Jo Carley & The Old Dry Skulls
Album: Rags And Bones
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 4
Website: http://www.jocarleyandtheolddryskulls.com/

"Imagine a British ska punk band playing a sleazy 1930s New Orleans nightclub, armed only with acoustic instruments from 1890s Tennessee, and you are halfway there!" quoth the tasty biog on the band's website. That alone would send me rushing to investigate, and I'm so glad I picked this one out of the review choices even before reading that snippet.

Lead track of their EP, Rags And Bones, sinuously weaves its voodoo charm around your orifices right from the outset, with Jo's gritty gypsy vocal intro cutting the airwaves and ushering in the jaunty funereal processional of street-garb fiddle, banjo and guitar. Raise A Spell conjures up more voodoo with its tingling vo-dee-o-doe séance, then Bad Dog takes the shuffling punky-skanky road out of town led by a playful mandolin motif as pied piper. EP finale Bother is arguably the best track, with an insane mix of kooky Kleenex/Slits-style punk, Specials-Selecter rude-boy ska, indie attitude and more than a dash of Eastern European nomadic weirdness.

The Old Dry Skulls may be only a three-piece (Jo and Tim Carley and bassist Nathan Weanie), but they make a good old hellfire racket - and I'm sure they kick up a storm on the live circuit. Love the colourful, imaginative disc design and packaging too.

Finally, then, whence the band name? Apparently, it comes from a Caribbean folk story (Anancy, Dog and Old Higue Dry-Skull), in which Old Higue is a dry-skull (no flesh) who waits for unsuspecting victims, and once he has hold of you, you are under his spell… well, I sure am under his spell now, so roll on the full album!

David Kidman