It’s Easter week and we have some Easter treats for you this week on www.buttondownradio.com
First up – this week’s Featured This Week session kicks off at 11:30
SleepinG RuDe BoY has released a superb CD in tribute to the late, great Stan Downsetter, guitarist with the Downsetters. Sleeping Rudeboy (aka Todd) wrote approx. 30 songs with Stan and the one we have chosen has a Downsetters feel too it that you just have to bop to.
Back ‘With a Vengeance’ and a new album from ska-punkers Hans Gruber and the Die Hards. 16 full on tracks of intense punky ska releases May 3rd. From the album - the new single Nothing Like A Good Old Witch Hunt. If the rest is this good, we are in for a treat.
Third release from ex Bodysnatcher’s front lady Rhoda Dakar is a cover of Patsy Cline's Walking After Midnight with a wicked upbeat skanking version on the B side by Jason Gonz. This follows hot on the heels of Every Day Feels Like Sunday and The Man Who Sold The World. Three beautifully crafted ska / reggae covers.
There is a legendary link between ska and James Bond and Ghent’s The Whodads have summed it up beautifully with their big band trad ska version of the Bond signatures on James Bond Is Black. So cool.
Back in 2000 The Irritating Stick were surfing the 3rd wave of ska in Pittsburgh and have re-released their album Pickin’ Up The Pace which is a superb example of the high energy sound before certain bands got on the bandwagon and… y’know… did that to our sound. 10 tracks of positive energy millennial 3rd wave 'pick it up pick it up' infectious skatunes.
We have been digging the ska sounds of Strayan outfit Sunny Coast Rude Boys for a while now and they have released an 8 track selection of tracks and we have chosen a version of a track that we last featured back in 2020 to feature this week. The album appears to be a mixture of studio and live tracks but it's BOSS. Great to have some more stuff!
It’s been some 18 months or so King Kong 4 unleashed some new material. Finally Mitch has released a whole track! It is undeniably a KK4 track and has their distinctive laid back drawled out style. Hopefully this means more in the pipeline.
THE BAREFOOT BANDIT has been a tad quiet for the past couplea years but are back with a cracker of a single ‘Big Guns’. Big reggae sounds dominate this three and a half minute banger.
Skapunk favourite contributors Sgt Scagnetti have unleashed their new single Spotless and Sponsored – the first single from their forthcoming EP ‘At Least Mostly Halfway Dead’ and have such a characteristic sound.
Chunky guitars and the filthiest brass section this side of the East Coast. Can’t wait for the full EP!
Finally this week – released in time for Mother’s Day (the UK one!) Perkie and the Cooperators via Happy People Records released (Mumma Was) A Bank Robber and is a super dope, dub laced version with an awesome dub version on the flip courtesy of Eeyun Perkins.
In case you haven't caught their sublime sound before - check out last year's Concrete Steel and Stone
As ever – listen to new music… it’s good for the soul! Click some links – buy some merch – support your worldwide ska industry! A good place to start is our Bandcamp collection (over 700 releases which a=have had 1330+ plays) at https://bandcamp.com/buttondownradio
Have an awesome weekend – two 4 day weeks coming up!
New feature – the SKAlendar. Your one stop point for UK live gigs / festivals / DJ sets / record release dates - https://www.buttondownradio.com/what-goes-on
Check out the best of this year's ska vids at - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmpaxFQpPPFyOq93QV6_3TqCLARTErKTl
which has new vids by The Whodads, Rhoda Dakar, Hans Gruber and the Die Hards, We Are The Union, The Barefoot Bandit
OOOH and download our Android app at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app.buttondown
SKAlexa skill available from https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09441LLBW/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=button%20down%20radio&qid=1620166405&s=digital-skills&sr=1-1
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And whatever you do... KEEP SKANKING and listening to Button Down Radio
Mr P
April 2022