Longshout

Debonaires, The – Longshout (Jump Up! Records)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 12/30/05
Ska/reggae from Riverside with touches of funk and jazz and a completely deranged vocalist. Most songs ride a strange and interesting balance of mellow and frantic, with sweet rock steady grooves and screamed vocals. Definitely a unique sound!
I didn’t hear any FCCs. I like 8 best – it’s an instrumental, which doesn’t mean you should ignore the crazy vocal tracks like 5, 9-12.
1. 3:43 **electronica intro, into mellow rock steady skank with crazy screamed vocals. Pretty flute solo in middle.
2. 4:48 **uptempo but downbeat ska – rather like roots rock but at ska tempo. Horns go dubwise 3 minutes along. Only vocals and hand drums at end.
3. 3:27 militant bubble, cool horns. Riddim slows down after each minute; interesting lyrics and odd falsetto vocals, abrupt end.
4. 3:19 **classic ska with keyboards (think Desmond Dekker, if he were singing on crack). Interesting faded love lyrics.
5. 4:52 **solo keyboard intro, downbeat funk groove. Turns into light skank with heavy lyrics. Crazy!
6. 5:35 *interview about music for first 25 seconds, then mellow and warbly keyboards, beat starts in almost a minute into the piece. Midtempo reggae keyboard-based instrumental with jazz horns after 3 minutes. Nice piece, but I’d cue to after 25 secs.
7. 5:09 *rock steady with solid horns. Love song, which is a bit off-putting when it’s screamed… False ending, then slow ska bit with very impressive piano.
8. 3:41 ***upbeat ska with really cool horn lines, very jazzy guitar and keyboards. Instrumental, very nice indeed.
9. 2:45 **bubbly keyboards and hard tom drums. Jazzy reggae with upful lyrics (and screaming). Bit o’ dub. Crazy!
10. 4:02 **downtempo reggae bubble, interesting playing and lyrics. It’s got a drum solo! Some dubbiness – fun stuff.
11. 3:45 **spacey intro, low-key vocals, full-on skank after 30 seconds, then very relaxed vibe. Great trumpet solo.
12. 5:17 **talked intro – I say cue to 10 seconds, start right off with the ska. Harder version of track 2. Very cool!