23min of Ska is produced weekly by RJ Phoenix Want to submit your band? Email: submissions@23ska.com (no Spotify or Youtube links please) Have something else to say? Email: podcast@23ska.com
Another week, another fantastic episode of 23min of Ska. Ska of all styles from all over the world. I hope you all dig, I know I had a blast stringing these songs together for this episode!
Show support for the bands by clicking on those links and checking out their websites and music! Show support for the podcast by liking & following the podcast on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and at 23ska.com. Also, feel free to subscribe and listen to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher.
Another way to support this podcast is to listen to and support our sister podcast On the Upbeat!
23min of Ska is produced weekly by RJ Phoenix Want to submit your band? Email: submissions@23ska.com (no Spotify or Youtube links please) Have something else to say? Email: podcast@23ska.com
About the Tracks:
Nathan Leigh and the Crisis Actors – This Machine Kills Centrists
Nathan Leigh and the Crisis Actors are an interesting project that tends to play punk-influenced folk and rock music, but has been known to pull influences from all over the map ranging from swing to ska, to country and beyond. They pulled yours truly into play trombone on this record and it’s one of my favorite projects I’ve been a part of. Their new album, “Myths, Conspiracy Theories and Other Things I Made Up to Sound Interesting” dropped last week, and it even had a ska song on it, lamenting an all too familiar attitude in our political discourse.
The Autocratics – Brainwashed Friend
The Autocratics, from Tokyo, Japan, are what would happen if you took bands like Bad Manners, Madness, and the Specials further refined that nutty two tone sound to its apex. Fronted by Shuhei Yokota (Rude Bones), The Autocratics have been carrying the two tone torch in Japan for over a decade now and have developed quite a fanbase, and yet remain one of ska’s best-kept secrets. So grab your Fred Perry, crack open an ice-cold Stella and enjoy The Autocratics!!! Brainwashed Friends is my favorite track off the band’s debut album.
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra – Perfect Future
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra is, for lack of a better description, perfect. My favorite band by about a mile and a half, having been together for over 30 years they’ve got a catalog deeper than the Marianas Trench. The band’s trademark of blending ska with just about anything you can think of and making it their own is evident on this track, the leadoff/title track of 2009’s “Perfect Future ”
Karikatura – White Lies
The quick way to describe Karikatura is to say they play trans-global soul or world indie. A deeper inspection, however, yields a dizzying array of sounds ranging from jazz to cumbia to reggae to funk and of course the aforementioned soul. Crisscrossing the world for over 10 years, they dropped this aggressive meringue track, White Lies, as a response to the Eric Garner murder and Black Lives Matter movement. Diverse and eclectic music with (a) soul.
Warsaw Poland Brothers – Summer of Ska
Warsaw Poland Brothers are the unsung heroes of the socal/southwest ska scene. Having been active for over 30 years, and forming 2 sub-bands (California Celts, Kalifornia Krauts) they have managed to carve out a cult following from coast to coast. Great songwriting and excellent musicianship from the Poland brothers (Chris and Aaron). Summer of Ska is a single off the as of yet unreleased 8th album! The perfect track to get you ready for summer, even if we’re all stuck indoors. Catch these guys if you ever get the chance and wish their singer Chris a happy 50th Birthday!
About Chris:
Chris Malone is a busy guy. Having been playing trombone in ska bands from all over the NYC/Long Island area for over 20 years, he is currently the bandleader/singer/trombonist in NYC based ska-punk band The Pandemics, he also occasionally plays with raggacore legends Pilfers. In addition to being an active musician, he also runs the fledgling record label, Lonely Atom Records, runs the Touring Ska Bands Facebook group (a resource for independent ska bands looking to book their own tours), and curates a Spotify playlist called The Best Ska Bands You’ve Never Heard Of that spotlights 5 criminally underrated ska bands from all over the world, hoping to shine a spotlight on all of the great ska bands making great music under most people’s radars. The playlist is updated every Wednesday!
RJ sez: I added the Tommy Tornado and the Clerks song because, well, I like that band, and this song seemed like it’d be in good company with all the great tracks that Chris chose. There’s not too terribly much I can add about Chris that he didn’t already cover, but I don’t think he mentioned the Lonely Atom Youtube though, so go subscribe to that! I’ve known Chris for a few years now, he was even a guest on the late Ska After Party and we’ve kept up with each other via social media all this while. We’ve actually verified that we’ve been at shows at the same time, but that was well before we got in touch with each other. So this wraps up the Convoy series. It was a lot of fun these last 7 weeks, and it went so smoothly and brought so much good stuff to the show I’m fixing to find a way to do it all over again. If I’m lucky, I’ll find another talented batch of folks to collaborate with!
Show support for the bands by clicking on those links and checking out their websites and music! Show support for the podcast liking 23min of Ska on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Also, feel free to subscribe and listen to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher.
Another way to support this podcast is to listen to and support our sister podcast On the Upbeat or to buy some records from our partners in crime over at Grandpa’s Casino Recordings, they carry some great vinyl ska records!
Welcome to the 18th and latest session of 23min of Ska. This session is all about trucker slang because why not, it’s my podcast, I’ll do what I want. I’m pulling back on the intense art commitment this time around, but I may make a few tweaks as I go on. Also, I’m taking a break for the next 23 episodes w/ doing the ska label highlights, those were fun, and I’m totally going to do something like that again, but not anytime soon.
This episode changed a lot over the last several weeks. I thought it was basically finished in late December. I then took a week off because I wanted to enjoy my limited Christmas time off, and because I wanted this session to occur all in 2020. Then I did two listener selected episodes because I was lazy. I got those listener episodes set up quick too. Hell, those episodes were done a put together by the first, and honestly, I was only going to run “You Call It Vol. 18” and save “You Call It Vol. 19” for the Summer. Then I got the news that my friend Jason Lawless had passed. And it hurt. And I knew I had to make some changes to this episode’s playlist.
In changing the tracklist I yanked out the ska/punk and changed the opening song. Lawless was always more of a traditionalist, but would still let me natter on about ska/punk and ska/pop and the like. He was also always a supporter of 23min of Ska and of me. It can be odd making new friends as an adult, especially in a scene where everyone else has known each other for years but Lawless never let me feel like an outsider. Hell, neither have any of the people he introduced me to! He was great to this weirdo out of the Midwest when he had no reason to be, and I could never thank him enough for it. Lawless will be forever missed by all who knew him, I count myself lucky to have been one of them. This episode and the next 22 are dedicated to him, his support, his passion, and his “Lawless-ness.” Thanks for everything.
Show support for the bands by clicking on those links and checking out their websites and music! Show support for the podcast by donating on Patreon or by finding & liking 23min of Ska on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Also, feel free to subscribe and listen to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher.
Another way to support this podcast is to listen to and support our sister podcast the Ska After Party or to buy some records from our partners in crime over at Grandpa’s Casino Recordings, they carry some great vinyl ska records!
Once again, another fine collection of ska music to fascinate your very ears! This one’s got modern ska all over the place, some traditional, some ska/punk, some mod/ska and other mutated forms of that beat we all love. Plug in your headphones, hit play, and groove on out, it’s time for 23min of ska bliss.
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.
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!
What is going on listeners, all you fine fine purveyors of great music, as I can tell because you listen to this podcast, what is up? I hope you enjoy this latest episode delving into ska music from around the world. This episode, more than others, was comprised of songs that I just couldn’t get out of my head or stop thinking about. So yeah, all are top tracks, no filler, so get ready to get down.
Woo! Look at that! Another new episode! As I was putting this together, wanting to go a little old school, I found the new albums from Son of Dad and Smerin’s Anti-Social Club and just had to include some songs from them and it just changed the whole direction of the podcast. There’s a lot of instrumentals on this episode, which also wasn’t intended when building it! I hope that you all enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed finding some of these bands and songs and putting them together!
About the Tracks:
Welcome to the 18th and latest session of 23min of Ska. This session is all about trucker slang because why not, it’s my podcast, I’ll do what I want. I’m pulling back on the intense art commitment this time around, but I may make a few tweaks as I go on. Also, I’m taking a break for the next 23 episodes w/ doing the ska label highlights, those were fun, and I’m totally going to do something like that again, but not anytime soon.
Once again, another fine collection of ska music to fascinate your very ears! This one’s got modern ska all over the place, some traditional, some ska/punk, some mod/ska and other mutated forms of that beat we all love. Plug in your headphones, hit play, and groove on out, it’s time for 23min of ska bliss.
23min of Ska 