For nearly 20 years, Tampa music scene staple Magadog has led Florida's Third Wave ska revival with their bright, brassy, intoxicating sound. The eight-piece — fronted by boisterous singer/percussionist Ed Lowery — has finally completed their fifth and latest studio LP, Ybor City. The buoyant horn-saturated album ranges from the slinky-jaunty Latin-tinged groove of the title track, which is marked by Lowery's incoherent vocal bursts and scats, to the heady dub-fused grooves of "911" and "Great Depression," to two-tone ska/rocksteady dancehall flavor of "Determination" and "Ropa Vieja." Ybor City features guest vocals by Greg Lee (Hepcat), and five of the album's 13 tracks were mixed by internationally-renowned ska legend King Django in his NYC-based Version City studios. Django joins Magadog for their WMNF-hosted CD release show and performs a set backed by Magadog before the band's own headlining set.
Details: Magadog CD Release Party with King Django, The Duppies, and Johnny Cakes and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypso, Fri., June 3, 8 p.m., Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa, $12 in advance/$15 dos.
