, tape machines, echoes, reverbs, mixers, and any other retro junk and play with it the whole night long. They do dub!
Many great records have been released this year. Lots of good ska, reggae, even rocksteady. Yet, what Mango Wood created still managed to make a huge impression. Imagine that you put on the record, hear the first sounds, next tunes and suddenly you realize that something is not quite alright, it’s gotta be a mistake, someone has put the wrong record into the sleeve. It was supposed to be fresh stuff from this year, not an early reggae compilation from the 60s. I got conned!
This album’s title kinda sounds as if the Vikings were coming and the only reasonable line of action was to quickly evacuate. There’s something to it as smörgåsbord means Swedish table. In this case, the buffet is all about ska music and relates to a plentiful, all-around set of dishes prepared by The Players Band.
I like to listen to bands from warmer countries in the summer. I imagine beach concerts and tropical drinks with umbrella straws. In Poland the heat is already lurking around the corner, we are slowly coming out of lockdown, and only live music will be missing in this puzzle, at least for some time. Fortunately, there’s an album coming to the rescue and although it came out in January, it will be good to listen to in our part of the world right now.
If you were wondering if anyone plays solid ska in Denver, Colorado, I assure you they do. There’s at least one ensemble, which for the second decade makes sure that fans in need of such sounds have their local crew on whose gig they can always count. “Lunchin’ with The Dendrites” is their latest EP, which quite stirred up my perception of the band.
Red Stripes are a 10-piece band from Hong Kong. In March They released their second album. I associate Asian ska primarily with ska-jazz and rather classic kind of playing truthful to Jamaican 60s roots. But here we have music subtly but firmly touched by typical British 2 Tone.
Unfortunately, the September edition of Freedom Sounds will also not take place as planned. Restrictions on the organization of large events in Germany have been extended. All we can to do is wait for 2021.
As another week of isolation passes, the thoughts of going to a gig become more and more intrusive. Especially, when I listen to records that sound like a preview of enjoyment. The Makeways new EP is certainly one of those.
Jay Nugent a.k.a. Agent Jay a.k.a. Crazy Baldhead is to most known as the guitarist of The Slackers. While there he’s disciplined to give the band a good backbone, he lets himself loose in his solo project.
Members of Chainska Brassika during home isolation recorded a new song encouraging people to dance. In the music video they used recordings sent by their fans.
If you’re looking for a decent old-school instrumental early reggae, Los Aggrios from Los Angeles will be a good choice. They recently released their first 45.
The previous album, “Smoke” was the first part of a musical trilogy documenting Rice’s attempts to combine rocksteady and samba. The next release containing these experiments will see the light of day in mid-May. Listen to the first single.
During the pandemic, the artists are not bored at all. They write new songs, broadcast their shows in limited line-ups on social media, or, like Mr. T-Bone, support the needy with their music.
We already know two first songs from upcoming Aquabats album. Both got pretty cool lyrics videos and their sound lets me be quite optimistic about fast aproaching premiere of “Kooky Spooky…In Stereo”.
I’m always very happy when I manage to find on the internet a band I’ve never heard before, and whose sound is way above average. Of course, I am even more surprised it turns out to be a band with more than 10 years of experience. That’s the case with Taapa Groove, who in 2018 released their 4th album – “Punto Negro”.
Today is the premiere of new Neil Martin’s album. You might know him better as Alpheus, a singer specialized in rocksteady music. Will his new piece of work be actually a winner as the title suggests?
