Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra's, "Hoshi Furu Yoru Ni" (roughly translated, "On the Night of Falling Stars" is their last single before their 12th album, Wild Peace. It was released on May 10th (a day after The Aggrolites released their new album). Personally, I think it's the best of the three singles they've released so far. The main song, "Hoshi Furu Yoru Ni" is a catchy, bouncy ska song. The guest vocals (who apparently belonged to the High Lows, a Japanese punk band) really fit the song well. Personally, I like his voice more than the mellow-ness of the first vocal single, or the more baby, Jpop ness of the second single.

The other songs included in the single aren't bad either. "My Baby Rooster" is a funky ska tune with Gamo toasting about...a baby rooster?? I dunno, is their like a second meaning behind that? The third song, "Michi" is a fairly standard traditional ska song. The 4th song, is the instrumental version of the first song, though I don't think it's as good without vocals, but it's still catchy.

In less than a month, TSPO will be releasing their newest album, "Wild Peace" in Japan. Let's hope it's as strong as their last album, Answer!

http://www.tokyoska.net



The Aggrolites have just released their Hellcat debut album (which also happens to be their second album) which is self titled. It's fucking 19 tracks of scorching reggae, and it's over an hour long (which is great for those who thought Dirty Reggae was too short). If you're going into this album expecting "Dirty Reggae 2," then don't, because The Aggrolites take their sound to a whole new level with this album.

I can't really explain it, I guess the easiest way for me to say it is that this album is a lot less "dirty," and a lot more "traditional." A lot of the songs sound like they were recorded and produced right in Kingston, Jamaica, or the UK, during the years between 1969-1971. It's the authentic early reggae sound. Some of the songs sound like they're unreleased Crystalites or unreleased early Upsetters tunes. Some songs really also remind me of the Rhythm Doctors (that's a good thing), another early reggae band that consisted of members of the Aggrolites. There are a lot more vocal songs this time around, and for the most part, they're also a lot more socially concious lyrics. Jesse's voice is just very funky and soulful and just accompanies the music really well. NO "Fakin Jamaican" here.

But it's not like they threw away the dirty, or the funk. The first tune on the album, titled, "Funky Fire" is a funky reggae tune that would make fans of funk and soul like James Brown or the Meters happy, and tunes like "Mr. Misery" and "A.G.G.R.O." still have that "dirty" feeling to them.

This was just an amazing album. They could have sat around and played all these songs that sounded like Dirty Reggae, and I still would have eaten it up, but no, they took their song writing to a whole new level with this one. I hope these guys stay around for a LOONG time, since I can't wait to hear what they come up with in the future.

http://www.myspace.com/theaggrolites
http://hell-cat.com/artists/album/478/
http://www.aggroreggae.com