State Radio

Judging from State Radio’s indignation-saturated lyrics—and from the riot squad on the cover of 2009’s Let It Go—it’s an easy guess that the Boston band aspires to follow the furious trail of The Clash. That’s partially true, at least: Plenty of the band’s songs couple distortion with reggae influences or hyper ska, but State Radio also doesn’t try to hide its taste for mellow skanking. Leader Chad Urmston often sings with a Jamaican accent, which unfortunately can turn some of the immediacy to cliché. Then again, Let It Go can still keep up the tension well enough when it wants to, and explores new aspects of State Radio’s defining reggae-folk-punk sound. 

Updated 03/23/2011