This is a group that until recently I knew nothing about, and as I am usually a little pessimistic on giving new things a go, it took me a while to give these guys a chance. I put the album on in the background and carried on with the house cleaning.
After a few minutes I had to stop and check that I hadn’t accidentally put on The Selecter instead. I cut my teeth on the two-tone sound during the late 80’s early 90’s and am still in love with the British ska sound (The Specials were amazing, and I’d only waited 24 years to see them in New Zealand).
Anyway I digress, The Resonators have that sound. They are more roots than ska, but they do have a certain something about them that caught my ear and kept me listening. My reference to The Selector came down to the female vocalists (two of them I think) and the English accent that comes through quite a lot, and an almost late 70’s live dub sound that reminds me so much of the tail end of the two-tone era.
This is a very interesting listen, though I really feel that this group would really shine live, being a nine-piece group including a brass section and live engineer. I found this video of them playing on London’s Brick Lane two years ago (I love that place). It would have been pretty amazing to stumble across them playing on the street.
Get yourself a free download of their EP, ‘Resonators The Dub Collection’.
A tough UK act. More please Resonators!!
10/10
Danny2chains
