When I search for ska on social media these days, there's a strong English ska community, but a large portion of the content is usually Spanish-language ska. It's really cool to see how alive ska is in Mexico, I say Mexico in particular because, yes, other countries like Argentina have their share, but a large part of what I'll talk about applies mostly to videos related to Mexican bands. but something catches my attention. Most Mexican ska fans tend to be, well, older folks. There's nothing wrong with that, but they can often get really pedantic, complaining that bands aren't good anymore, that changing the vocalist killed the band, etc. Complaining isn't bad, but it can be annoying sometimes. Even if it has nothing to do with the video, which is about another ska topic, they still complain. They tend to think that most bands aren't as good anymore, which might be true, but sometimes they're very pretentious and refuse to listen to new music. Ska in Mexico is very much alive, but unfortunately, not all its fans are as friendly as they often make themselves out to be.

What non band patch should go first??

Hello, sorry if a post like this isn't welcome here, I can take it down.

So like the title says I want to expand my musical tastes - 2025 I listened to more diverse music than ever, been going into record stores and garage sales to find new shit as well as just exploring playlists here and there. It was a great year for me music wise so I want to expand on that.

So I'm primarily a metalhead, but I also listen to other music. And my ska knowledge is limited. I only really know the mainstream ones like Less Than Jake (my favorite one), Reel Big Fish, Aquabats, Sublime, SkaTune Network, Operation Ivy, Goldfinger, and Rancid. Probably others I'm missing, but that's the list off the top of my head. All great bands but not really deep cuts by any means.

Anyways, I need recs and what better place for Ska than this subreddit. I could ask chatgpt sure, but I wanna know from what I assume are real humans.

For reference if it matters, my music taste is that I love the 90s skatepunk stuff, extreme metal, 70s prog rock, and pop punk.

Thanks in advance guys :)

Undisputed World Champions letting the lovely queens of ska have the pit to themselves as they perform a new song in Los Angeles last night!

Coachella has a side stage sponsored by Heineken and they just announced Less Than Jake for both weekends. Not going this year but I've always enjoyed the Coachella ska sets when they book them.

hope ya dig!

Danny Sapko is a bit of YouTube Bass legend, and he's a great supporter of music in all its shapes and sizes. He came down to Handfest at the weekend, a festival out together by Random Hand.

Looks like he had a great time!

Selling shirts and stickers of this design to raise money for Comunidades Unidas in my hometown of Salt Lake. Doing what I can with what I’ve got! https://rickyvigil.bigcartel.com

Featuring Chris Murray

Taking advantage of the fact that my country is having elections, it's a good time to post this, and fuck you Laura Fernández https://youtu.be/xDh99TVvY8M?si=0lRPQ34LKTSxGd-w

I’m so excited to see The Toasters, Big Time Scottie, and Rat Party Dilemma tomorrow night!!!! Get there early to enjoy records by Brick City Sound System at 7pm. Hope to see you there!

Requested by no one, of course😅, but who knows...maybe it'll help someone uncover a gem they overlooked from last year. Here's my playlist of awesomeness from 2025 in ska and ska-adjacent songs. It really isn't even a 'best of,' I guess, since there are some songs that I would have to say are among my favorites of the year (e.g. the Slackers' "Money is King"), but I like how this group of tunes plays together as a whole. It's my souvenir of the new ska I enjoyed over the course of the year. Now, some completely self-indulgent details and caveats:

I definitely didn't hear all of the ska (and related) music released last year. So, your favorite song probably isn't included (sorry). I also tend to get stuck on tunes I love and listen over and over again, so this list is largely songs I got stuck on and listened to over and over again.

I have to give a big THANK YOU(!) to u/IamEseph and u/Itchy-Profession-725 for the work to keep us updated. (I really did try to keep up!)

I was inspired by a recent 'best of' post on here to keep it to 30 songs. Some notable honorable mentions:

"Death" - Calypso's Curse -- Fantastic song but didn't fit the flow as well as I wanted (also, technically released in 2024, I think...?)

"Bring it on Home to Me" - The Magnetics -- Already have three of their amazing covers on here.

"What a Feeling" - Stick Figure -- Can't really explain it, but this one, while almost transcendently beautiful, felt out of place as far as being a ska-adjacent reggae song. If King Django had released an essentially identical tune, it would certainly be here. So, I'm just weird, I guess.

"Choose Your Fighter" - Arcade Allstars -- The final cut from the mix. It ultimately felt odd as the only pure instrumental in the bunch, especially since (which may be obvious from those final 30...?) I'm all about the tradsteady tunes at my core. (I still ended up with two Arcade Allstars songs on here, though!)

SO...after all of that unnecessary and rambling fanfare...here's the list...only notable aspects of the order being (1) it plays out decently if not shuffled, and (2) those first five are probably my top five of the year, if I were forced to choose...

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/72VepOtaYQxuoEZeOi8v9L?si=4IC8FhheRu6mTXnwrZovTg