Good ska

[Beth]

I guess what I mean is that you can't just substitute a violin (particularly a violin- the tone is very different from that of a cello) for a conventional rock instrument. I've done violin accompaniment in the past and that's gone well, but it's not suited to be a primary instrument in a traditional arrangement, which is mostly what I was thinking of at the time. I mostly suck at the violin and guitar separately now, so it worked out.

Alison, have you ever heard Final Fantasy? It's the project of Owen Pallet, a Canadian violinist (I believe he was actually involved with Arcade Fire at one point). He doesn't rock by any means, but it is just him and his violin, and it's pretty great. Kind of what Jack Black referred to in High Fidelity as "sad bastard music" , but I like it.  You being a former violinist, I thought you might appreciate a pop musician who's doing it up with a violin.

I love Owen Pallett so much! He's so weird and great. I've seen his fantastic projection-assisted live show a few times.

I've even got a Final Fantasy tote bag. I made the mistake of wearing it past a meeting of my school's Multi-Player Gaming Club (I am not kidding--it is our biggest extracurricular group by far) and everyone freaked out.

He is weird and great!! I love that He Poos Clouds is based almost entirely on Dungeons and Dragons references. Awesome!!

Haha I love how we've gone from ska to strings. Oh FOT threads, I never know where you will lead.

[Dan B]

Tymon Dogg.  He's cool.

[AllisonLeGnome]

I guess what I mean is that you can't just substitute a violin (particularly a violin- the tone is very different from that of a cello) for a conventional rock instrument. I've done violin accompaniment in the past and that's gone well, but it's not suited to be a primary instrument in a traditional arrangement, which is mostly what I was thinking of at the time. I mostly suck at the violin and guitar separately now, so it worked out.

Alison, have you ever heard Final Fantasy? It's the project of Owen Pallet, a Canadian violinist (I believe he was actually involved with Arcade Fire at one point). He doesn't rock by any means, but it is just him and his violin, and it's pretty great. Kind of what Jack Black referred to in High Fidelity as "sad bastard music" , but I like it.  You being a former violinist, I thought you might appreciate a pop musician who's doing it up with a violin.
[youtube]Y8PZ8-cpWc4[/youtube]

Here's how he does things live:
[youtube]
pKLcmS02EQI[/youtube]

That's really good- thanks! I'm definitely going to check out all the stuff people listed that I'm not already familiar with.

(To clarify, I'm still currently a violinist, just a rather mediocre one. And I'm not at all opposed to the general idea of using violins in non-classical music- just in the context I had in mind when I was 13 and had made it about as far into non-mainstream music as NOFX [and to this day I'm not sure how I got there in the first place, but I'm glad I did since it all progressed from there, not that anyone needed the whole backstory on that].)

[jamesp]

Doesn't Andrew Bird play violin? As soon as people started mentioning violin in rock music, I immediately thought of Sergey Ryabtsev -- the old Russian violinist who looks out of place in Gogol Bordello.

[Steeley Chris]

If I can find some Ska, Rocksteady, or Reggae with some violins, will you people stop talking about band that kinda stink?

[nick]

There are some good modern, American ska bands that play a style pretty similar to the original Jamaican sound.

I would put The Slackers from New York at the top of that list. They've been touring and recording since the mid-90s, and have put out some great music. Some other favorites are Chris Murray, the Pietasters, Ryan Scroggins and the Trenchtown Texans, the Stingers, and Westbound Train. Hepcat were also great, but they broke up 5 or 6 years ago.

Another band I really like, the Aggrolites, are actually a reggae band, but they play to the same crowd and often get grouped in with American ska.

[KickTheBobo]

More violin madness:

Mark Wood gets an A for effort in my book:



[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktZaFgQ4YIs[/youtube]

Miri Ben-Ari "The Hip-Hop Violinist"

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CCkagE15sk[/youtube]

I wish I had went to this high school.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5zVB3a8c8I[/youtube]