by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

After years of silent shame, it seems it’s once again okay to proclaim a love of ska. Listening to new U.K. bands like the Dead 60s and the Ordinary Boys, and the OB’s recent tour mates, Toronto-based Bedouin Soundclash, one feels like the reset button has been hit. No Doubt, Sublime, the Bosstones, the whole macho, metallic ’90s approach—dismissed. The Specials, the English Beat, the punky reggae vision of the Clash—welcome back.

“I don’t have any love for what happened in the ’90s,” says Jay Malinowski, the singer/guitarist of Bedouin Soundclash (joined by bassist Eon Sinclair and drummer Pat Pengelly). “I think it really destroyed what had been built—I just did a blog on that on our Web site last night. I’ve been really sick of hearing indie rock bands, Vice magazine and people like that dissing ska music, because what they’re talking about is the third wave, which took place in the States. They’re not talking about the actual history of it, Jamaican ska or British Two-Tone. To me, there’s a disconnect.”

There would also be a disconnect, ironically, in calling Bedouin Soundclash a ska band. The tempos are too chilled, the brass section is absent, even the guitar is acoustic. They do however borrow the soul of Jamaican rock steady, the rustic flavour of folk and the social conscience of reggae. You can add dub, jungle and Afro touches to that mix, but leave the skinny ties and “pick it up, pick it up” peps at home.

“We never considered ourselves ska,” notes Malinowski. “We’re trying to copy the stuff that took place in the ’60s and ’70s—and bridging it to the stuff that’s taking place in the U.K. now, like Roni Size or dancehall.”

One way they’re doing that is the remix route. Their second album Sounding a Mosaic was released in 2004 on Montreal’s Stomp label and given new wings last year through Warner (which led to a radio hit over here with “When the Night Feels My Song,” much love from BBC Radio 1 over there, some choice cover-song opportunities and Warped, SXSW, Leeds and Reading slots). It closes off on a sweet pair of remixes, one by Paul Lazare of Gotan Project—“a nuts dude from Paris who just does not listen to anyone but himself,” says Malinowski, as though Parisians could possibly behave otherwise.

It’s the sparseness of the BSC sound that makes it sound so remix-friendly. “Less is always more. The less chords, the less time you can do it in, the more concise you are, the more powerful it is. The simplest things, I think, are always the most powerful—in anything in life. I will never play a guitar solo in any of our songs. I like to cut all the fat out and do something really raw.”

And once that’s done, one can start adding stuff on. Stuff like keyboard cameos by Money Mark or vocals by Gotan Project’s Veronic Silva, both of whom contribute to BSC’s forthcoming album Street Gospels. The constant, however, is that Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jennifer is again in the producer’s chair.

“We don’t take well to people telling us, ‘This is the way it has to go.’ Darryl’s one of those people who just gives you advice and tells stories from his experience. Coming from a band like Bad Brains, who did things their own way and a lot of people didn’t get it, he’s really in tune with us.”

With the Junction at Club Soda tonight,
Thursday, Dec. 15, 8 p.m., $15

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