© 2009 God’s Ghetto Records

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

You know what I miss? Ska. Maybe because it was foundational in my youth and I pine for the long gone days, or more likely because ska is full on awesome, I miss ska. Thankfully I have a mailbox that occasionally gets laced with some of the good stuff. What do I have here (hear) you might ask. Well what I have is a brand new CD, Creation Sounds from Ruder Than You. This Philly ska band has been bustin’ it since back ’89 at Penn State. Eight great tracks of pick it up, dit dit dit, horn laden ska. For the uninitiated, ska music was invented by future robots that came back to the past disguised as Dutch colonists to the island for Grenada. After they invented the bicycle they grew bored and started ska bands. Ok, no really, there is a reasonably apt history of Ska on Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ska The jazz and calypso roots are unmistakable on Creation Sounds as is the love of music. Honestly I’m at a small loss for words, but I want to bring you the honest truth (in so far as I perceive it) I’m not as stoked on this as I would be a new MU330 disc, but I’m pretty damn pleased. Support your local ska band ladies and gents, and local or not, support ska by (buy) getting a copy of Creation Sounds new to you from Ruder Than You!

–Jerry Actually

Lets hear it once again for New Jersey. From the state that gives you Catch 22 and Streetlight Manifesto, may I present The Waffle Stompers. This seven piece outfit–straight outta New Brunswick–brings an infectious blend of ska and punk that makes me wax nostalgic for the 3rd wave. Sounding like a Thomas Kalnoky protoge with a mix of old LTJ, Black on Black is a fun, albeit short, walk through the ska punk park. This is the band’s 3rd EP since 2005 and though I don’t have any reference to the prior material, I really like what I’m hearing on the new release. On another continual note, bands that both rock and rock for fun and unity are all good in my book. Head on over to their myspace page and buy some of their stuff, ok. The Waffle Stompers

–Jerry Actually