Word: ska
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...even in violence. Hip-hop, much as the blues and jazz did in past eras, has compelled young people of all races to search for excitement, artistic fulfillment and even a sense of identity by exploring the black underclass. "And I know because of [rapper] KRS-1," the white ska-rap singer Bradley Nowell of Sublime once sang in tribute to rap. Hip-hop has forced advertisers, filmmakers and writers to adopt "street" signifiers like cornrows and terms like player hater. Invisibility has been a long-standing metaphor for the status of blacks in America...
...HEPCAT Right on Time (Hellcat) This nine-member band, based in Los Angeles, plays old-school ska with sweet vocals and warm, gentle horns. The songs, many of them genial ballads and jazzy instrumentals, breeze by, carefree but never insubstantial. This is an album that makes you dream of the Caribbean, or of dancing under starlight, or perhaps both...
Their rhythms are bouncy, their music is happy and their lyrics are sick and twisted. In their latest album, Why Do They Rock So Hard, Reel Big Fish take the emotionally contradictory world of ska and exploit its inconsistencies for all they're worth...
...true ska fashion, with their upbeat music, the members of Reel Big Fish make Why Do They Rock So Hardfun in spite of its dysfunctional lyrics. The music on the album is not radical for ska--many of the songs sound borderline generic at first, using ska rhythms and instrumentation in predictable ways. But the music is not bland. The melodies are lively and infectious, the band uses short drum, brass, and guitar features to good effect and, musically, the vocals are interesting and well performed. Songs such as "You Don't Know" and "The Set Up [You Need This...
...there is some variation on the general musical theme. The beginning of "Big Star" sounds oddly like Paul Simon, and parts of "Everything Is Cool" are vaguely death-metalish. But for the most part, Reel Big Fish stick to kinds of rhythms and melodies generally associated with ska, and they perform well in their chosen style...