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EP

EP: The Ruffolos – Mother Ruffer

Pomona, California’s most famous backyard house party live show entertainment powerhouse just keeps getting better. I don’t actually know how often the Ruffolos play house parties and back yard ska shows, but they do in some of their music videos and that is the exact vibe I’ve had ever since seeing it- and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. It’s impossible to not enjoy yourself while listening to the Ruffolos, and their music is constantly improving.

Earlier this year the gang from Pomona put out a live album and had a handful of early summer shows. By the end of June, they dropped a 4 song EP, with two new tracks, and two re-recordings. Five years ago, The Ruffolos was a 3 piece ska and reggae outfit. Now they have a full 8 piece ensemble, with permanent horns and keys added to the band. The addition of Bree to add femme vocals brings another full dimension that improves nearly every song. The gang vocals and harmonies are richer and fuller, and can translate better to live performances with eight members over the original three, so the re-recordings on this EP are so much better, and that’s before considering the 5 extra years of experience and mastering. 

The album starts off with the two new tracks, and it’s incredible how good they are. “Visionary” shows so much depth in the production and it’s such a good reggae ska track, and I love the instrumental breakdown in this song. Everything by the Ruffolos has an insane balance between that island jam groove and that ska punk movement that makes you want to pick it up and go. It’s not often, in a band with 8 musicians, that the bass guitar comes through this clearly and sounds this damn good. The guitar before the instrumental breakdown is absolutely killing, and they had the audacity to hide it behind the rest of the music to allow everything to come through, and it works brilliantly. Every single instrument on this track shines, including the vocals- lead, backing, and harmonies. Honestly, if “Visionary” were the only song I had heard by The Ruffolos, I’d still love them.

“Away We Run” starts off as a slower track that has more of a reggae feel at first, but they do a great job of slowly increasing the tempo as the song builds, and the playful back and forth through the lyrics over a really good horn melody and the song is gold. Definitely one worth getting stuck in your head.

The first of the two re-recordings is “Samuel L Jackson”, and the inspiration For the album art. The song begins with a live audience call out from Samuel L Jackson’s line from Pulp Fiction- “English, Motherfucker, do you speak it”. The reggae is far less prominent on this track, as it is full speed ahead, ska, punk, and rock through most of the song, outside of a breakdown and bridge.

The last song on the album is a re-recording of Marrano Beach. This is the core song that defines The Ruffolos for me. I’m a little shocked they re-recorded this song because the original was really good, but, of course they found a way to improve it even more. The sound quality is really good. The smooth blend of ska, reggae, in little bits of hip-hop and punk is their defining sound and they are executed perfectly here. This song has everything in just the right proportions. Lay back, enjoy your weekend, grab a drink, light one up if that’s your thing, and let the Ruffolos take charge of the audio entertainment. Ruff. 

Written by Gimpleg