It’s tempting to write that Forcefield On sound like ska when it grows up and gets serious, though that feels a little lazy. But any band that features long, stretched-out horns you could sleep in like a hammock and band members who are known to be former skankers would make you think that.
The Long Beach sextet projects such impeccable craft (all-analog warm on their debut, Llipsspill) that you want to find a neat descriptive phrase to match the compact way they mix slide guitar, tear-in-your-beer bar piano, softly bumping bass lines, smart lyrics, and those horns into a grand concoction that goes in your ear smoothly. Maybe it is grown-up ska. Maybe it’s the second cousin of AM-radio classics. Maybe you should hear for yourself.
Tue., Sept. 30, 9 p.m., 2008
