Seriously, whoever keeps saying that ska is dead needs to do some research. Obviously the heinous boom in pop-ska is being erased from our CD collections as we speak but the fact remains that ska is not dead. And the few ska-punk bands around at the moment seem to be at the top of their respective games, as the recent albums from Smoke Like A Fish and Catch-It Kebabs have ably shown, so what’s actually happening? Evolution, quite obviously.
Even when you disregard the astounding brilliance of Sonic Boom Six there is a heartening amount of truly inventive ska-based bands around that are doing their thing with various amounts of success. Barnsley’s Random Hand are certainly one to watch, and now with the release of Karoshi so are APB. It’s not perfect but it’s a hell of a lot more interesting than [spunge]. They play a dub-infused variety of ska, managing to incorporate a solid organ sound with the horn section that never sounds clogged or bolted on. Opener ‘CCTV’ is the best example of this as it swiftly becomes a knees up in that inimitable 2-Tone tradition.
‘Don’t Change It’ takes the dub influence a bit further as the eerie echoes subtitle the entire song and allow it to straddle both the upbeat and the slightly more cerebral – you have to concentrate a little harder to really follow their thread because there’s a lot going on, but the end result is generally rewarding. ‘Storm’ is just bloody good as it yet again combines dub and ska in perhaps the most effective manner since ‘Bitches and Nike Shoes’ but unfortunately tails off without really developing enough.
It’s all very promising but the general feeling is that APB need another album’s-worth of material to really come into their own. Karoshi is extremely promising because they demonstrate a literal wealth of good ideas but never manage to really impress in the way SB6, Ad7 or Capdown did when they started melding genres. It’s good, but it’s not great.
Ben
www.dothedog.com