Snappy Little Numbers (2019)
Full disclosure, this is a ska 7". I haven't listened to a new ska band of any kind since 1996. I really liked Operation Ivy and Less Than Jake back then, so I tried listening to a few other bands of that era, but nothing really stuck with me. I quickly assumed that I just didn't like ska and Op Ivy and LTJ were the exceptions not the rules. Even those Less Than Jake records didn't age particularly gracefully. Have you heard Losing Streak lately? That might be the worst guitar tone ever captured on a record (Op Ivy still blasts though).
And now in 2019, we have Roka Hueka, a latin ska band from Denver, Colorado. To say I wasn't sure what to expect going into this record is an understatement, but I quickly discovered something. Ska was absolutely meant to be played with the singing in Spanish. It just makes so much more sense. The way the bouncing bass lines and horn accents mix with the lyrics on "Que No Quedo Huella" transform this genre of music that seems comically out of style into something that sounds fresh and contemporary. I could absolutely see this being played in a packed club filled with enthusiastic folks dancing the night away. This song is a hit.
The B side is "Back To You" and is in English. I don't like this song quite as much as the A side, but it is slower and has a sincerity to it that keeps it from sounding cliche and dated. To quickly quote the Snappy Little numbers website: "This record is a Community Collaboration project and is fully sponsored by Cereveceria Colorado with 100% of the money raised from the sales of this release benefiting Casa de Paz and Metro Denver Sanctuary Coalition, two organizations dedicated to fighting for immigrants' rights." That is absolutely something I can get behind, whether you like ska or not.
Roka Hueka - Que No Quedo Huella 7":
https://snappylittlenumbers.bandcamp.com/album/que-no-quede-huella-b-w-back-to-you-version
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