23min of Ska : Kick Start My Heart

I’m a fan of Kickstarter, have been for a long long time, pretty much since I’d heard of it back in ’09, and in my time I’ve backed mostly music projects, and of those mostly ska projects. I like being able to support the bands I love as direct as I possibly can, also, I like to support newer acts that just need that last bit of cash to get the record out. Here’s 8 songs from 8 bands that I have personally thrown down cash for. Trust me, you’re going to love this episode! No need to thank me, I’d've just spent that money on ska somehow anyway.

Big D & the Kids Table – Shit Tattoos (Stomp ’13)
the Shifters – She’s so Fine (In It! ’12)
Rude King – Remember (It’ll Probably be Alright ’13)
Something to Do – Man in the Black Sedan (Music for Fine Dining ’12)
PapaFish – 1 to 10 (the Lab ’13)
Uncle Joel’s Comb – Better Together (Tubular ’12)
the Loose Ties – Awesomer Than You (Champ of the Week ’12)
the Scotch Bonnets – Live Ya Life (Live Ya Life ’13)

Find & like 23min of Ska on facebook. Also, feel free to download this episode. Ska is better on vinyl. Hit up Grandpa’s Casino Recordings, we have some great vinyl records!

23min of Ska : a Return to Form

Here we go, back in the saddle, the kind of show that I’m used to putting together, a bunch of great and modern ska bands from all over and a few of the greats from the more recent past. I hope that you continue to enjoy what I’m doing here week to week.

Jackmove – Drunken Tiger (Fifty-Fifty ’04)
Mr. T-Bone & the Young Lions – Nothing to Lose (Nothing to Lose ’11)
the Prizefighters – No Use Crying (No Use Crying / Night Breeze ’13)
the Zvooks – Never Care Again (Lesson Learned ’03)
The scandals – HAM & EGG (Rude MEANS Skank ’10)
Joystick – Death Valley (Likity Split ’10)
the Bennies – Mushroom Tea (Better Off Dread ’13)

Find & like 23min of Ska on facebook. Also, feel free to download this episode. Ska is better on vinyl. Hit up Grandpa’s Casino Recordings, we have some great vinyl records!

Special : You Call It Vol. 3

Ah, this week I did the lazy thing, and instead of picking out a bunch of songs and them editing them together, I had the members over at /r/ska on reddit help me pick out the songs for this episode. I think it turned out totally rad! Not too mainstream, pretty modern w/ some older stuff… almost as if I would do something like this myself… if it wasn’t for my “give credit where credit’s due” ways, I’d just pretend this greatness was all done by me on my own! It really is that good of an episode!

the Skints – Ring Ring (Part & Parcel ’12)
Kill Lincoln – Look What You Did (You Little Jerk) (You Were There ’11)
Chewing on Tinfoil – Breso (Get Rich or Try Dyin’ ’09)
the Small Mediums at Large – 50′s Song (the Small Mediums at Large ’99)
Backyard Superheroes – Knowledge (Knowledge ’13)
Demon Waffle – Too Slow (Eat Your Breakfast ’12)

Find & like 23min of Ska on facebook. Also, feel free to download this episode. Ska is better on vinyl. Hit up Grandpa’s Casino Recordings, we don’t have any cassettes, but we have some great vinyl records!

23min of Ska : May Mix Tape : the ’00s : Side B (part two)

In that mad scramble to make sure I included all the best of the ’00 decade I realized that I forgot some of the stalwarts! Some of these bands have been blowing since the ’80s! They reached for the stars in the ’90s and kept it going through the ’00s and beyond! Some of the finest ska acts in America! Hope you enjoyed the mix tape!

MU330 – Raw Fish (Ultra Panic ’02)
Deal’s Gone Bad – One More Day (the Ramblers ’07)
the Mighty Mighty Bosstones – the Route that I Took (Pin Points & Gin Joints ’09)
the Toasters – You’re Gonna Pay (You’re Gonna Pay ’06)
the Slackers – Keep it Simple (Peculiar ’06)
the Pietasters – Listen to Her Heart (All Day ’07)
Mustard Plug – Copasetic (In Black & White ’07)
the Aquabats! – Waterslides! (Charge!! ’05)

Find & like 23min of Ska on facebook. Also, feel free to download this episode. Ska is better on vinyl. Hit up Grandpa’s Casino Recordings, we don’t have any cassettes, but we have some great vinyl records!

23min of Ska : the May Mix Tape : ’00s : Side B (part one)

Ska in the ’00s soldiered on as more and more fans left the sound for something new. Why is this? My best guess is that the pre-mid ’90s folks getting into ska were the kind of people seeking out new sounds in the underground. By 2002 most of those folks had moved on to find other new stuff to listen to as they were always just music seekers. What’s to bad is that many parts of the US didn’t have an established ska scene that dated back further than 1996, so there wasn’t much of a scene to stick with it after the local ska band broke up or moved to a bigger city. It was also around this time when the usual discussion about ska went from “Ska? What’s that?” to “Oh, ska? You still listen to that junk?” That last phrase is forever burnt in my mind after it was uttered to me by a girl in a comic shop in the Winter of 2003 as she was picking out a classic rock record to buy while wearing a Jethro Tull t-shirt, I knew this girl from punk, ska & power pop shows. Disheartening to hear, for sure. So, here’s to the bands that kept the fire going through the dark times! Here’s to the fans that found ska, liked and continued to support it! Here’s to all of us!

Skapone – Men’s Club (the Black & White Album ’08)
the Malcontents – the Greatest Contradiction (Never Enough ’03)
Pressure Cooker – Refugee (I Want to Tell You ‘ 01)
Masketesta – Tu Que Pediras (the Maskatonians All Stars & Friends ’07)
Reel Big Fish – a Little Doubt goes a Long Way (Cheer Up! ’02)
Out of Line – Salty Sister (Channel Surfing ’03)
New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble – Brain Freeze (Skaleidoscope ’05)

Find & like 23min of Ska on facebook. Also, feel free to download this episode. Ska is better on vinyl. Hit up Grandpa’s Casino Recordings, we don’t have any cassettes, but we have some great vinyl records!

23min of Ska : May Mix Tape : the ’00s : Side A (part two)

And here we are again, still stuck in ’00s, hearing the bright sparks of ska bands that refused to throw in the towel, just because mainstream taste-makers did. I won’t lie to you, during much of the early ’00s, I didn’t abandon ska music, but I got much more insular and into the bands in the Midwest at the time before moving out to LA half way through that decade and trying to catch up w/ the ska that was going on in the world at the time. I feel as if I am still playing catch up, but I loved my local ska bands so much I wanted to give them all the support I could, sorry world ska scene, I’m learning and making up for it now! And this concludes side A of the 90min ’00s mix tape.

Infamous Jake & the Pinstripe Mafia – Standing Proud (This is the Beginning of the End ’03)
the Hijacks – Victim! Ain’t No Alternative (Free Your Mind ’07)
7 Seconds of Love – Looking for My Leopard (Danger is Dangerous ’08)
the Pinstripes – Find It! (the Decay ’07)
Synthetic Elements – Take Me Home (Synthetic Elements ’05)
Westbound Train – Fatty Boom Boom! (Transitions ’06)
Sonic Boom Six – For 12 Weeks, the City is Theirs (Arcade Perfect ’07)

Find & like 23min of Ska on facebook. Also, feel free to download this episode. Ska is better on vinyl. Hit up Grandpa’s Casino Recordings, we don’t have any cassettes, but we have some great vinyl records!

23min of Ska : May Mix Tape : the ’00s : Side A (part one)

It’s May and that means another mix tape! Hurrah! Now, the ’00s were getting to be a dark time for ska music. Bands were breaking up, switching over to emo and rock and/or dropping their horn sections all together. It was sad. Luckily, two things were going on, some bands were sticking it out and other bands were forming to fill that void. Getting booked wasn’t easy, ska was on its way back underground, but you’d have to be really out of touch to miss these acts. This whole month is dedicated to those bands in the form of a 90min mix tape broken up over a month. Enjoy it, let it take you back, it did for me!

Big D & the Kids Table – Evil Girl / Angry Girl (the Gipsy Hill EP ’02)
Cornerstone 96-98 – Eggshells (Cornerstone 96-98 ’04)
Johnny Nine & the Racers – My Beat (Chin Up ’09)
the Homecoming Queens – Timmy Goes to Summer Camp (a Sound You Once Knew ’08)
the Amphetameanies – the Devil Lives Upstairs (Now! That’s What I Call… ’06)
Squid 58 – the Last Fag (Dismantled ’07)
Monkey – Voice of America (Cruel Tutelage ’06)

Find & like 23min of Ska on facebook. Also, feel free to download this episode. Ska is better on vinyl. Hit up Grandpa’s Casino Recordings, we don’t have any cassettes, but we have some great vinyl records!