The Frightnrs, “Nothing More to Say”
Available: Now via Daptone Records as a digital download in MP3, FLAC and WAV formats, on compact disc and standard black vinyl.
Back in late August/early September, I received a package stamped in the upper left-hand corner with the familiar Daptone Record logo/seal. Daptone is a label that rarely, if ever, disappoints, and releases some of the best new retro-soul albums from the likes of Charles Bradley, The Budos Band, Lee Fields and The Expressions, Menahan Street Band, and Sharon Jones (R.I.P) and the Dap-Kings.
So, I assumed that an album by a band on their roster that I’d never heard of, The Frightnrs, would be somewhere in the vein of any of those aforementioned artists. I was beyond pleasantly surprised as the first few seconds of album opener, “All My Tears,” had the very obvious stylings of classic rocksteady and early two-tone Ska. I was instantly hooked.
To contextualize: Growing up a punk-loving adolescent, there was a decent amount of tape trading happening among friends with older siblings. At the time, some of these classic Ska artists were being filtered in and onto these tapes. It was my early foray into branching out, musically speaking.
It makes sense to me that a band like The Frightnrs put out a retro rocksteady record on Daptone. If there are other bands out there currently making music throwing back to this era, I’m just not all that privy to it. Based on personal spins, “Nothing More to Say” has been one of my most-listened-to records of the year, and I can add to that one of my favorite albums of the year.
Recommended for those who pine for the bygone era of two tone and the fringe bands and tendrils of that era and artists such as Desmond Dekkar, Derrick Morgan and The Aces, Roy Shirley, Toots & The Maytals, The Specials, The Selecter, or The Beat.
Jon E. Lynch[email protected]
