In the wake of heavily punk influenced Irish folk music, ala The Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly or  The Pogues, it is a rare treat to listen to some of the real deal.  Where the aforementioned bands have their place, and an amazing sound, nothing quite drives home the brilliance of the roots of that music like hearing the real thing done by people that love it and have done it for a long time.

Together in some incarnation since 1970 Shaskeen has a sound that can only really be defined as practiced and well seasoned.  On “Walking Up Town,” their 15^th album you can hear the level of experience and heart that is put into their music.  With a mixture of Jigs, Reels, and Songs you have no shortage of music to dance to on this album.

A full two thirds of this album is just instrumentals, with a few nods to some of the classic Irish Drinking songs like, “All For Me Grog,” and “The Jail of Cluain Meala,” but no part of it is a let down.  And seeking out the rest of their albums will become a must.  There is just something about their sound that is undeniably fun spirited, and the kind of sound that you want coming out of the corner in your local pub.

If you are a fan of the kind of traditional Irish Folk Music that has been a driving force in a lot of popular bands these days, then you can do no wrong with “Walking Up Town.”  And if you want to expand your musical horizons and listen to something that is pretty much guaranteed to put a smile on your face and a spring in your step then Shaskeen is the choice for you.

 Reviewed By Gabriel Llanas

Gabriel Llanas, Reviews Shaskeen, Walking Up Town

There is a lot of derivative hip-hop out there, and even worse is the insane amounts of derivative rap.  Thankfully Dead Poets don’t fall into that category for the most part.  Instead of throwing themselves in the Jay-Z direction or the Jurassic 5 direction, they have decided to forge their own direction, with some serious aplomb.  Made up of MidKnyte and Lazarus this duo really knows how to throw a verbal punch.

For the most part these songs smack of the kind of battle hymns that you expect from hip-hop in general, but there are a few real surprises on this album (other than the fact that they aren’t just copying someone else), the first being track “Tickled Pink,” a bit of a rap love song that is set to the tone of the kind of reggae hip hop that has really sprung up as of late, and it is spot on without sounding like it is out of place on an album that has no other tracks like it.  Another surprise is the beat loop on “Step Up,” now the soul vocals tracked into the beat of a song isn’t really something super original, but this takes it to a level that I have a hard time ignoring.  Where normally it is thrown in to just kind of give a song a soulful sound the track is actually worked into the framework of the song without being horribly obtrusive.  This is the kind of smooth beat layouts that have to be every MC’s dream.

There is a kind of symmetry between Laz and Knyte that really makes this album pop, and that really displays the fact that they have the kind of experience that you need to make an impression in a very over saturated market.  One can hope that they keep making this level of album and that they begin to really refine their own sound into something that is uniquely Dead Poets.

Reviewed By Gabriel Llanas

Gabriel Llanas, Reviews Dead Poets, Starving Artists