23min of Ska : John Drake

Hey listeners, still in the middle of moving, but I was able to get you this chilled out episode this week. Pour yourself a fancy cocktail and relax to this one.

00:00 – the Snails – Where I’m Bound (the River ’12)
02:46 – the Skints feat. Tippa Irie & Horseman – This Town (FM ’15)
06:56 – the Aggrolites – Dirty Reggae (Dirty Reggae ’02)
10:11 – New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble – Take Five (Step Forward ’08)
15:08 – the New Limits – Loss for Words (the New Limits ’17)
18:16 – Big D & the Kids Table – the Sounds of Allston Village (How it Goes ’04)
20:18 – the Toasters – Secret Agent Man (Hard Band for Dead ’96)

Show support for the bands by clicking on those links and checking out their websites and music! Show support for the podcast by finding & liking 23min of Ska on facebook as well as follow on twitter. Also, feel free to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.

Also, feel free to download this episode if you wanna keep it forever.

Another way to support the podcast is to buy some records from our partners in crime over at Grandpa’s Casino Recordings, they carry some great vinyl ska records!

23min of Ska : 19th Hole

Why in the hell would I make an episode with such a tenuous link to a theme? As always, because I thought it would be funny. So I start going through my head, computer and CD collection looking for key words, and I kept finding great songs! These were songs that I hadn’t played on the show before! So, yeah, golf is kinda dumb, and I don’t even play, but a golf themed episode made me laugh and there was too many great songs popping up that I had to do it. If there was a patron saint of golfing I’d say they influenced me or something… wait… there is? And it’s St. Andrew… and I didn’t even play a single Scottish ska band on this episode? Er… damn, I wish I hadn’t looked that up right before I started typing this text! Anyway, water traps and sand pits ahoy, it’s damn time to take a few shots off of your game before getting out of the sun to retire to the bar in the country club for a few beers. Right? Nah, still boring.

00:03 – Hepcat – Country Time (Scientific ’96)
03:16 – Club 99 – Grain of Sand (Club 99 ’13)
06:04 – MU330 – Stagnant Water (MU330 ’99)
08:00 – Reel Big Fish – Join the Club (Turn the Radio Off ’96)
11:20 – Bobby Pins & the Saloon Soldiers – Place in the Sun (Dancing on the Moon ’09)
15:20 – 2000 Tons of TNT – Shot in the Dark (Reggae Mysteria ’12)
18:21 – New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble – Bob Barker (New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble ’95)
20:18 – Skandalous All-Stars – Wish You Were a Beer (Hit Me ’97)

Find & like us on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/23minofSka

This episode and all episodes back to the start in 2010 are available at http://www.23Ska.com

There’s a lot of great ska vinyl out there, so head over to our partners in crime at http://www.GrandpasCasino.com and pick up some great sounds!

Show support for the bands by clicking on those links and checking out their websites and music! Show support for the podcast by finding & liking 23min of Ska on facebook as well as follow on twitter.

Also, feel free to download this episode if you wanna keep it forever.

Another way to support the podcast is to buy some records from our partners in crime over at Grandpa’s Casino Recordings, they carry some great vinyl ska records!

23min of Ska : Crayons

This is the most colorful episode of the podcast that I’ve ever done! Enough with the puns, on w/ the great music! I hope you all like ska and ska/punk, cuz that’s all your getting. Sorry this write up is short, but I’m on my way to Texas for a wedding, fun time!

00:00 – Run and Punch – Soilent Green (No Loose Ends ’13)
02:22 – Drewvis – Purple (Disposable Pleasures & Meaningful Pursuits ’11)
05:29 – New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble – Red Eye (Step Forward ’08)
09:14 – Bim Skala Bim – Blue (How’s it Goin’? ’90)
13:07 – doctormanette – Orange Juice (Dew Unto Others ’96)
15:01 – Reel Big Fish – Brown Eyed Girl (Fame, Fortune & Fornication ’09)
18:32 – Mephiskapheles – Introduction to the Yellow Passion (Maximum Perversion ’97)
20:16 – Black Square – Black Square (Black Square ’11)

Show support for the band by clicking on those links and checking out their websites and music! Show support for the podcast by finding & liking 23min of Ska on facebook as well as follow on twitter. Also, feel free to download this episode if you wanna keep it forever. Another way to support the podcast is to buy some records from our partners in crime over at Grandpa’s Casino Recordings, they carry some great vinyl ska records!

Rerun-ish : 23min of Ska : Excuse Me Mr.

A Note: This episode first “aired” in September of 2012. Well, not exactly. The original episode has one song in it that has been swapped out for another. See, when I first made this episode I’d planned on using “Mr. Tragedy” by the Slackers, then I saw I wanted to use a different Slackers song in another episode right after this one and didn’t want my listeners to have some Slackers overkill, so I replaced it w/ “Mr. Pink” by the Articles. This wouldn’t be a problem except for the fact that I’d just used “Mr. Pink” in a episode about a month before! Whoops! I didn’t realize this until it was far too late. Then in the next episode the Slackers song I was going to use there got edged out and delayed for a while, meaning I could’ve totally done what I wanted w/o worry and not have played that Articles song twice… if only I had a time machine… So here is the episode as it was originally intended!

Here’s the episode’s original write up (w/ a few minor changes): In honor of my awesome cat Mr. Pants, here is a whole bunch of songs for the Misters! There is a lot of absolute classics in here! You can’t beat the Toasters, the Articles the Slackers or the Smooths! Hands down, great songs by great bands! New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble and Pressure Cooker also the deliver the good diggin’ down on the ska sound. The Stretch Band (AKA Stretch Armstrong) throws in a cover of one of my favorite Devo songs, and while it loses the ska beat every now and again, it is so good, I couldn’t leave it out! Then smack in the middle of all this, I hit you with Jorge and the Landladies incredibly lush and psychedelic sound. If you don’t have that album yet, I don’t know what more convincing you’ll need.

the Toasters – Mr. Trouble (Skaboom! ’87)
New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble – Mr. Pitiful (Low Blow ’97)
the Stretch Band – Mr. DNA (Mashin’ Potatoes comp ’00)
Jorge & the Landladies – Mr. David (Monobound ’12)
Pressure Cooker – Mr. Precious (Future’s History ’06)
the Slackers – Mr. Tragedy (the Great Rocksteady Swindle ’10)
the Smooths – Mr. Figurehead (Very Own Vegas ’96)

Find & like 23min of Ska on facebook as well as follow on twitter. Also, feel free to download this episode.

Don’t forget to enjoy the fruits of my labor and get some awesome ska vinyl by hitting up the Big Ska Gamble featuring another song from Jorge & the Landladies!

23min of Ska : Happy No Year, You Cynics

Here we are again at the start of a brand new year. Once again setting out to try and do better by ourselves. I resolve to keep making a weekly ska podcast, so I hope that that is OK with all of you. Is it? Kick ass, I knew it would be!

the Steady 45s – Leave Me (Easygrooves Vol. 1 ’13)
New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble – John & James (New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble ’95)
Jackie Méndez – Hard to Handle (Introducing… Jackie Méndez ’13)
OreSkaBand – Good Bye Déjà Vu (OreSkaBand ’07)
Skavoovie & the Epitones – the Coffee Connection (the Growler ’99)
the Pietasters – G to F (All Day ’07)
Bombshell Academy – Liar Liar (Skaholics Anonymous ’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 ska 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!

Beat the Dealer : Rune’s 23 Minutess

It’s Thanksgiving in America, so, as the lazy American I am, I decided to take the day off and hand the reins of the podcast over to my Norwegian friend Rune. Actually, Rune bought this honor months ago when he ordered his set of records from the Big Ska Gamble (http://www.BigSkaGamble.com). Not only has he brought us some of his awesome local bands, but also comes up with some great obscure American bands as well! And in an effort to out class me to the end he sticks the landing w/ 2 great ska-jazz numbers. I seriously wish I had more to do w/ this episode than just edit it together, I’m more than proud to be sharing this with all of you listeners!

Skanksters – Seperation (Shaven, Not Stirred ’99)
Rastafarouts – ’96 Wednesdays (Bombaklad ’01)
the Berlin Project – Faded Memories (Culture Clash ’99)
Olafly – Samme Behov (Olafly ’11)
Fat Cactus – Hawaiian Shirt Song (Super Jock ’01)
New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble – Buttah (Instrumental) (Get This ’98)
St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review – Trip Back to Childhood (Live at the Red Club ’06)

If you’re in a ska band and would like to be interviewed or have a song featured, please email me at radjose[at]gmail[dot]com.

This episode and all episodes can always be found here. You can also subscribe to the podcast by going to your advanced tab on iTunes, then select “subscribe to podcast…” and entering this address: http://23minofska.podomatic.com/rss2.xml into the box that opens. Also if you’d like, find & like us on facebook. Also, feel free to download this episode.

Also, hit up the Big Ska Gamble! for 7 awesome ska 7″ records! Rune did, look where he is now! Making an episode of 23min of Ska and being SO AWESOME!