W.S. Walcott Medicine Show

JER – Death Of The Heart (Bad Time Records)

I’ve said this numerous times in the past, but with the resurgence of SKA in the late Twenty teens and twenties, there are a handful of people who have played an integral role in getting this thing going. One of them, who is in my humble opinion, at the front of the line is none other than SKAtune Network’s JER. JER started out with his quirky and very fun youtubes of self produced and mostly all solo SKA interpretations of all kinds of stuff. With these videos quickly going viral amongst the floundering SKA scene, it didn’t take long for bands like We Are The Union and Kill Lincoln to draft Jeremy into their own lineups. Over the years, JER has not only found the time to keep SKATune Network going, to maintain touring duties with the 2 aforementioned bands but has also found the time to hit the road solo as well as with such pop punk stalwarts as Jeff Rosenstock and PUP to name just a few.

With Death Of The Heart, JER’s second full length LP released on Kill Lincoln’s Bad TIme Records, they have stretched the boudaries of what we have come to perceive SKA to be, much like what Fishbone did with the genre back in the 90s. Steeped deeply in the SKA tradition and clearly using SKA as the backbone, with Death Of The Heart, JER wanders off in various directions such as metal (“What Will You Do?”), pop punk (“I’M STILL BOTHERED”), hip hop (“Log Off”), modern reggae (“Couldn’t Be Me”), emo (“Claim Yr True Feelings”) and dub reggae (“They Hear Us, Bu They Ain’t Listenin’”), to name jsut a few of the albums’ 15 tunes.

And of course throughout this 45 minute smorgasbord of SKA infected musical styles there is JER’s omipresent ‘bone. JER’s trombone playing is infectious, as anyone who has witnessed him and his maniacle stage presence can attest. JER exhibits about as much energy as one can possibly imagine and it all comes out front and center on Death of The Heart. Oh and did I forget to mention that in addition to their incoporation of all of these musical genres, JER’s lyrics still pound us with topics that unfortuantely we can not avoid in these troubled times of ‘rump with topical tunes like “Silence Is Violence” and “Capitalism Breeds Devastation” (replete with its Special(s) “Gangster” go to “Ghostown” vibe.

Death Of The Heart to these already tried and true SKA tuned ears is gonna be a keeper. But I hope that my more adventurous readers who aren’t scared off with the three letters, S.K.A. will give it a spin. There’s a lot to unravel in this one, but within all those layers, I’m confident that there’s a lil’ bit of sumpin’ for everyone.