Review: The Planet Smashers - Mixed Messages
[STOMP Records; 2014]
Rating: 4/10
By Ethan Forness, Contributor
Key Tracks: “Tear It Up,” “You Guys Are Assholes, Let’s Party”
Canadian ska-punk outfit The Planet Smashers are back with their eighth full-length album, Mixed Messages. The album is aptly named as it is unclear exactly what The Planet Smashers intend with this piece of work. The Planet Smashers display their never-changing, patented blend of two-tone ska and so-called punk that they’ve displayed since 1994.
As far as ska albums go, Mixed Messages is a bore. The album has an almost draining effect on the listener, pairing the same monotonous blend of trombone and saxophone across every track. All the while, vocalist Matt Collyer gives the feeling that he is only trying to be louder than the instruments behind him.
The Planet Smashers pale in comparison to their brethren ska bands like Streetlight Manifesto and Reel Big Fish, bands whose respective music features unique personalities. They sound more like reggae outfit Rebelution than a ska group and the lack of a “hell yeah!” mentality is saddening for the genre.
The point has been made before that change is never a bad thing in the music world. Then again, not changing isn’t a death sentence for musicians either, but The Planet Smashers’ Mixed Messages is an album that would have been popular in 1994. It lacks the personality that many ska groups have defined since The Planet Smashers, a la The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.
The Planet Smashers just seem to be stuck dwelling in the ‘90s and the songs on Mixed Messages prove it. “Scientific Explanation” begins with an 8-bit rendition of the horns in the song, but it’s highly reminiscent of the battle music in Pokémon. “Dark Personality” showcases a poorly used organ and the song is only worthy of an Adam West-era Batman intro, as opposed to a 2014 ska-punk release.
“Can’t Stay Anymore” sounds like a Conway Twitty country song showcased on American Bandstand. Retro is definitely a popular cultural movement right now, but this was not intentionally retro. The examples given, pre-1994 as some may be, get the point across that The Planet Smashers are trapped in the past and this paragraph is in need of a cliché Back To The Future reference.
The Planet Smashers are still relevant in the music world, however dismal Mixed Messages may be. Thanks to STOMP Records, the label The Smashers founded, they are solid ska label part of the Union Label Group that sees releases by their 60-plus artists all throughout the Americas, Japan, Australia and all of Europe. So let’s just count Mixed Messages as a one-in-60 outlier from a label that features ska talents Big D And The Kids Table and Suburban Legends.
