This Are UK Ska: Vol. 4
Posted by jamie on Dec 23, 2011
Various Artists
This Are UK Ska, Vol.4 – Do the Dog, 2011
9th December, 2011
Jamie
This is really, really exciting: the return of Do the Dog’s This Are UK Ska series of compilations is a long time coming, but definitely well worth the wait.
In the space of one wonderful little disc, the twenty two years (twenty two!) of tireless devotion given to supporting the UK’s DIY bands get their just rewards: the list of contributors to this record reads like a who’s who of ska and ska-punk in the UK in 2011.
The disc itself is, musically speaking, as diverse and exciting as you’d expect. It’s appropriate, given the brief and deliberately open-minded mission statement on the DTD website:
“We love ska in all its colourful guises, be it old school, laid back Jamaican style ska, bouncy 2-tone ska vibes, upbeat modern ska/pop or thunderous ska/punk!”
Given the enthusiasm with which DTD embrace new and different kinds of music and the rude health in which we find our scene, the potential was always there for a compilation this broad, this exciting and of such excellent quality.
To have pulled it all together, though, is still no small achievement. It’s excellent from start to finish, with scorching tracks from some of the scene’s exciting new talent mixing it with the more established names.
Of course, you’ll get to hear new tracks from some of the bands they’ve been supporting for years: alongside the sadly defunct Smoke Like a Fish, there’s also Do the Dog favourites, Rebelation, Drewvis and Cartoon Violence. The thing is, there are also exciting contributions from a new generation of great UK bands: keep an eye out for Miacca’s catchy Would You Like Me To Be the Cat? (unless you’re George Galloway), Copasetics’ sinister-yet-excellent Phantom Signals and the incendiary Wilsonator from John Player Specials. Then, fall in love with Breadchasers’ brilliant epic prog-ska-rock skankalong Time to Stop. It’s relatively light-hearted for the band, but fits perfectly on this compilation.
There’s so much here, and it’s all so different, so interesting and so enjoyable, that I could easily sit and type about it all day. Every track is a highlight.
This Are UK Ska Volume 4 is probably the most enjoyable so far, neatly showcasing a wide variety of established and up-and-coming UK acts. A perfect snapshot of where the scene is in 2011, it also highlights a few names to look out for in years to come.
Given that this was the label who first brought us Dirty Revolution, Catch-it Kebabs and the Skints, perhaps we were right to expect a lot from this disc. It doesn’t disappoint one bit.
This Are UK Ska, No. 4 is available now from Do the Dog Music.
Smoke Like a Fish: Blood, Fish & Bone
Posted by jamie on Nov 21, 2011
Smoke Like a Fish
Blood, Fish & Bone – Do the Dog, 2011
17th November 2011
Jamie
Somewhat inevitably, there’s a wistful sense of regret, I guess, or at least nostalgia, that comes with listening to this final release by Smoke Like a Fish. It’s a shame, in a way, because, in Blood, Fish & Bone they’ve created a truly excellent record that, apart from being among the very best of its kind, also manages to sum up nicely what the band always seemed to be about: good-time, party friendly swing-core played with a smile.
Out of nowhere, in the summer of 2010, the guys announced on their blog that they were going to split up (you can read that here). This last record was already recorded and scheduled for release on Do the Dog Music, and a few tour dates arranged to promote the release before the band split up again.
Listening back, everything that was good about Smoke Like a Fish is here in abundance: Blood, Fish & Bone has twelve excellent original songs in the band’s signature style, and a hidden track: at last they’ve recorded the Levellers’ Fifteen Years, which had been a live favourite pretty much forever.
From start to finish, it’s bright, and unashamedly cheery, melodic sing-along two-tone ska: good, old-fashioned songs made to get booties shaking on dancefloors. They’re written and arranged really well, and, as you’d expect from a band with a three-part horn section and three vocalists as well, there’s always plenty going on.
It all makes for breathlessly high-speed entertainment, and it’s great fun from start to finish: if you’ve ever seen Smoke Like a Fish in concert you’ll know that their songs are wonderfully accessible and their shows were always great entertainment. Even if you’re new to Smoke Like a Fish, Blood, Fish & Bone is a fantastic example of exactly what won this band such a special place in so many hearts, and, besides that, will have you singing and dancing for hours: a perfect microcosm of everything that made the band great and a gem of a record that deserves to be loved all the more now that Smoke Like a Fish have gone their separate ways.
Drewvis: new album ahoy
Posted by jamie on May 26, 2011
Latest news on the recording of Drewvis’s new album. Very excited for this. Kevin from Do the Dog has given us this sneaky insight..
Drewvis have indeed completed the recording, mixing & mastering of their new CD titled “Disposable Pleasures & Meaningful Pursuits”.
The disc will feature the following 13 tunes, plus one hidden bonus track:
1. Liberate, Never Hate
2. It’s All Good
3. Short Measures
4. Let It Go
5. Drunken Words N Dub
6. Fortune Cookie
7. Estoy Esperando
8. iWant
9. One Moment
10. Compass
11. Purple
12. These 3 Words
13. Do One!
Combination 13, who did the art for Bananatown, as well as the likes of Sonic Boom Six, the Slackers and Catch-it Kebabs, are finishing off the art. Once that’s done the record will be released on Do the Dog Music.
Can’t wait? Grab Drevis’ last record, For the Win, on Do the Dog here.
massive Do the Dog sale goes international
Posted by jamie on Mar 16, 2011
Do the Dog have opened up their massive CD sale to folk outside the UK. There’s much too many to list (I did say massive), but the full story is neatly summarised here in their blog.
Four 0: Tales of the Unexpected
Posted by jamie on Feb 26, 2011
Four 0
Tales of the Unexpected – Do the Dog, 2010
26th February 2011
Jamie
Four 0’s first record, Across the Borderline, was strikingly different and instantly addictive: melodic, thoughtful and drenched in some of the juiciest harmonies I’ve ever heard, it stood apart from anything I’d heard in a very long time. It would have been really, really interesting if it hadn’t been much too much fun to waste time thinking about stuff like that.
So, the first time I saw them in concert, I was really excited. Their live set, though, turned out to be just as enjoyable, but markedly different from the way the record sounded: much more emphasis on the guitars, quicker, more instantly danceable, and edgier: more primal energy and a little rougher around the edges. For want of a better word, more of what you’d instantly recognise and loosely file under “punk”.
When it came to eagerly anticipating a second album, then, it was tough to know exactly what to expect (no pun intended), except that it was likely we’d be surprised once again.
Tales of the Unexpected picks up nicely where Across the Borderline left off: for the most part, it’s breezily laid back and immediately likeable in both the innocence and accessibility of its gently reassuring and peaceful summer pop songs. It rocks out in places: that four-part harmony that opened Across the Borderline is replaced by a Ramones-esque guitar riff that launches Step Back, but, for the most part, this is a gentler, more soulful disc, and, in the main, it’s better for that. It’s excellent throughout, but the real highlights, Lost and Lonely, for example, and Ukelay Saturday are the breezy, semi-acoustic, summer songs loaded with harmonies and feel-good factor.
Desert Rains and Tequila Salt & Lime are peppier, foot-tapping tunes, and the delightful Goosfrabar is so skankable and so happy it’s like someone got a giant sticker of a stupid smile and slapped it across your mouth. I defy anyone not to run around in circles when you put it on.
In its songs and its lyrics, it’s generally all happy, this. At times, though, when the songs are at their mellowest, there’s a swift kick in the teeth: Lost & Lonely, is an obvious example, but it’s not the only time that this happens. Till the End and Step Back aren’t happy songs at all, but even when their songs are about a life ruining relationship, it’s tough not to sing along like you’re being spoon-fed with Ben and Jerry’s. There’s just something about the way that Four 0 play these songs that just makes everything seem that little bit better. They write and arrange them like works of art, but they play them so soulfully, so smoothly, that it’s impossible not to smile.
Tales of the Unexpected gives that warmer, better feeling to the world around you in the same way that putting sunglasses on makes things look better and makes you feel better about ourselves and puts us in a good mood for the whole day. It’s basically like a really cool pair of shades for your ears. I love it.
Stand-out tracks:
Lost & Lonely
Tequila Salt & Lime
Desert Rains
Goosfrabar
Ukelay Satuday
Jody Betts solo tunes
Posted by jamie on Feb 23, 2011
News nicked directly from the new Do the Dog tumblr profile.
Jimmy the Squirrel keyboard player Jody Betts has put some lovely new solo acoustic songs up on the internet for you to hear. Go here to listen to them.
Do the Dog join Tumblr
Posted by jamie on Feb 23, 2011
Do the Dog Music have got a useful little page on Tumblr. Very handy for keeping up to date with what’s going on with all of their bands.
Have a look at it here.
Do the Dog: spring sale
Posted by jamie on Jan 31, 2011
There’s a giant sale on at Do the Dog music. The sale starts at 4 CDs for £10 and ends at a crazy 20 Cds for £30. yes, really.
It’s all on their blog.
Do the Dog: a million tour dates
Posted by jamie on Oct 28, 2010
Pretty much everyone on Do the Dog Music appears to be on tour right now. For new dates from Robb Blake, Dirty Revolution, Liam O’Kane, Jimmy the Squirrel, the Skints, the Skints, the Steady Boys, Rasta4eyes, Rebelation, Resolution 242 nd the New Town Kings (phew!) have a look here.
lots and lots of gigs
Posted by jamie on May 23, 2010
Giant list of dates from all the bands on Do the Dog. We don’t even have space to write it all, but it’s posted here. See you at the Boomtown Fair.
