Tag Archives: punkrock

(record review)RUNDOWN KREEPS-“Illside Village”(FirstOff Records)

FirstOff Records is a relatively young label, but they keep releasing awesome albums by fantastic bands! This one is one of such records. Rundown Kreeps just released their new album and I listened to it and reviewed it for this webzine.

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Rundown Kreeps are a three piece ska melodic punkrock band from California, Los Angeles area. They were formed in 2009. playing the fine mix of melody, ska dancing rythms and punkrock with heart, soul and balls. This album contains 12 songs and I am now listening to it for the fifth time and am amazed by the energy, feel good anthemic choruses and sing along parts. The vocals, as you readers know are very important to me in such music and this band delivers excellent vocals and backing vocal harmonies. I loved the doo wop influenced ska song “Not a Clue” with a great speedy part at the end of the song, making it one of my personal favorites on this record. The lyrics are personal but with a good dose of irony and humour and I always love when the emotion is incorporated into punkrock songs. The other personal favorites on this record are “Worst Day Since Yesterday” and “Pulling Pins”, but all of the songs are just excellent. This is one of the best punkrock bands that came out this year!

9,5/10

Links:

Follow Rundown Kreeps on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rundownkreepsLA/

Get the album on Bandcamp: https://firstoffrecords.bandcamp.com/album/illside-village

Follow FirstOff Records on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/firstoffrecords

 

(record review)SKASSAPUNKA-“Adelante”(KobRecords Italia)

Skassapunka are now ten years old. Formed in Lainate, near Milan, Italy, they quickly evolved into one of the best European ska punkrock acts. This is their brand new fourth album that came out on mighty KobRecords Italia and I listened and reviewed it for this webzine.

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The album contains 11 songs just made to make your day and put you back up on your feet and make you dancing. The music is a mixture of melodic punk and ska with some core influences. Excellent sing along anthemic choruses, fast ska punk rythm songs for jumping and dancing and a nice lyrical stand. These guys sing against fascism, homophobia, xenophobia, imperialist tendencies…so they have their hearts and souls in the right places. The lyrics are in Italian mostly and I once already stated how I love Italian language in punk, especially melodic punk music, because it is such beautiful melodic langauge that fits nicely in melodic punkrock. So, if you love ska melodic punkrock and love to dance, sing and shout out to the loud punkrock this is the record just made for you! Top songs for me:”Entusiasmo y Venceremos” and “Back to the Past”, also “Crazy Town”.

9/10

Follow Skassapunka on Fb: https://www.facebook.com/skassapunka/

Follow KobRecords Italia: https://www.facebook.com/kobrecords/

Check out and get the album and other great releases and merch: http://www.kobrecords.org/

 

 

(news-ska, movies) Filmmakers Launch Kickstarter for ‘Pick It Up! Ska In The 90’s’ Documentary Exploring the 1990’s Third Wave Ska Explosion

Film to feature interviews with members of No Doubt, Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake, Goldfinger, the Pietasters, Fishbone, Save Ferris, Let’s Go Bowling, Dance Hall Crashers, the Specials, Mustard Plug, the Toasters, Skankin’ Pickle, Hepcat, the Slackers, Kemuri, Blink 182/the Aquabats, the Hippos, The Skatalites, Sublime and many more!

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Bend, OR-based production company PopMotion Pictures has launched a Kickstarter campaign for its next project, a feature-length documentary film that explores the third-wave ska explosion of the 1990’s, led by bands like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, No Doubt, and Sublime. The goal of the film is to tell that story from a wide variety of points of view, including dozens of the key figures who lived it.

The documentary, a “love letter” to third wave ska, will delve deep into how the genre of ska evolved from its original Jamaican form, through British “two-tone” in the 80s, into an entirely new global thing in the 90’s, when it became wildly popular for a brief moment in music history. From the early years of bands like No Doubt, Fishbone, The Toasters, Let’s Go Bowling and Skankin’ Pickle, to the massive radio success of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, and Save Ferris.

The film’s director Taylor Morden and producer Rei Mastrogiovanni (both former bandmates in various ska bands, of course) have canvassed the world hitting up clubs, studios and music festivals, in a quest to chat face to face with the bands, promoters, record label executives, fans, and others who helped build the ska scene in the 90s. The list of interviewees is impressive and includes members of No Doubt, Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake, Goldfinger, the Pietasters, Fishbone, Save Ferris, Let’s Go Bowling, Dance Hall Crashers, the Specials, Mustard Plug, the Toasters, Skankin’ Pickle, Hepcat, the Slackers, Kemuri, Blink 182/the Aquabats, the Hippos, The Skatalites, Sublime and many more!

The film aims to showcase the underground DIY nature of the scene all over the world and how the push into the spotlight changed everything. Making this film in a similar DIY, independent manner feels fitting given the nature of the ska scene over the years.

Morden and Mastrogiovanni’s goal is to tell this story as accurately as possible from as many points of view as possible, as it was a very different culture of ska music in New York than it was in Orange County or Tokyo.

Visit the ‘Pick It Up’ Kickstarter page at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/974601805/pick-it-up-ska-in-the-90s?ref=bcb77n.

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