Morning all - been a bit busy with the new station of late...
Let's dive in - lots to see and hear
NEW BOSSTONES ALBUM IMMINENT
May 7th sees the release of The Mighty Mighty BossTones' 11th album. Written before and during the pandemic, this is set to be a visionary piece. New single I Don't Believe In Anything arrived a couple of days back. After The Final Parade, it's good to see that there is less of a Tim Armstrong influence on the sound. Nothing wrong with TA - we love him - but we also love that Mighty Mighty Sound!
Mr Kingpin has a new album on the horizon. Beautiful reggae infused tunes with boss ska keys. The album entitled Introducing Mr Kingpin will be released on the legendary Jump Up records. The first single 'Think Again' dropped last week and it is a belter.
The project is the brainchild of Jon E Bravo, aka Mr. Kingpin, who has been writing, recording, and performing ska music for 16 years with Dallas based 2Tone band, Rude King. It really does have that authentic Jamaican sound of the 60's.
Go get it from https://mrkingpin.bandcamp.com/album/introducing-mr-kingpin
Full album drops June this year.
Sgt Scag and Hans Gruber and the Die Hards have a split EP out right now and it's pretty damn heavy! Sgt Scag donate Cultination to the release which is a hard and brassy number (if you have Nu Ska Vol 2 - you've heard it on there) The last thing we had from these Connecticutians was Murderhouse and it's just as good.
Hans Gruber and the Die Hards offer up Medical Advice and You Are Being Watched. These Texans describe themselves as a punk band but this is pretty ska heavy to my ears! With horns to the fore, this is more punky than Sgt Scag but the off beat energy drives it forward. Op Ivy and System of a Down fans should dig this.
Next up Hub City Stompers! The boys and girls form Dirty Jersey kept this on quiet! Cheeky buggers. Great to have some new HCS stuff.
Rev Sinister's vocals are so characteristic - it's like putting on a pair of comfy 2Tone slippers on your ears. Jenny Whisky resplendent on sax and a driving beat make this an awesome tune.
Control This are brand new to us and WE LIKE IT! Hailing from Orlando - in fact they have 8 releases available. We have some catching up to do!
There's a little section where I can hear 'what's the price of your T-Shirt Barney by The Toasters. In fact the American 2-Tone feel is evident in this crew.
You know the score - https://controlthis.bandcamp.com/track/imminent-danger
The Third Rates are a self deprecating ska band released their debut album 'See What Sticks' in the back end of February. Could you call them ska-punk - no that's unfair. This is more ska with fuzzy guitars. Smart brass section stabs over some pretty accomplished guitar and drums shows they are better than they think they are. Some damn catchy tunes - maybe not for the gate keeping ska purists - but if you dig that off beat sound with a penchant for the American sound that distances itself from Streelight / RBF this may well be for you.
The original Trojan / Treasure Island artists were often obsessed with Westerns and the new release from Le Grand Miércoles celebrates this with their single Érase Una Vez Un Western. This is a great tribute to Ennio Morriconne with two tracks from the classic spaghetti western ‘C'Era Una Volta Nel West’ (Once Upon A Time In The West) film by Sergio Leone.
Lovers of that trad sound and the western genre will dig this. Really solid bouncing tunes. Linky doo dah - https://elpaso1.bandcamp.com/album/rase-una-vez-un-western
A week or two ago we told you about Original Gravity records well they're at it again. This time a 4 track EP - Peter Gunn. It features 4 versions of the song made infamous by the Blues Brothers. The EP (on heavyweight 7" vinyl) features 4 different versions - 3 funk influenced versions but what we are here for is the version by the alter ego, Prince Alphonso and the Fever. This impatient version is a driven piece of trad ska that you just can't help but move to.
Last Friday saw the re-release of two albums from two of our favourite British bands Cartoon Violence and Big Fat Panda. Passive Aggressive is a masterpiece of modern, piano lead British ska with stunners like Much Ado About Nothing, Serpico and a personal favourite Black Cat. Chuzz was good enough to play this for me at SPecialized's The Big One in 2019 as part of the National Milk Bar set.
Scotland's Big Fat Panda's debut release - It's Oot has eluded us (shocker!) so we are glad to finally have a copy of the tunes we have heard only live! We first heard these guys on the Trembling Earth compilation back in 2016 and been lucky to have seen them a couple of times. Awesome 12 track, fun filled debut.
In other news - we have secured a server, uploaded... the trad set, Madness, 2-Tone and now working on processing the post 2-Tone stuff - this is a truly mammoth task. Website being updated. Licencing applied for but they are suffering with a skeleton crew. Thank you to the lovely people who have donated to help with the fees. We haare almost half way with our fundraiser! If you can spare a quid or two - that would be great https://gofund.me/db214fae
As ever - please support these awesome artists. Give us a follow on our Bandcamp collection https://bandcamp.com/buttondownradio
and subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/ButtonDownRadio
Mr P
March 2021
Mighty Mighty Bosstones Big Fat Panda Cartoon Violence Mr Kingpin Sgt Scag Hans Gruber and the Die Hards Hub City Stompers Control This Le Grand Miércoles The Third Rates
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