It’s strange that ska, a genre that seems specifically geared towards social progress, immediately calls to mind bands that are as musically reactionary as the most eyeliner-drenched of emo clans. Obviously, there are those that are pushing things forward at great speeds, but trad ska is still languishing in the doldrums. And it’s funny that Do The Dog, a label that is home to Smoke Like a Fish, The Scrub, Catch-It Kebabs and Skylar, four bands that rejuvenate ska music with every upstroke, is bothering to release an EP as reductive as ‘Pounds and Pence’. As far as background music goes it’s faintly acceptable, but the dedication of time and effort in consuming Rebelation is an exercise in pointlessness.
Competent ska-reggae as it is, the title track is as painfully circuitous as everything on display here. ‘Ride Again’ manages to drop the pace yet further and easily slips into obsolescence with each ticking second, while ‘Brighter Darker Day’ starts nowhere, goes backwards and finishes five minutes too late. Don’t get me wrong, I love ska when it’s imbued or updated, but I struggle to see why anyone would bother with this when there’s any number of Trojan collections available.
Ben
www.rebelation.co.uk/
http://www.dothedog.com/