The Beatdown – Selt-titled EP

The Beatdown knows how to make an entrance. Starting off their self-titled EP with the track “One Night” – you wouldn’t know by the first few folk-rock bars that this was a ska song, but once the upbeat kicks in you’re in for a treat. “One Night” morphs into a style reminiscent of the Hepcat’s more upbeat tunes. Singer Alex Gigure has a unique vocal tone falling somewhere between Tim Armstrong (Operation Ivy/Rancid) and Vic Ruggiero (The Slackers), which fits in well.

The one-drop selections on the EP (“Get Ready,” “It’s Allright”) bear clear resemblance to The Aggrolites’ “dirty reggae” style, but have a little more third-wave ska edge to them. It took me until the first chorus to realize that “Get Ready” was, in fact, a cover of the Smokey Robinson/Temptations classic, a great sign that The Beatdown know how to make a song their own.

The final track, “Movin On” is a nice, chuggy rocksteady number, and otherwise solid, it’s just begging for the backing vocals present throughout much of the rest of the EP. I was delighted to hear harmonica, one of the least frequently used instruments in ska, used tastefully, and was hoping for more.  For any fan of The Slackers, The Aggrolites, or Hepcat, this is a solid listen. If you’re a fan of the Beatdown, you’ll want this EP as it has extra cuts and versions from their self-titled, full-length album.  B+