having released several excellent eps on cassette only, a 7″ single featuring johnny clarke on vocals, and a manic dubbed up cover version of black flags debut ep, boston’s flying vipers get around to releasing their debut album proper, cuttings.
out now digitally, with a full vinyl edition from jump up records (including flying vipers branded smoking papers of course).
with brothers marc and john beaudette on drums and bass/guitar respectively, zack brines on keys, and the all important jay champany on percussion and dub mix (done live-n-direct to their tried, recently repaired, and tested tascam 8-track), the band have wonderfully recreated the golden era of 70s dub recalling classic names such as keith hudson, lee scratch perry, king tubby and the dub releases of prince far i.
with all this attention to detail, the 12 short sharp songs feature large warm basslines, solid drums (with a nice amount of echoed spacial dub effects throughout), often with either hammond organ or piano generating the ear friendly melody lines.
several tracks also feature friends from other local boston based bands on various flavours of brass, best of which is the rico styled trombone addition to the excellent ska’d up flight of the gorgon, and the lovely trumpet solo that sits on top of an urgent rhythm throughout two twenties clash.
highly recommended.
choice tracks : scorpio son, flight of the gorgon
more detail : bandcamp