Time for me to blather on about ska again! New album drop by Bad Operation.
This New Orleans based crew have been dropping us teasers for weeks over at Bandcamp. Each track just got us a little more excited. Ska fans have mooted that this is 'New Tone' (a phrase we coined in 2016) Is this evidence of 4th wave? Or have people kinda killed off 4th Wave as a gimmick and New Tone has more credibility?
Okay - enough dithering - back to the new album. What do we get? 10 tracks across 26 minutes. Hey that sounds like a Slayer album! This does give you some indication of the energy of the album. Bad Operation are ostensibly a ska/punk band with the emphasis on the ska side.
One of the first tracks released was the first track on the album 'Perilous'. Great energy kicking off with an Operation Ivy production feel and dirty dirty keyboard. A down and dirty skanker with distorted guitar and upbeat brass motif in the chorus. The influence of 2-Tone is obvious with hard edged drums and distorted, staccato 'skah' guitar licks. It's the combination of messy keyboards and muted vocals (a good thing I Promise!) that sets Bad Operation apart.
https://youtu.be/J0doTolbUog
The second song Bagel Rocks showcases this superbly with a nice punky edged 'oh, uh-oh-oh' over layered keyboards.
Brain has an almost Descendents like appeal to the opening guitar before hitting a fast paced, late 90s sounding beat that wouldn't be out of place in the Fat Wreck Chords roster.
Little Man brings the pace down with intelligent lyrics. The title track Bad Operation (from the album Bad Operation by Bad Operation - something satisfying about that) is a mid tempo tune.
Kinda Together has a More Specials Feel to it with a bouncing keyboard that carries this track along nicely. Something so familiar to this track. 2nd album Aggrolites meets 2nd album Specials?
Siren's Call respectfully references Ghost Town and the 2-Tone ethic and energy is strong with this release. Politically charged and relevant to today. The latter half of the album is slightly slower paced than the first but this does not distract from the whole piece.
I truly love this album. After an hour stuck in traffic with this on repeat (my car stereo really brings out the bass) this is a cracking album. It appeals to my punk roots (late 80s to early 90s) whilst subtly pushing ska into a new direction without breaking all links.
First vinyl presses sold out quickly and if you look at the link below there are some great colour variants available.
For fans of - Specials, The Chinkees, Call Me Malcolm, The Suicide Machines, The Aggrolites Check the whole album at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilBEMMInPdQ&t=178s Then go buy it from http://smarturl.it/badoperation
Mr P