HokiePundit

I've been listening to a lot of Christian Ska lately. It seems to be the only genre of Christian music that doesn't, ahem, suck. The three top bands in this area are probably the O.C. Supertones, the Insyderz, and Five Iron Frenzy. The first three Supertones albums absolutely rock like no other, but their latest album is pretty uninspired except for "Wilderness." You can listen to all of their albums at their site for free, though at reduced sound quality. I've only just found out about the Insyderz, and a lot of their music seems to be covers of praise songs, but "Awesome God" and "Carnival" (aka "Ska Ska Ska Ska!") aren't to be missed. Five Iron Frenzy is more streaky. Their rhythm section is great. Their horns are sometimes brilliant, sometimes dull and repetitive. Unfortunately, their singer has a fairly high voice (if you've heard Rush's 2112, he sounds like that), and is hard to put up with for long periods of time. I think that Christian music companies are missing a bet by not pushing ska more, as it's a niche where Christian music could easily dominate. This isn't to take anything away from regular ska bands like Less than Jake, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, or especially Reel Big Fish, but this is the only genre I know of where the secular and Christian bands are about the same quality. Even if you're not normally into Christian music, you might want to check out some of the bands I mentioned.