Buck-O-Nine - Sustain
Record Label: Asian Man
Release Date: August 7, 2007
Sustain is the fifth studio album by Southern California’s Buck-O-Nine in their 13 years of releasing records. The album is spangled with beach party ska, skateboard punk, and reggae reefs. The music is standard ska and so much more. Where many ska bands crank out a repetitive melody structure, Buck-O-Nine put other extractions in their mixtures that include rockabilly influences and vocal fringes that vary in texture and navigation through the grooves and twists. Lead vocalist Jon Pebsworth will have the brassy crooning registers of Uncle Kracker and then change the strokes to a mellifluous tone that may remind you of Ben Harper. Sustain takes the listener to different places while staying in the same amusement park, so really what Buck-O-Nine have done is expanded their park to include more rides.
Rounding out the band are: Jonas Kleiner on guitar, Tony Curry on trumpet, Andy Platfoot on bass, Jeff Hawthorne on drums, Craig Yarnold on saxophone, and Dan Albert on trombone. They have jazz instruments that take the shape of rock ‘n’ roll jet streams with maybe a hint of jazz that puts them between the Mad Caddies and The Cat Empire on the music spectrum. Tunes like “I’m Not Dead” and “Slow Me Down” cook up ska-clad horns pumped up by hardcore rhythms which give them the weight of tanks barreling through the movements. The organ intro of “Cook Me Into the Bowl” is sweetened with reggae/island vapors and loose horns. Those limber reggae shimmies and grapevine horns reappear on tracks like “Nothing Left to Lose” and “Sailing Away” hyphenated by complementing vocals from Pebsworth.
The band’s rich palette of punk rock stripes and rockabilly vibrancy provides the energetic shaking and rattling effects in “Screamin’ for the Suburbs” and “Silence” with rapid spins reflective of The Lordz and Tiger Army. The soft flowering of reggae horns on “Lie to Me” are cut by slashes of power chord guitars, and the luau vibe of “Knockin’ Down the Door” is nicely bent into cruising hip swaying rhythms. More of that soft hip twisting action rides into the light funky-ska vibrations of “Less Than Comfortable” which coordinate chillout atmospherics and twitching guitar rises relatable to some of Nellie McKay’s music. The ska-plexus in the gang vocals for “Let’s Drink” move in sync with the skateboard punk accelerants. Buck-O-Nine have a cheery pom-pom action going on in their gang vocals that makes listeners want to pick up a set of them and start cheering along. It’s so infectious.
The band’s lyrics vary from bickering sessions to reveling in life. For instance, the words from “Slow Me Down” demand, “People, are you listening and hearing what I say? / I don’t wanna run around in your rat race,” while the celebratory “Let’s Drink” chants, “Let’s drink / And all get crazy / Let’s drink / Us, all as one / Let’s drink / Then fall into the ocean / Let’s drink / And never look back.”
There is a lot of substance in Buck-O-Nine’s latest offering Sustain. They have not gone as commercial sounding as No Doubt, Less Than Jake, Len, or Smash Mouth, but there isn’t a reason why mainstream cannot expand their own perimeters to include these songs. Buck-O-Nine put a lot on their platter without changing their taste for ska, and after 13 years of doing this, it’s refreshing that they still savor for ska’s flavor.
the cool thing about this album is that it sounds just like their 1997 classic "28 teeth". the bad thing about this album is that it sounds just like their 1997 classic "28 teeth". its the old double edged sword, change your style and progress vs. stick to the same sound and regress. They tried to progress out of the 3rd wave ska/punk sound that put them on the map with 1999's "libido". no one liked it and they dropped into obscurity as the new millenium gave rise to the next big trends (pop punk, then emocore and so on). so this is their "comeback" album, they're re-embraced the style that got them big and made a solid 3rd wave ska punk album. for that I commend them, but in the end, its a pretty mediocre ska/punk album and offers nothing that I haven't heard before...when I was 17,18 and this genre was huge. The first 4 songs are great, as is the fun closer "lets drink", but only on the reggae influenced "sailing away" do they try something they didn't do before.
my main complaint is that I've heard them play this stuff before, except it was fresh and sounded better when it was called "28 teeth" and even then, in 97, the heydey for ska/punk, I still felt these guys came up short when compared to heavy hitters like Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, Pietasters, Mustard Plug, Hepcat and so on.
the cool thing about this album is that it sounds just like their 1997 classic "28 teeth". the bad thing about this album is that it sounds just like their 1997 classic "28 teeth". its the old double edged sword, change your style and progress vs. stick to the same sound and regress. They tried to progress out of the 3rd wave ska/punk sound that put them on the map with 1999's "libido". no one liked it and they dropped into obscurity as the new millenium gave rise to the next big trends (pop punk, then emocore and so on). so this is their "comeback" album, they're re-embraced the style that got them big and made a solid 3rd wave ska punk album. for that I commend them, but in the end, its a pretty mediocre ska/punk album and offers nothing that I haven't heard before...when I was 17,18 and this genre was huge. The first 4 songs are great, as is the fun closer "lets drink", but only on the reggae influenced "sailing away" do they try something they didn't do before.
my main complaint is that I've heard them play this stuff before, except it was fresh and sounded better when it was called "28 teeth" and even then, in 97, the heydey for ska/punk, I still felt these guys came up short when compared to heavy hitters like Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, Pietasters, Mustard Plug, Hepcat and so on.
its decent enough. 7/10.
you think about the shit way too much, just enjoy the music
you think about the shit way too much, just enjoy the music
fair enough, it is a solid ska/punk album, but I've heard what they're doing done before and done better...by buck o nine themselves actually. But you were 10 back then, so get stoked on it brah!! you missed it dawg, 97/98 was the shit.
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