It took the better part of a year, but we finally got around to playing the Bob Ross board game Stacey got me for Christmas last year. Solid game, would recommend. The kid crushed us the first few games as she is a frequent comic artist, but I think we’re starting to catch up.
The holidays were a relaxing few days off, but the endless meetings — including pre- and post-meeting meetings — wore me right back down. Enter: The Foreign Exchange, a 2000s punk rock classic, and a new Ska band to check out.
The Foreign Exchange “Happiness”
Phonte again? Again and again, man. He and Nicolay teamed up on the first Foreign Exchange record back in the Little Brother The Listening days. The two connected via the Okayplayer website and made their first record before meeting in person (“Sending peace to that cat Nicolay, we gonna meet real soon”). Not to be left out this week, Rapper Big Pooh is also on the track.
Good people, good lovin’,
The Foreign Exchange
Good music in my life,
It makes me happy, so happy.
The Bouncing Souls “Gone”
One of those classic epitaph era punk rock songs. It was off the How I Spent My Summer Vacation album, but they rerecorded an acoustic version a few years back. That one is a bit more chill, but the original captures the mood of carried darkness and release much better.
I built this cloud to live in,
The Bouncing Souls
It was a bunch of lies in my mind.
Bad Operation “Brain”
Gotta give credit where it is due, Skatune Network with another solid gold recommendation. I love how strong their voice is in calling out the bullshit cliches about Ska being dead, having gone away at all, or that the genre needs or owes Reel Big Fish anything.
So, not surprisingly, they are right about this one too. Bad Operation is a new band with their debut record set for release early next year. They’ve put out a few singles, with accompanying black and white videos, and I’m definitely looking forward to the LP. Perfect mood to combat burnout.
