Upground – Feel the Vibe
Reviewed by Sadie O., 9/8/07
Latin Ska (with a bit of Cumbia and Reggae) from LA. Fun sounds, terrific band (esp. horns, bass and percussion). The only thing I DON’T love about the album is that they made the last two songs into one track – the “hidden track” routine is getting really old and isn’t fun to listen to and hella sucks for radio play! Boo on that – but yay on everything else!
No FCCs that I heard. I like track 6 best just because I’m a total funk sucker. Everything is good to great, IMO.
1. ***funny spoken intro, the uptempo B&W-style ska, very high energy. Political diatribe, English. False ending, then long horn flourish.
2. **sweet midtempo cumbia, nice horns and lots of percussion. In Spanish.
3. ***midtempo roots reggae skank with Latin overtones, in Spanish and English.
4. ***midtempo roots skank, but with a bit of cumbia, in English.
5. **fast skank turning into frank ska, in English. Interesting bit towards the end with guitars imitating sirens..
6. ****bit of spoken word intro, then midtempo uber-funk, in English. God, I’m a sucker for funk… The bass KILLS.
7. **fast almost-ska with big band horns. Turns into uptempo ska, in English. Café sounds at end blend into next track.
8. ***uptempo and energetic cumbia, in Spanish, but with lots of guitar solo.
9. **several seconds of tuning radio dial sounds, then fast ska. False ending 18 seconds from end.
10. ***sort of an uptempo mambo-ska, in English. Slows down to a rather slinky vibe. Gets random for a bit, then big drum solo and back to ska.
11. **short intro, rather uptempo ska, in English and Spanish. Fun lyrics.
12. **horror movie intro, fast ska, in Spanish and English – about Dia de los Muertos.. Naturally, it’s not 7:18 long – it ends 4:06 from end. Another song starts 3:03 from end, uptempo funky ska instrumental. Nice stuff – I wish they’d separated it out for radio…