MNSKA band The Dropsteppers have been hard at work these cold winter months to bring forth their debut full-length album.  The album is being recorded over the month of February at Shock & Audio Studios off Lyndale and Lake in Uptown Minneapolis with Andrew Zoellner engineering the project and The Dropsteppers and Aaron Porter producing the project.  Mixing will happen in March with the release happening some time in May of this year.   Interestingly, they will be mixing the entire album down to tape instead of digitally to achieve a more vintage sound. The album will also be Monophonic instead of Stereophonic which is another vintage recording technique. The album will feature 9-10 songs.  So far, 9 songs are completed as of now with some minimal overdubs and vocals left to finish.  Lead singer Tom McDowall has told me how amazing the album is coming along and I am quite excited to hear how it turns out.

MNSKA band The Dropsteppers spent last week over at Bathtub Shrine Recording Studio and laid down a few tracks.  The guys posted the songs “Shanty Morning View” and “Bring It On Home To You” on their FACEBOOK PAGE.  Head over and check out the tunes and make sure to leave them a nice message, I’m sure it will make their day.

MNSKA band The Prizefighters recently posted online that they are heading into the studio to record a grip of songs for a much anticipated release.  The reggae-soul band have booked time over at local recording studio Shock and Audio for this weekend.  Frontman (and MNSKA cofounder) Aaron Porter posted the following on the FORUM:

This weekend, the Prizefighters are going to begin recording their first official release at Shock and Audio Studio with Andrew Zoellner and General Moses (former host of Rude Radio). We plan on tracking 10 songs or so, with the eventual release of a CD and possibly a 7″.

This has been a long time coming for us, so we’re all very excited to get the best of our work over the past several years onto tape. We will try to provide updates as we wrap up the recording/mixing and get closer to releasing the new material.

Thanks to everyone for their support over the years that helped us get to this point!

You can check out The Prizefighters on Saturday, February 20th at Eclipse Records in St. Paul for the big Birthday Show for Adam Degross of Degross Punk Photography.

The wildly-talented genre-defying band Streetlight Manifesto have posted an update on their progress on their 99 Songs Of A Revolution project. The first volume is apparently completed, but a CD release is up in the air. The band explained:

We can’t announce [the release date] because we don’t know when it is. What we can say is this: some record labels (not naming names here, so it can’t be “libel”) are just plain horrendous. Seriously though, it’s a sad fact that the bullshit bands have to put up with from some labels isn’t worth the benefits (ha!) of being on said labels. That being said, it looks like Volume One will be released on vinyl via the Pentimento Music Company long before it comes out on CD or digitally.

We have no tours planned as of this very minute but we are planning our 2010 now. More importantly, though, we will be heading into the studio soon (as is a particular electricity deficient collective..) and we don’t plan on touring until we have a few records to release.

Big thanks to Punknews.org for alerting us of this story!

NYC ska and reggae band The Slackers have a brand new album in the works and slated for release in April 2010 on Hellcat Records according to their Twitter account.  One of the busiest bands in the business, The Slackers have just recently released their rarities collection Lost and Found on Whatevski Records, which contains remixes and lost gems from 1998-2007.  They also have a digital download release of their live performance at Slackfest at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC this past September.

Both Lost and Found and Live – Slackfest 2009 can be downloaded at the Whatevski Records website.

Boston Ska-core legends the Mighty Mighty Bosstones announced today that their new album, Pin Points and Gin Joints, will be released soon.  When a release date is announced, we’ll get that for ya too.

If you want to hear a preview of what the new album’s gonna sound like, go to the Bosstones’ Myspace to download a free copy of the song “Graffiti Worth Reading.”

NYC ska veterans The Slackers have been busy this year.  Not only have they released their DVD Live and Direct From The Flamingo Cantina and digital release Live – NYC Boat Cruise 2009 on Whatevski Records, they are planning to release a new collection titled Lost & Found.  According to the band, this set will include “redos, remixes, and new rarities” from 1998-2007.   No release date has been set.

I wonder what tracks from the past decade will be on this album?

Ska-powered superheroes The Aquabats have posted some updates on their website about their next album.  I’ll let the crew speak for themselves:

With a possible title for the next album already being thrown around, The Aquabats are busy working toward their next masterpiece!! “It will be a beauty!”, says Crash Mclarson, the Aquabats AKA ‘The little ray beam of positive Light’. “Everything the band is doing right now is like little golden cookies and I cant help but feeling so lucky to be part of the greatest band in the world!”, Crash gushes. It looks like things are really going to be great from now on, and it’s a good sign that Crash is working so hard to make sure this will be the best new record the Aquabats work on this Year.

The guys also address a specific incident that happened in Denver, CO during a ska festival:

Speaking of which, we apologize for the slow updates this past month but the Aquabats band management and booking agency have been working hard to make sure all the bands get paid and are compensated for their participation in the big ‘SKA’ fest show in Denver last month. It seems a fiasco arose when the young plucky promoter got in over her head and made too many deals with very little to back herself up. It was an unfortunate situation at a really awesome and fun event. It happens sometimes. It just does. And even though we got thrown under the bus for actually accepting the large offer to headline the show, and then actually expecting to be paid close to what we were promised (oh!…the audacity!…of HOPE!), we want to thank all the fans that stood by us and didn’t doubt our integrity. Not even for a second. When we say, “we will work something out..’. we meant it.. and our friends know it!

You can read the full update on their OFFICIAL WEBSITE.  The band last released Charge!!! in 2005.

Ska-punk veterans the Mighty Mighty Bosstones have entered the recording studio to create their follow up to Medium Rare.  The band’s Twitter account reads:

Our old friend JG (played on Toxic Toast) is ripping it up on the Hammond organ in the studio today… The record is sounding great!!!

You can follow the band’s Twitter account to hear about Dicky Barrett’s sprained ankle and how Buck-O-Nine are a bunch of beer theives.  Check out the sweeeet tweets HERE.

As previously reported, Boston Ska-Core pioneers The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are all set to begin recording a brand new album.  According to their new Twitter page, the Bosstones have finished the pre-production process, have trimmed the song list from 25 to 16 songs, and will begin recording within the next day or two.   On July 1st, bassist Joe Gittleman posted a picture on his Photobucket account of the master song list for the new album:

Exciting stuff, huh?  Sounds like there’s going to be lots of good stuff to look forward to on this album.  Interestingly, it appears the Bosstones’ reworking of “Impossible Dream” will not be included on the album, nor will the new song “Impossible Dream” that the band debuted on election night last November.