Wednesday, November 30, 2016

The Duff Guide to Ska NYC Winter 2016/2017 Ska Calendar #41

1978: Dambala, Tom Robinson, and Misty in Roots (Photo by Syd Shelton)
Monday, December 12, 2016 -- 2 Sets: 6:00 pm and 9:30 pm

Sekta Core, Nana Pancha

Tobacco Road
355 West 41st Street
New York, NY
6:00 pm show: $30/9:30 pm show: $40
21+

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Saturday, December 17, 2016 @ 9:00 pm

The Slackers, The Frightnrs, Full Watts, DJ John Glenn Soundsystem

Bell House
149 7th Street
Brooklyn, NY
$20/21+

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Thursday, December 29, 2016 @ 8:00 pm

The Skints, Rude Boy George, The Far East

Knitting Factory Brooklyn
361 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$15 in advance/$20 day of show
All ages

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Thursday, December 29, 2016 @ 8:00 pm

HR (of Bad Brains), Dubb Agents, Skarroñeros, Kingsound

The Bowery Electric
327 Bowery
New York, NY
$12 in advance/$15 day of show

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Friday, December 30, 2016 @ 7:30 pm

The Porkers, The Pandemics, The Rudie Crew, Skarroneros

Knitting Factory Brooklyn
361 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$12 in advance/$15 day of show

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Saturday, January 14, 2017 @ 9:00 pm

Dubistry

Shrine World Music Venue
2271 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard/7th Avenue
New York, NY
No cover!

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Friday, February 24, 2017 @ 7:00 pm

The Skatalites

Brooklyn Bowl
61 Wythe Avenue
Brooklyn, NY

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Friday, March 17, 2017 @ 7:00 pm

The Pietasters

The Marlin Room @ Webster Hall
125 East 11th Street
New York, NY$16/16+

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Friday, March 31, 2017 @ 8:00 pm

Los Fabulosos Cadillacs

The Theatre at Madison Square Garden
4 Penn Plaza
New York, NY
Tickets: $35-$95

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Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: Two New Singles from The Ska Flames!

(Review by Steve Shafer)

The Ska Flames "Hoppin' Steppin'" b/w "Someday" and "El Camino" b/w "Hometown Waltz" (vinyl singles, Sun Shot Records, 2016; available in the USA through Jump Up Records): The Ska Flames first came to the attention of trad/vintage ska fans outside of Japan courtesy of Gaz Mayall, who produced and released their now classic debut LP Ska Fever on his label in 1989 (it was recorded during the Ska Flames' first visit to the UK in 1988, when they performed at the Notting Hill Festival and Gaz's Rockin' Blues). While the band seemed to go dormant after a string of excellent releases in the first half of the 1990s (ending with 1995's Damn Good, which featured the "Godfather of Ska" Laurel Aitken, and Skatalites Roland Alphonso and Lester Sterling), they've been at it again in the 2000s and have just issued a new album Turn-up on their own Sun Shot label. Jump Up's Chuck Wren--a huge fan of the band--managed to obtain hard-to-come-by copies of these two singles off the album to offer to followers in the US (Chuck, can you import the Turn-up LP, too?). "Hoppin' Steppin'" is a bright, swinging Skatalites-styled ska instrumental designed to pack the dance floor, while "Someday" is melancholy rocksteady tune full of longing that sounds like it was taken from the American Pop Standard songbook, circa 1962. The rollicking instrumental "El Camino" is pure Latin ska (think of Jump With Joey's "El Diablo Ska"), but things shift gears for "Hometown Waltz" (sung in Japanese), which is solely for the purpose of slow dances or sobbing into your pint of beer. Get 'em before they're gone!

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Friday, November 4, 2016

Duff Review: Arthur Kay and The Originals "Rare 'N' Tasty" Reissue!

(By Steve Shafer)

Arthur Kay and The Originals Rare 'N' Tasty (LP, Mad Butcher/Black Butcher Classics, 2016 re-issue--available in the US through Jump Up Records): Back in 2008, MOJO Magazine dubbed Arthur Kay (nee Kitchener) as "the unsung hero of ska" and included one of his tracks in their Dawning of a New Era compilation CD, alongside The Specials, Desmond Dekker, Toots and the Maytals, Rico, Bob Marley, Laurel Aitken, Dandy Livingstone, and others. But his inclusion with such illustrious company surely left many casual ska fans scratching their heads. While he had built a considerable following of die-hard ska fans during 2 Tone and the late 80s/early 90s British/Euro ska revival, Arthur Kay never quite achieved the level of popularity and recognition that was his due, despite being a UK ska pioneer who had been in the right place at the right time with great and undeniably catchy material.

A first-generation South London mod in 1965, Kay had played bass in The Next Collection, which performed a mix of Tamla and Stax soul covers as well as their own songs at venues like the famed Ram Jam Club (where they played a week after Jimi Hendrix's debut there). Like many other mods, Kay also had caught the ska bug via the Prince Buster singles that were seemingly ever-present on the sound systems of all the clubs he frequented that year. In a development that further galvanized Kay's interest in ska, The Next Collection had the great fortune to back the great JA ska trombonist Rico Rodriguez and jazz trumpeter Harry Beckett during their first-ever recording session. But by 1966, Kay had left the band to become a session bass player at Chalk Farm Recording Studios in Camden (owned by The Next Collection's manager Vic Keary and Blue Beat Records/Melodisc owner Emil Shalit), where Kay appeared on many reggae recordings released on Trojan Records.

Just before 2 Tone hit in 1979, when there was no galvanized ska scene in the UK to speak of, Kay released his "Ska Wars" b/w "Warska" single for a local indie Red Admiral Records, which seemed to anticipate the looming ska craze (though Kay's ska sound had little in common with what The Specials, Selecter, and Madness were about to unleash--it was more of a stripped-down, often minor-key affair, devoid of any punk rock influences or hint of its origins in rhythm and blues). With only limited radio play and no major label backing, all 10,000 copies of the single still managed to sell out quickly, yet it never charted. The even stronger follow-up 45 on Red Admiral "Play My Record" (by Arthur Kay and the Originals), about how radio playlists are largely pay-to-play and dominated by the deep-pocketed major labels, was released during the fever pitch of 2 Tone in 1980, but failed to attract any significant national attention (and a potentially momentous tour with The Bodysnatchers had to be turned down due to scheduling conflicts with various members of The Originals). Two other excellent singles--"No One But You" b/w "High Flyer" (by The Originals) and "Watching the Rich Kids" b/w "Doctor Bird" (by Arthur Kay and The Originators)--were recorded during the 2 Tone era, but not issued.

During the UK ska revival of the late 80s (which featured such extraordinary acts as the Potato 5, The Trojans, Laurel Aitken, Loafers, Bad Manners, Judge Dread, The Deltones, Maroon Town, The Hotknives, etc.), Skank Records, as part of their Invisible Ska Years series, collected all of Arthur Kay and The Originals' released and unreleased 2 Tone-era recordings and issued Rare 'N' Tasty in 1988. At the time of its release, all of the 1979/1980 cuts on Rare and Tasty were right in synch with the contemporary UK ska scene, which must have been particularly satisfying to Kay--even if he had been ignored by the music industry and press, the kids had paid attention. Arthur Kay and the Originals clearly had influenced many of the late 80s UK ska acts (all of which were all decidedly non-2 Tone in sound); you could hear it in The Loafers, The Hotknives, The Riffs, and others. Kay's music had helped spawn the next UK ska scene and, in doing so, revitalized his career.

Interest in the band surged after the release of the Skank comp and Arthur Kay's Originals went on to record and release three albums (Sparkes of Inspiration in 1989, The Count of Clerkenwell in 1995, and Live in Berlin in 1996) with yet another iteration of the band (who also sometimes served as Judge Dread's backing band until his death in 1998).

As I was writing this post, I remembered that the reviewers in George Marshall's amazing late 80s Scottish skazine Zoot! had been huge fans of Arthur Kay. So, I dug my treasured copies out of my closet and found the review of Rare 'N' Tasty in Zoot! #9 (all of Zoot's reviews were always spot-on and brilliantly succinct). The rave write-up, which notes the injustice of Arthur Kay's exclusion from the history of UK ska/2 Tone, concludes with this line: "If I was a millionaire, I'd make sure everyone had a copy."

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Thursday, November 3, 2016

Duff Review: Susan Cadogan's "Take Me Back" EP!

(By Steve Shafer)

Susan Cadogan Take Me Back (digital EP and CD, Stonyhill Records, 2016): While she is best known for her Lee "Scratch" Perry-produced 1975 hit "Hurt So Good" (#4 on the UK charts) and her classic self-titled 1976 album of "romantic reggae" for Trojan (which was also produced by Perry and is being re-issued on heavyweight vinyl in late October in celebration of Scratch's 80th birthday this year), reggae singer Susan Cadogan has been fairly active in the 2000s (for example, see her recent single with Ken Boothe on Jump Up) and her voice is still in absolutely gorgeous shape. Having said that, it was still a wonderful surprise to find that she's released an EP's worth of really fantastic new tracks on her Stonyhill Records label--all co-written by Mitch "King Kong" Girio of King Apparatus and Prince Perry fame, who also performed on, recorded, and produced these tracks. (It's very much worth mentioning that Take Me Back was recorded in Jamaica, Canada, and Germany by an all star team including “Lucky” Pete Lambert of The Trojans on drums, Jammal Tarkington and Rodney Teague of Keyser Soze on horns, Ryan Chopik of The Harmonauts on organ, Meher Steinberg of Prince Perry/King Apparatus on keys, and Girio on guitars and bass--they've done Cadogan proud.)

As might be expected, Take Me Back is full of damaged love songs--all exploring the Venn diagram of ecstasy and agony delineated in "Hurt So Good." The EP opens with a sultry and ethereal version of One Night Band's "Crazy" (co-written with Girio and Lorraine Muller of The Kingpins, Fabulous Lolo, etc.), which is a stellar rocksteady track about taking stock of a relationship after it's done and one's head is clear: "I must have been crazy to beg you to stay/Crazy enough to take you in anyway... Standing by the open door/Waiting for you to hurt me once more." Things shift quickly to the irrepressibly optimistic "Take Me Back"--see if you can resist singing along with the backup singers during the chorus--a song full of eager anticipation for the good things that could come if all is forgiven. "I Don't Want to Play Around" sounds like it could be a recently unearthed 2 Tone single (that would have hit it big!). Cadogan's heartbreaking performance on the dark "Leaving" is simply devastating ("The hardest part of leaving you/Is knowing that you'll move on, too/Holding somebody's hand/Instead of mine"). And even though the subject matter is kind of bleak ("The neighbors still talk/My best friends ask/It's the worst it could be/But when you left this home/You also took the best from me"), the EP ends with "The Best of Me," a sprightly and crazy catchy early/skinhead reggae cut.

I am in no way exaggerating when I state that this is one of the best ska/rocksteady releases I've heard this year.

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