Recently, I’ve been thinking if there are really any new musical genres out there. Rap is old. Techno is old. House is old. Punk is dead. Industrial is dead. Third-wave ska is ancient. All those things have been around for about 10 to 25 years.
So what’s new? Anything?
Electroclash is big now, but the only performer I can think of to describe the genre is Peaches.
The key now is to mix genres together. Alt-country (alternative rock and country), psychobilly (punk and rockabilly) and cowpunk (country and punk) are all looming in the underground, and I have really been enjoying them in recent years. Not sure exactly how NEW any of them are, though.
Emotronic is pretty new.
This includes bands like The Postal Service, Figurine, Polyphonic Spree, etc.
Yeah, electroclash is one of the newer ones. Other artists in the genre are: Stereo Total, Chicks on Speed, Fischerspooner, Ladytron, Felix Da House Cat, etc… It’s a difficult term to really put a handle on, as there’s quite a bit of variety between these bands. It comes from the name of a festival organized by Larry Tee.
Closely related is a genre some people refer to as “casio punk” or “synthpunk” or even the same “electroclash.” I really don’t make a distinction myself. It has a DIY punk aesthetic, with synths (especially cheap ones) heavy in the mix.
“Two-step” is relatively (c. mid to late 90s) new, too. Think The Streets, Dizzee Rascal, and The Artful Dodger. This, too, is a bit of a hybrid genre, mixing elements of garage techno with dub and drum & bass.
Since it was mentioned in the OP, I’ve got to ask…
What the hell is “ska”? I’ve heard of it, but have no idea what it sounds like. Does anyone have a link to an mp3 of a good example of ska?
Maybe I oughtta field this one…
Ska is a form of Jamaican dance music that first came out in the 1960s. It was very bouncy, joyful, upbeat music, and I don’t just mean upbeat as in happy. What made ska unique was the guitar essentially working as a rhythm instrument, with short, staccato upstrokes on the “up-side” of a beat. For example, tap your foot to the rock or pop song of your choice, 1, 2, 3, 4. Your foot goes down on each beat along with the music. In ska, the guitar played when your foot goes up.
Anyway, the music usually had horn sections for a fun, laid-back, jazzy feel. Reggae came about after ska, with its slower, mellower beats. Bob Marley actually got his start in ska bands as a shaved-headed “skinhead” before becoming the world’s foremost reggae superstar.
Ska faded away, but came back to prominence in England in the late '70s and early '80s, where the punk and new wave scenes were also going on. There were many Jamaicans living in England at the time, and ska bands of this “second wave” like the Specials were known for bringing together black and white musicians and fans. There was a lot of crossover between the ska scene and mod, punk, and skinhead cultures. Of course, the skinheads at the time were not associated with racist groups like they are now, but mainly were working-class youths who shaved their heads in an expression of solidarity, and often worked alongside Jamaicans and other blacks. The typical ska uniform was a black suit with a white shirt and skinny black tie, and Tw-Tone Records was the big ska label, named for the black and white fans and the black and white suits they wore. Ska fans also became identified with the Vespa motorscooters they rode around, an element from mod culture.
Ska faded away again, but came back in America in the mid-'90s, the “third wave.” This time, some punk bands like the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, MU330, and Less Than Jake mixed ska with poppy punk rock, creating fast, hard “ska-punk” and “ska-core” and adding horn sections to the typical guitar/bass/drums punk band line-ups. Meanwhile, traditionalists like The Toasters, The Slackers, and Hepcat were bringing ska back to its Jamaican roots with jazzier arrangements, slower tempos, and more emphasis on horn players taking solos.
Moon Records was the biggest ska label in the late '90s, mainly focusing on the more traditional bands, while other labels like Asian Man and Fueled By Ramen supported the ska-punk bands. Some of the poppier ska-playing groups like Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, and Save Ferris got snatched up by major labels during this time. Of course, it helped that swing music was also trendy in the late '90s, with more well-dressed bands with big horn sections making it big. There was a lot of crossover between the two scenes.
Anyway, like any good fads, ska (and the neo-swing revival) fell out of vogue. Moon Records went out of business in 2000, dozens of sound-alike bands from the late '90s disappeared, and others adapted their styles to less ska-influenced sounds. Less Than Jake is still around and doing well, but they focus less on the horns and the upstroke guitar, and the Pietasters have moved on to a smooth soul sound. Some ska bands like the Toasters are still going strong, but the scene definitely isn’t there anymore.
As for me, I played tenor sax in a ska-punk band called Baker Act from 1996-98, my first two years of college, my first time away from home, very possibly the happiest and most exciting time of my life. It was dumb luck and good timing that this sound and this scene was coming to prominence when I was in a position to be part of it. Our band never cut a real album, but we did do some recordings, we played lots of shows, we even toured Florida. While we were definitely on the punkier side of ska-punk, I still have nothing but love for ska of all eras, all styles, all forms. That (and swing) were my coming-of-age soundtrack. While some of it was not great, I’d still take any of that music over the mall-punk and nu-metal that are popular today. It was fun, you could dance to it, it had some history, and it took real musicianship. And damn, we looked great in our suits and ties.
Almost forgot…
You can download two Baker Act mp3s (my old band) off my personal website here:
http://www.geocities.com/bigbadvoodoolou/
And Asian Man Records, one of the best remaining labels that stays true to its independent beliefs and supports ska bands, has several mp3s you can download legally and for free:
http://www.asianmanrecords.com/mp3s.html
(To get a feel for ska, I recommend starting with the Johnny Socko, Toasters, and MU330 songs in that order.)
E-mail me with any more questions, or for recommendations.
Glad to see another fan of third-wave ska (and ska in general)! I’m one of the relative few who still listens to ska-punk all the time, though my tastes have shifted towards indie and experimental rock otherwise. The Toasters, Less Than Jake, Five Iron Frenzy, MU330, Jeffries Fan Club, and the like decorate my playlist alongside Radiohead, And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Sigur Ros, and Yo La Tengo.
I don’t know how well recognized a genre it is, but post-black metal is fairly new, probably dating back only about seven years.
Vintersorg, Borknagar, …and Oceans, and Arcturus are the big names there.
Electroclash sounds like an update of new wave to me.
Thanks, Lou!
“Looming”?? I was playing this stuff in the 1980’s, and it wasn’t new when I came across it.
My goodness, if nothing else, hunt down The Knitters!
Eq (hoping that “Ecto” music will someday gain a foothold, but not holding my breath)
Oooh, didn’t mean for that to come off so snarky. I should have previewed and realized how it sounded. I did notice your “not exactly sure how NEW any of them are” but just focused on the “looming” bit.
Drum n Bass, trance, and progressive are less than ten years old. Breaks is only a couple or so years old but is only now starting to get popular, at least here in the UK. UK Garage/twostep is only a few years old.
This is all great stuff. With regards to the ska discussion, I’m just surprised to see so many people know MU330. I thought they were a local St. Louis / San Jose thing (San Jose because one of their new members is from San Jose).
So… what exactly is “breaks” music?
I love trance & progressive. Breaks is OK. Can live without D&B.
The short answer to the question “What is Ska?” is punk combined with swing music. Punk guitars and swing horns. (I mean to be concise, don’t get mad at my ‘ignorance’)
See above: the rhythms of ska are completely different from punk OR swing, and as a musical style, it is defined by the staccato guitar strumming on the upbeats. Also, the horns (and everyone else) play in straight time, as in rock, reggae, and punk music, as opposed to jazz and swing, where musicians “swing” slightly off the beat.
And not to be pedantic here (too late!), punk guitars are characterized by a fuzzy, crunchy, distorted tone, whereas ska guitars play a clean tone with no added effects–the better for playing the short, staccato upstroke chords.