It's a cheap and easy joke to say that the scariest sonic genre of all is earnestly performed ska music (lookin' at you, Axios). And so to help prove all the haters wrong, ska stalwart (and host of Hornpod and Hornpub) Matt Wixson put together this six-hour long playlist of ska and reggae songs that fit perfectly into the Halloween season.
It's impressive not just for the length, but for the breadth of sounds contained within the broad categorization of "ska and reggae." The 60s Jamaica all-star group the Skatalites kick things off with the "title track" of sorts, a song called "Skalloween," but the rest of the album takes you through the shredded metal riffs of Mephiskapheles to the raggacore of the Pilers to second-wave ska remakes of "The Munsters" theme song and the "Monster Mash," and everything in between—including, of course, the classic Specials hit, "Ghost Town."
It's genuinely a good party jam!
Also speaking of ska: CLASH Books just published a brand new, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska by Aaron Carnes, which I highly recommend. It's a fantastic and thoughtful music history book. Even if you're skeptical of reading 500 pages worth of ska, you might be surprised about the depths of sociopolitical relevance and capitalist critique that Carnes plumbs for this one. Here's the blurb:
One of Pitchfork's 11 Best Music Books of 2021
Recommended book in Rolling Stones June 2021 Issue
With an additional 30,000 words of compelling stories, research, and analysis, music journalist and In Defense of Ska podcast creator/host Aaron Carnes presents the case that ska never died, by jumping headfirst into ska's "lost years," i.e., the period after the '90s third-wave ska boom.
New topics covered include LA's ongoing vibrant traditional ska scene and how young Latinos are keeping the ska torch aflame, how the devastation of Hurricane Katrina inadvertently kicked off a thriving scene focused on keeping community alive in New Orleans, a deep review of Christian ska group Five Iron Frenzy, who broke a Kickstarter record in the '10s while making progressive activists out of their fan base, a close inspection of a hipster rocksteady scene in Brooklyn that grew so popular it nearly kicked off a nationwide revival, and more secret ska past revelations with none other than Fall Out Boy lead singer Patrick Stump—who has a story that, up until recently, was carefully guarded.
Plus, the book re-explores several bands featured in the first edition, revealing new layers and more details about all the bands fans love, like Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Operation Ivy, the Slackers, Hepcat, Mephiskapheles, and Reel Big Fish. With 30,000 additional words, this is the complete ska package.
