Now I'm an Indie man. Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand - that's what I've brought myself up on. Indie. Drummer, bassist, couple of guitarists, a nice raw sound. Technically I'm chiefly a Post-punk Revival Indie man, with some Garage rock revival and Dance-punk thrown in, and a smattering of Baroque pop, New prog and New folk (absolutely no post-rock, though. Well, OK, one instance in Kubichek!, but otherwise they freak me out).
Today, however, I've surprised myself. I've moved from my comfortable, safe throne within the Kingdom of Alternative Rock, and I've journeyed to some strange perversion of Reggae, Rock, Soul and Ska - Bedouin Soundclash.
And I love it!
Everyone knows who BSC are - even if you don't know it by name, it can almost be guaranteed that you'll recognise When the Night Feels My Song. Surprisingly, it's one of their tamer numbers.
Yeah, that's what I thought. From experience, bands who release singles like that release albums that are the same, or softer. Not the case here. Their second album, Sounding a Mosaic, from which WtNFMS hails, starts soft (with WtNFMS) then comes in with a nice bassy number, Shelter, followed by an equally bassy number, Living in Jungles, and everything starts to escalate from there. It's quite a reggae-ish album, and it's good. One song in particular stood out for me - Rude Boy Don't Cry. The most fantastic Ska Reggae whatever the hell else song I've heard!
Their third album, Street Gospels, taps you on the shoulder, and bitchslaps you with the Reggae Rock from the off. I nearly melted with the pleasure of listening to the album. So many fantastic songs! Including one of the most spine-tingling voice harmony songs (it's not an acapella, and I wouldn't call it a Barbershop Quartet, particularly as the band is made up of three)... in fact, just listen:
As you sit, trembling from the musical euphoria you've just experienced, the album picks you up and bitchslaps you again with Bells of 59, and things carry on as before.
Sadly, I haven't been able to get my hands on their first album Root Fire, but I'll tell you now that I'd kill to have it. Or thank someone a lot.
Anyway, they're a Canadian band from Toronto, but don't let that put you off. They're well worth a listen (particularly Street Gospels), so hop to it!
Linear Mode
