Danny Rebel & The KGB - Soul Shaker     Release Date: August 6th 2010 First of all, I would like to say that it brings me great pleasure to be reviewing the first album for Danny Rebel & The KGB, Soul Shaker. When I speak to people about Danny Rebel & The KGB their first reaction is always "What a voice!" Danny is an incredible singer and songwriter. With their blend of soul, rock, ska and reggae, I can say with confidence that this is definitely just the beginning for the band. Hang Tough was actually the first song I listened to and I was surprised at how much it reminded me of the Sublime era. I knew right away I was really going to enjoy this record. I absolutely love the wild organ solo in Disinformation, such a catchy song! Marianne reminds me of old time rock and roll. It has a danceable beat that is sure to get people on their feet. However, my favorite song on the album is without a doubt Dirty Soul. Between Danny's soulful voice, the melody, lyrics, organ, guitar, and especially the bass I was blown away to say the least! The Man comes as my second favorite. I can appreciate every little details that was incorporated into this song such as the soft chimes in the background. Each song is unique and has a great combination of different sounds, instruments and even some random vinyl spinning too which is predominant in Rebel Anthem. If you really love this album and plan to go to their next show, I can assure you what you hear is what you get. Danny Rebel & The KGB have been in the scene for quite sometime and now this record is definitely going to bring them the recognition they deserve. (Review by Nat) Favorite Songs: Dirty Soul, The Man and Disinformation Rating: 9/10 Osmosis Unlimited - The One For You     Release Date: July 7th 2010 Osmosis Unlimited is a recently created band by John Jordan, former member of Me, Mom And Morgentaler and The Kingpins. The particularity with this band is that profits from their shows and albums' sales go directly to the organisation AMI-Québec. Don't expect anything like The Kingpins or Me, Mom And Morgentaler though. Their sound is a mix of slower third wave rhythms with pronounced influences of first wave and reggae. Symphonies, however, is not what I would consider ska but it still stands out a lot with it's heavier mood and lyrics. The rest of the album is just good old "feel good music" which makes The One For You perfect for the summer. It's filled with love songs and the appreciation of the little things. Sur La Route, as you probably figured out, is sung in French which might be the only similarity The One For You has with previous albums involving Jordan. I believe it was written by Maxim, their guitarist, and although it's not ska, I really like this song. Having both French and English songs on the same record is something I can only describe as Montreal-like. I am glad that the band doesn't feel limited to one language and it's an element I would like to see more with newer bands. One major drawback of the album though is the uneven recording quality of some of their songs. Unfortunately, there are tracks, Toots Ska, So Much Sun and Up All Night just to name a few, that have a lot of static throughout the song. It's not so bad with ordinary speakers but it can be particularly harassing to the ears when we listen to the album with earphones. Another thing I noticed is the vocals effects in It's All Good In NDG which resemble strangely like Auto-Tune. I thought it was a rather funny aspect at first but I heard this one live and I can say it's not necessary at all. Despite this, it's still one of my favorite songs. Favorite Songs: The One For Me, Sur La Route and It's All Good In NDG Rating: 7.5/10 Skalapper - Find A New World     Release Date: June 2nd 2010 On my trip to Japan, I brought back a few CDs from Japanese ska bands. I picked up Find A New World knowing nothing about the band but with a name like Skalapper I was pretty sure this was ska and I must admit, I thought the cover was pretty cool. You know what they say though: You shouldn't judge a book by its cover. It works with CDs as well. It was ska alright, well more ska punk, but the music unfortunately doesn't live up to its cover. There are several problems related to this album one being redundancy. The ska punk beat is fun for a while but the band definitely lack originality. Some of the tracks literally sound the same. A good example comes right at the beginning with the second and third tracks: Continue and New World. I still can't differentiate those two not only because they sound alike but there are also no silence or pause between the two. If you listen the CD in your stereo, it's one song, but in your MP3 player, there is always a little "skip noise" that indicate the song is changing. Continue is also only one minute long; why not just include it in New World? Not only a lot of the songs sound like each other but the vocals are monotonous. The band decided to sing in English and this is a problem that I noticed with a lot of Japanese bands. It is really difficult to understand what the singer is saying. Very often the lyrics are gramatically wrong therefore the sentences, even if you comprehend the words, don't make sense. There is also a question of tone and pause that sometimes is just not there. And making an effort in speaking another language shouldn't be a justification. It doesn't matter which language you sing, if your music is good, people will like it even if they don't understand the lyrics. Seems to me that the English lyrics are an excuse to, somehow, reach a wider audience. The only song that really stands out is Local Sound Borderless because it has a slower pace compared to the rest of the album but it still contains some of the issues mentioned above. I will admit that musically, they could be worse. Due to its punk nature, Find A New World is without a doubt a very energetic album. The band also covered The Toasters' song Two Tone Army which I thought was pretty fun with the faster beat despite the vocals. The horns could have accomplished a bit more for this cover though, and the album in general, they usually just follow the rhythms without doing any solos. I'm guessing Skalapper might be one of those bands that you enjoy more seeing live but let's face it, they aren't coming around here any time soon. I'll be honest too, I am very picky when it comes to punk and ska punk. This genre might be more appealing for others but some of the issues about Find A New World might be hard to overcome. Favorite Songs: Local Sound Borderless, Lifeblood and Belong Rating: 6/10 The Beatdown - Self-Titled     Release Date: June 15th 2010 It's hard to go wrong with a band which half of its members comes from One Night Band. When I got my hands on The Beatdown's first album, I was pretty confident that I wouldn't be disappointed. And I wasn't but it’s not an album with a lot of surprises though. It is pretty much what you would expect from Alex Giguère and his gang. However, I did find the covers particularly interesting. I simply love their version of Sweet Musille. Incorporating the harmonica, even if it was kept to a minimum, definitely worked for this song. Same story for Get Ready, a cover of Smokey Robinson, which is just incredibly catchy. Those two tracks are good examples of covers that surpassed the originals. It’s not a comparison that I want to make but since some of you of might want to know: How is it compared to One Night Band? Well, giving the fact that the style of music is similar, the vocals are the same and they even got Larry Love involved in a few songs, it’s hard not to think of The Beatdown as One Night Band 2.0. However, I don’t think one is necessarily better than the other. Although I found the lyrics more elaborated on Hit And Run, the music moved me more on The Beatdown's album therefore choosing between the two would be an extremely difficult choice to make. That being said, this is an excellent first album for the band with incredible sing along value. How can you not sing “Yeah hey hey hey…” in Today or yell “Hooligans!” when the song comes up. If you have been to one of their show, you know. And this unbeatable urge is recreated here so be advised that you will not be spared by the disc versions of the songs. Note: Piece Of Mine is not on the album. I had the chance to ask so I did; I was told that the recordings of the song did not satisfy the band at 100% therefore they left this one out this time. Favorite Songs: One Night, Get Ready, Sweet Musille and Number Rating: 8.5/10 The Slackers - The Great Rocksteady Swindle     Release Date: April 20th 2010 I am a huge fan of The Slackers, they are one of my favorite ska bands of all time and they were also the first band I listened to that got me into ska all together. I have seen The Slackers perform even way back when there were maybe 30 of us crowding up The Rainbow bar in Montreal. Suffice to say I absolutely love this band. The Great Rocksteady Swindle is their 12th studio album (Yes 12th, has there really been that many?) it is unique and takes some time getting used to. I will admit this before I go any further, I hated this album after my first listen. However, I do not write a review for an album until I have heard it several times, and so after many listens I had a change of heart. The first song entitled How It Feels reminded me of the old Slackers albums so I was extremely optimistic about hearing the rest. The Great Rocksteady Swindle is a great mix of genres; jazz, reggae, blues and rock. I found this record to be, for the most part, rather somber though. If you are looking for an upbeat Slackers album you might be disappointed. Although there are still some tracks that I do not particularly like, the tracks that I do enjoy totally make up for those. The TV Dinner Song, Bo Evil and Because are my favorite tracks on the album. For me, The TV Dinner Song saved me from giving up on this album all together. I could have done without their version of Ain't No Sunshine. That is a classic song and I do not think it should have been touched. I do not see the point of covering it unless to add an extra song on the album. Although some might see them as evolving in a positive way and experimenting with different sounds, I must say I'm a bit disappointed here. However, despite my disappointment, I will always be in the look out to see what the band will be coming up with next. (Review by Nat) Favorite Songs: How It Feels, Because, Bo Evil and The TV Dinner Song Rating: 6.5/10 PL Mafia - Le Kid     Release Date: April 3rd 2010 Ska fans in Montreal know very well that PL Mafia doesn’t need an introduction anymore. It's been 5 years since their first opus Operation: Porto, but the band obviously didn't slack off during those years. Personally, I find they are getting better every time I see them live. I found myself liking Le Kid much more than their first album, which had a few lengths. The band kept their songs shorter this time, diving instantly into that ska punk they do so well. As a matter of fact, there isn’t an instrumental on Le Kid and there areonly two songs with a slower tempo. It doesn’t mean that the band doesn’t have any more surprises for us. The album finishes beautifully with the unexpected track, Sortie 74, a song with a slower pace and a melancholic atmosphere but I personally loved it. The vocals are polished, including the back vocals, which are more elaborated than on their previous album. I found there was less screaming but it is still plenty aggressive. The texts are pertinent and don’t force the rimes in. I especially liked the lyrics for Je Reste Quand Même. The first time I heard it I thought it was just another love song but it can easily (and it was probably written that way) be applied into a political setting. There’s also apart of this song that sounds particularly like RX Bandits. For an album that hasn’t been recorded in a studio, the sound is excellent. My only complaint would be that we barely hear the sax except in Sortie 74. We can only grasp a few notes of the saxophone when the entire horn section plays at the same time and it is often the case. We are not treated with a lot of horns solos but when we do, it is usually with the trombone. It is a surprising and original aspect of Le Kid since the majority of ska bands opt for sax solos. I know the year is still young but Le Kid definitely feature amongst my favorite album of 2010. Favorite Songs: Laisse-moi Pas Tomber, Je Reste Quand Même, 2e Chance et Sortie 74. Rating: 8.5/10 Streetlight Manifesto - 99 Songs Of Revolution: Volume 1     Release Date: March 16th 2010 How long have we been waiting for this album? Well it is finally here and since lots can be said about it, I will go straight to the point. First of all, I personally think the choice of songs is great. If you look up the originals, they come in very different styles from swing to classic rock with some more modern genres such as grunge, punk and even electro pop. I am glad they didn’t use some old ska or Jamaican classics since it would have made the album predictable. The interest of covering popular bands such as Radiohead, NOFX and Bad Religion might be debatable since they are probably well known to the Streetlight Manifesto fans already, but the interpretations of the songs differ enough to bring something new to the table. I especially liked how they made Linoleum and Skyscraper (originally fast songs) into slower ska songs. However, I failed to see the interest of covering They Provided The Paint…, from Kanolky’s other band, Bandits Of The Accoustic Revolution. It’s not that old and the first version was not that bad, it seemed to me unnecessary. Although the album slows down by moment, fans of the band that expect a continuous fast pace album won’t be disappointed. Hell and Red Rubber Ball for example, contains the typical Streetlight Manifesto sauce: heavy horns, fast rhythm but we have definitely seen the band go faster with their own creations. I personally think that 99 Songs Of Revolution stand out compared to the other Streetlight Manifesto’s albums but I can’t help but think that this might be due to the fact that they did not write these songs. All the tracks sound way different from their original counterparts but none of them differ enough from what the band has done before. Also, but this is just me being picky, if you look into the booklet, you’ll find brief descriptions of the significance of each songs from Thomas Kanolky’s point of view. It seemed to me a bit egocentric. It is interesting to know the circumstances and reasons why those specific songs were chosen but I would have like to know about the rest of the band also. Didn’t they have something to say in all this? Sadly, it seems that when it comes to Streetlight Manifesto everything revolves around Kanolky. The artwork was even made by him! Even though the originality contained in 99 Songs Of Revolution is arguable, I’m still looking forward to the Volume 2 which should also be interpreted by Streetlight. Hopefully, it won’t take so much time. Favorite Songs: Hell, Just, Me And Julio Down By Schoolyard and the Troubadour. Rating: 8/10