Scapegoat Wax: YMNK #7

Before the start of the Summer, I may have had 80, 90, 100 if I was lucky, songs on my i-Pod. It wasn't that I didn't like music, I just hadn't found the right band and couldn't be bothered to explore and discover new music. Than I listened to Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black". I was floured and started to discover all types of new music. Today's YMNK is about the first band/group that I bought an entire album for, a band that basically got me through the Summer. You May Not Know about...

 Scapegoat Wax is a band I'm not a hundred percent sure how to describe. The best I can do is Rap and R&B, but they're a lot more diverse than that. The group was started back in the late 90's in Chico, California by Marty James and Johnny Z, though Johnny left shortly after. The group lasted until the early 2000's, where they broke-up. In that time, they released three CD's and were apart of three different record labels. They never got very popular, only having one of their songs reaching moderate success. Marty James continues to make music in a new band called "One Block Radius", which I have yet to hear any of their work.

 The one song that became popular was "Aisle 10 (Hello Alison)", which became famous because it was on the soundtrack for the excellent game "Jet Set Radio Future" or "JSRF". This is also where I first heard the band. Listen to the song below, than go back to reading this. Do it...NOW!

I had this song on my I-pod forever, until a few months ago, I bit the bullet and bought their second album (thinking it was the first) "Okeeblow". I immediately fell in love. I loved the voices, the sounds, the lyrics, everything about them. I consider "Okeeblow" a perfect album, There is no song on that album that I don't at least like.

 One interesting thing I noticed about the songs is that whenever they're about love, besides "Aisle 10" it's always negative. Marty James must have had a huge, devastating break-up because for five years, he sang about one girl. The songs are always about either the break-up, wanting her back, happy that they broke-up, or that she still haunts him to this day. Every song but "Aisle 10". That one is about him really wanting Alison, which is the only positive love song in Scapegoat Wax's short history.

 What about their two other albums? Well, they aren't as perfect. "Luxurious", their first album, mostly has the songs from Okeeblow, but the original/mix versions. I personally feel the ones on Okeeblow and Swax are better, the ones edited... Anyway, Scapegoat Wax had a problem where their albums had a LOT of the same songs, with the best put into Okeeblow. Don't get me wrong, Luxurious has some great songs, one of them being me favorites, but only six of them are new, out of 19 total songs. Swax, their third album, only has 12 songs, five of which are new. The worst part is that, in my opinion, their's only one good song, "Both My Freinds", which has quickly become one of, if not my favorite, Scapegoat Wax songs.

   But don't let this discourage you, I still highly advise buying "Okeeblow" and buying the other songs as well, who knows, maybe you'll love the ones I hate. Overall, Scapegoat Wax is an amazing, heartfelt, underrated band that really feel fresh when compared to today's top 20 "hits". Just please don't pirate the songs. I don't know if Marty James or anyone who was involved still gets the money, but until I do find out, please pay for this amazing music.