Subb – To This Beat

Despite being around for close to fifteen years, my first introduction to Montreal’s ska sensation Subb was with their 2006 album The Motions. The record’s fluid ska tunes energized me and got me tapping my feet, particularly on tracks like their Rancid cover of Tattoo and Fashionistas. It became a fail safe record, not one that I played constantly but one I happily flipped to every once in a while.

On their eighth studio album, To This Beat, the band has taken a step forward and delivered another album more focused on ska and reggae and, despite a rocky start, is much more memorable than The Motions.

To This Beat opens up with the minute and a half punk track Black Gold. Fast and pure punk, Black Gold sounds occasionally like Strung Out with abysmal screaming vocals in the chorus. It immediately puts the record on the wrong track and leaves you scratching your head a bit but from that moment on they pick it up and revert back to what they’re good at: strong, two-toned ska.

You get bouncy melodies, jumpy upstrokes and smooth bass lines normally rounded off with a slightly intense momentum. Tracks like Looking Down, Tipton Three, Fuhrerbunkerand the title track are all energetic ska tracks that gets you tapping to the beat and humming along in no time. They’re fun songs that show why Subb have been able to stay in the game for so very long but the real gems are often the more laid-back reggae infused songs like Hiro Nakamura and Reggae Radio. The three tracks with guest vocals Jah Cutta, I Love MTL, Shottas and Mount Zion, really cement the Jamaican reggae vibe and, like The Planet Smashes‘ Explosive, often steal the show completely.

A few tracks like Blind Leading The Blind do leave the ska structure behind for a circle-pit punk song but unlike Black Gold, who’s screaming vocals just ruin the track, these punk-oriented cuts actually fit into the flow of the album giving it a slight change of pace and direction. They’re rarely the most memorable tracks but they’re a nice little reprieve nonetheless.

Once again To This Beat is not a record that I’ll pull out over and over again but whenever I want a nice, laid-back ska and reggae filled evening you can be sure that To This Beat will be finding its way into my CD player.