Word: ska
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Personally, I was a vehement pop music hater in high school. My conception of good music included Dave Matthews Band, alternative rock, ska-punk and little else. (Alright, so I did always have an 80s fetish). I didn't listen to much besides that, resulting in constant radio-control battles in the car with my rap-loving younger brother. Watching TRL was like being assaulted by singing Teletubbies. I couldn't tell N'SYNC and the Backstreet Boys apart, in pictures or on the radio...
However, surprisingly, on their debut album, Wasting Time, Mest's derivitative punk-ska style works. Their music, despite a cookie-cutter resemblance to other punk-ska outfits such as Blink 182, still shares the same exuberance of a life preoccupied with drinking and chasing after girls. Thus, the quartet plays quick but ultimately very melodic songs about longing ("Richard Marxism"), about more longing ("Random Arrival") and finally about more longing, with a dash of self-destruction thrown in for good measure ("Lonely Days"). The album's best track, the title track, also deals with the theme of love and loneliness...
...Punk-ska lives! Although their sound was threatened with being lost in the doom, gloom and anger of alternative-rock, the Chicago band Mest scored a summer hit with "What's the Dillio?" However, the catchiness of the song also brought about a significant backlash, as the mantra of "What's the Dillio?" constantly spilling from the radio made the band seem inane and ultimately very lame...
...Sonicbox, and the software came with hundreds of preset stations--everything from talk radio in San Francisco to police scanners in Amsterdam--so I didn't have to spend hours online looking for sites. I loved being able to lie on my bed and flip from a ska music station in New Jersey to pop music from Greece in less than a second. Unfortunately, I can't turn my PC and Net connection off with the remote. So, just when I'm about to drift off listening to Beethoven.com I have to sleepwalk to my PC, log off and power...
...trio of choreographers are broadening their influence. Landon is working on a new video for the ska-rock band No Doubt. Robinson was behind the dancing in the striking "Khaki Soul" Gap ads. And Henson has a starring role in the Showtime drama Soul Food...