Mad Caddies - Keep It Going

The Mad Caddies make music in the ska scene, which rests outside of my normal tastes in music. In the interests of broadening my horizons, I agreed to review their new LP Keep It Going, and I liked it. While you may say this is blasphemy, I couldn’t help but to notice similarities with early Police, both in terms of sound and lyrical content. Songs like “Coyote” and “Don’t Go” wouldn’t sound out of place on Outlandos d’Amour or Regatta Blanc. However, don’t think every track on here is like that–there’s plenty of up-tempo numbers, such as “Backyard,” the second track. Wayne Jobson, no stranger to the genres the band straddles (he produced No Doubt and Gregory Isaacs), helps give this album a solid grounding in the reggae/ska/punk tradition. [www.madcaddies.com]