The Beautiful Girls: Dancehall Days
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The Beautiful Girls: Dancehall Days

As far as I’m concerned, there are some offbeat musical blends that work – electro swing, for example – and others that just don’t work and should never be spoken of again (I’m looking at you, Metallica and Lou Reed!).The Beautiful Girls’ latest effort, Dancehall Days, definitely falls into the former category.
The Beautiful Girls started out back in 2001 as a roots band, but Dancehall Days is anything but. It’s a fantastic dub (not to be confused with dubstep) album infused with a Daft Punk-style electronica beat that really gets the toes tapping. It’s the kind of music that takes a bit of getting used to, but once you get into the groove it’s really, really enjoyable.
You can easily hear the reggae roots of this kind of music, and the titular track is an awesome mash-up of reggae, dub and even a little bit of rap. It’s really laid-back, funky stuff – it’s enough to get your head bobbing, but it’s not overwhelming. It’s hard to find that sort of balance when you’re mixing electronica into tracks with strong brass sections; I find that it’s often either under-used or emphasised to the point of being excessive.
This sort of stuff might be outside your usual musical tastes, but it’s definitely worth listening to – I found myself getting into it more and more as I listened through the album.
If you like your music funky and a bit different, you’ll want to give this album a go.
By Alastair McGibbon