Links:

• Extra Classic’s Blogspot
• Extra Classic on FaceBook
• ZapTown’s Coverage of “Congo Rebel.”

The way Extra Classic captures the old Jamaican sound is so real that you will forget it is not of this reality. Recorded in analog on 8-track tape and recording equipment plucked out of the ‘60s and ‘70s, you get the fuzz and the inconsistencies of vintage antiquities humming in your ear like a ghost. If it was done any other way, I don’t think this recording would have been as effective.

For the five-piece band, they have all come together to warp a sense of perfection and beauty through the lush underground. They bop and sway in the reggae bounce of “Congo Rebel,” that also takes from early heavy metal and the way the song is constructed. This all adds power to the presence.

“Metal Tiger” is the charm of the release. Up front, you get put into a mystical place of alluring possibilities. Soft in texture, you feel the fierce power from this group as a drum cadence revs up the intensity with third world emotions. There is not much else on this album that can match this song.

The remainder of the release is all consistent as it roams through a dark underbelly of indie rock, righteous defiance, and personal conviction as “Give Them The Same” presents.

When you have a song like “Demon Hit” that looks to the early Marley and the Wailers days, the comedown “Angel Eyes” and “Give Me Your Love” does not seem all that thrilling, leaving you with a feeling that is strange in comparison. It speaks like a classic gospel and blues song would. Not the way I would want it to end, but satisfying for any completest.

Link:
Website – http://www.mczulu.com/
Blog – http://mczulu.com/blog/

You don’t hear much about the Dancehall craze. I don’t know if it is because international music has been able to expand its landscape, or if that modern music has infiltrated the horizons, infiltrating music of the world and from it created new and exciting forms of music: Neo-Psych meets Cumbia, Downtempo combining with Electrotango, ‘70s jazz funk to Mali sounds, to name a few.

MC Zulu spins his modern take to a somewhat modern form of reggae dance and adds popular African styles like Soca and Kuduro to the mix. And what a better scene than Chicago — a city that has had a rich Reggaeton scene for over a decade — to house MC Zulu’s tribal power.

Add a laundry list of global bass heavy-hitters to boost up the production (Poirier, Chrissy Murderbot, Kush Arora, Maga Bo, Mochipet, Bionik, and so on) and accentuate the heavy pounding beats.

Stunningly, select any track on this album and you will feel an immediate sense of identity that no matter who touches the song, MC Zulu is still distinctively in control. His lush, baritone voice and call-to-arms rally of the dance floor troops spin things into a caffeinated array of hip-quakers and booty shakers.

For Zulu, social change begins on the dance floor and awareness comes from the streets.

(Click on the label to listen to the song.)

There is a lot going on in the world of Extra Classic. Just in time for Record Store Day (Saturday, April 16), the band is releasing a small run of vinyl for their 45 of Congo Rebel on Nopal Records.

The song is backed with a dub version (the one we are presenting on The Jukebox) and  sparkles with gritty analog desire.

The band has also released the video for the original version of the song. The song is full of summer groove and even though it sounds like a dusty platter than an Ark Records section, they do a pretty good job at capturing the essence of the regional music.

Extra Classic “Congo Rebel” from Jeff Lowe on Vimeo.

Seminal reggae artist Toots & The Maytals blended a degree of soul while formulating the sound of reggae. From the ’60s, Toots was syno with the reggae scene.

Flip And Twist deviates far from the style that identified the success of this band. Incorporating more gospel and R&B to this new grouping of songs, Toots & The Maytals sound more like late era The Whispers than that you could hope for out of this band.

Although being compared to someone like The Whispers is not necessarily a bad thing, it’s like saying that you just heard an album of Afrika Bambaataa covering Barry White songs. Despite the name and notoriety, Flip And Twist just falls flat.

From the slightly-tinged African gospel opener “Almighty Way” you are left with your head scratching: “Where is the reggae?” Not there for “Perfect Lover” either. This is more of a Peter Gabriel fondling with watered-down cultural baptismals.

“Hope That We Can Be Together Soon” finally gets down to business and gives us the Toots sound that we crave, but it’s still not enough to save this album because when we get to something like “Higher Ground,” it makes you wonder if the band inspired by insipid songs from mid-’90s Eric Clapton.

And “Jungle” sounds exactly what it should, a reggae band gone R&B and trying to modernize it by throwing in some House beats behind it all.

As hard as I try, I just cannot find much of anything to gain from this.

Links:

Malachai on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/malachaibristol
Domino Records: http://www.dominorecordco.com/
Purchase from IndieRocket: http://indierocket.net/Bundles/view/ffd6203e-fa21-49a6-8f06-095395fb272b

Every so often when I am browsing through a record store, I will purchase an album solely for its cover art. Mesmerized by Ambrosia’s rainbow prism construct, I bought Somewhere I Never Traveled. I picked up Ozzy’s Speak Of The Devil strictly for its double gatefold awesomeness even though it contains live versions of old Black Sabbath tunes. And the same goes for Malachai’s Ugly Side Of Love.

It’s not that the cover art to this album is spectacular. It’s the subtlety that really pulls you in and has you staring for a while. I enlarged the image just to look for all of its mysterious features. The cover I am speaking of — there are two as far as I can tell — has smoke wafting in front of what looks like a wooden doll that looks like a form of a leprechaun crossed with The Mad Hatter with rainbow eyes. But look closer and it’s actually the singer Gee.

The cover is as hypnotic as their smokey dub beats and Phil Specter-like big beat. “Lay Down, Stay Down” and “Fading World” will make you feel as if the Vietnam War never ended while something like “Meech’s Theme” takes that dose of ‘70s soul and warps into a drugged-out state. The homage to the movie The Warriors on the song of the same title, and “Fading World” pulls a degree of voodoo and spins ‘60s pop and rasta into a spiraling effect as if you have traveled in time. The only problem is that the time continuum has a rift in it and subtle off key antics turn the normal into the abnormal.

It’s the little things that give pop of yor actuality and meaning to the genre besides “Free love, man!”  The Ugly Side of Love is purely reactionary.

Links:

Original Dan on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/rolldeep1
Eskibeat Recordings on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/eskibeatrecordings

Flow Dan, born Mark Viera, returns with a solo project, Original Dan. Hailing from London, England, the sounds spilling out of the release are anything but the expected London sound. Jungle, DubStep, and Grime beats and rasta-hip hop lyrics fill out the majority of the LP. The album is full, frenetic, and varied, but all sticks together well. Electronic  samples, blip noises, sound effects, auto tuned vocals and triple-tracked voices are the fleshy appendages on this DubStep skeleton, and the occasional super-deep bass tracks help to balance the creature out.

For a good representation of the album, check out “Show Theme, “Dumpers,” Stage Show,” and “Run”. These fun, strong tracks are the best on the release.

Much of the album is the expected topic of hip hop lyrics- explaining how tough he is, how “street” he is, and about how talented he is. Unfortunately for hip hop fans (of most every sub-genre of hip hop), this is par for the course- instead of demonstrating the talents an artist has, they tell the audience how talented they are. It too often seems like more advertising than substance.

Being hypersensitive to racial politics, one track, titled “Kack Back” caught my ear in a negative way. Repeating a  chorus of “…when black men are talking, you better keep on walking,”  I was unimpressed to say the least.  I could see how I could be wrong about his intended message, but this strays too close to negative politics. I really could have done without the track.

RIYL: Miami-Bass music, DubStep

Origins: Boston, Massachusetts
Style: Ska Reggae, Motown Soul

The beginning of this album, “Transition 1,” plays like the intro to Orson Wells’ Touch Of Evil. You remember that famous extended crane shot that follows a bustling Tijuana street and the echoing sounds of people entering and exiting cantina and nightclubs. On Transitions, you can hear the natural environment of city life from a first person point of view, it’s vocalist Obi Fernandez that is heading to what could be a practice space or inner city hangout. You hear doors open and close with the echo of music that crescendos into old-style rockabilly. A guitar strums and 55 seconds later Westbound Train kicks in with the fair-tempo’d reggae ska romp “Please Forgive Me.”

This song is a perfect indication of where Westbound Train is in their musical state of mind. Fernandez’ vocals leads to an imagination of the white soul triumph of The Commitments. Equally bold as it is smooth, Fernandez bellows out comforting words of apology, making you contemplate why Transitions was named for what it was. If his sincerity does not impress you, then the rare option for a ska band vocalist who doubles up as trombonist should show some gratitude.

Extending way past the ska revival, Westbound Train is in a place that incorporates Kingston ska with Motown soul and a genuine historical sound, especially when they rough up the recording to make the organs sound like it’s on its last leg and the guitars crunch in up-beat movements.

I can imagine the rain coming down on the streets of Boston. Deeply embedded in the city is a small charming room that is empty except for a sparse couch and a conglomerate of instruments resting on a hardwood floor. And once these band members pick up their instruments, the drops beating on the window succumb to the talent of this group as they pound out consistently impressive ska ditties with impressive soloing.

The rare instrumental “The Test” barks back to the extraordinary talent of David Hillyard and the Rocksteady 7, trading off solo spots to show off individual talent. But what really sparks on this album and could have only helped land them several award slots on the 2007 Boston Music Awards (http://thephoenix.com/onthedownload/PermaLink.aspx?guid=a8bcd88b-a09f-4aad-8901-9f8e52caeba4) are things like the Dave and Ansell Collins homage “Soul Revolution” and the King Tubby-style “Fatty Boom Boom,” showing how versatile in the ska style this band can be.

With not a second to spare, the band transitions from one song to another with no break in between songs, only adding an impression of urgency in a positive sense.

Not a groundbreaking record, Westbound Train demonstrates a fine niche for preserving the style and even if the kids don’t flail around in a hyperactive frenzy, they will show love in their own special way..

Cross-Reference: David Hillyard and the Rocksteady 7, The Slackers, The Pietasters