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www.thebrigands.com
Genre: Contemporary Pirate Folk.
Rating: X
Target Audience: Adults who enjoy a swarthy jig alongside pirate porn 😉
The cover. My god, the cover. It’s an ass. At first glance, I thought it was a rashed, diseased ass. But no, it’s an ass with a map of the world. I don’t know if that makes me feel better or not. Continue reading
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www.musicalblades.com
Genre: Contemporary Pirate Folk and Alternative.
Rating: PG-13 (with a little bit of R)
Target Audience: 20-somthings and up
I had a conversation a while back with Patch, lead singer and principle songwriter of the Musical Blades. On asking him what other pirate bands he enjoyed, he expressed to my utmost surprise that he doesn’t listen to other pirate bands – not even a little bit. He does this so that his own writing will remain truly “his own”, wishing to follow his own instincts as to what pirate music can be rather than risk following the leads of others. While I myself could never fathom removing myself from the wealth of pirate music splendour that exists these days, I would offer the observation that Patch’s own abstinence seems to have served him, and the Musical Blades as a whole, rather well. Continue reading
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Roy Metté
Genre: Contemporary Pirate Folk.
Rating: PG
Target Audience: Anyone – particularly those familiar with prominent historical pirates
Yes, it does occasionally happen that I fully, shamelessly gush my love of a pirate album. So if that doesn’t suit you, then just save yourself the trouble and skip past this review – you don’t need to read it, but you *do* need to buy Roy Metté’s Pirates of the East Coast of the Americas & the Caribbean Sea. Continue reading
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Marooned
www.marooned-lv.com
Genre: Faire music, nautical and otherwise
Rating: PG-13
Target Audience: Grown ups, mostly
Marooned is an album (and a band) that has a morbidly bizarre sense of humor. It’s (mostly) G-Rated, yet remains a CD largely about death, bastards, and booze. The oddness begins right away with Companion, an a cappella song (as is the entire album) that sounds gentle and friendly. The lead vocals are personable and very human, and the backup vocals are soft yet solid. As to the lyrics? Well, that’s when you start to realize that this seemingly harmless song is actually a bundle of peer-pressure, strongly indicating that the singers will only be your friend if you drink lots (and lots, and lots.) Continue reading
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The Jolly Rogers
www.chivalry.com/jollyrogers
Genre: Pirate-themed faire music
Rating: PG-13
Target Audience: Grown ups, mostly
By and large, the vast majority of festival pirate music centers around traditional songs. This gives rise to two common problems:
1) Much of it starts to sound the same
and 2) Being as few traditional songs were actually about pirates, there’s often little to differentiate “pirate” music from other festival-driven sea shanties, Irish fighting songs, or bawdy ballads. Continue reading
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Bounding Main
www.boundingmain.com
Genre: Traditional and traditional-style sea shanteys
Rating: PG
Target Audience: Grownups, older kids, and especially fans of Bounding Main’s live shows
As an entertainment group, Bounding main is essentially a coin with two sides. On the one, we have Bounding Main the live performers – exceptionally talented singers with a clear rapport with their audience, and more than a little tendency towards joking and goofing around. Bounding Main’s shows are generally defined by fun over perfection, where errors and surprises (for audience and performers alike) make each show wonderfully unique. And on the other side we have Bounding Main the recording artists, where the beauty of the vocals and a mastery of the stereo medium have seen the traditional sea shanty evolve into true music, rather than mere lumbering work songs. Continue reading
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Various Artists
www.ppnom.org
– Volume 1
– Volume 2
Genre: Various. Ranges from traditional to metal to lounge. Seriously.
Rating: PG
Target Audience: This is perhaps the most universal collection of pirate music ever. If you love any aspect of the genre, these albums are for you.
A short while back I was asked (and I paraphrase,) “I think I’m interested in learning more about pirate music, but I don’t know where to begin. Any suggestions?” Continue reading
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Various Artists
www.anti.com
Genre: Traditional and traditional-inspired
Rating: Mostly PG, but some songs are very, very R (and then some)
Target Audience: Adult
As the story goes, Johnny Depp and Gore Verbanski were so psyched about their recent Pirates of the Caribbean work that they decided to embark on a pirate project of their own. They co-produced Rogue’s Gallery, a two-disc album of 43 traditional sea-shanties as interpreted by a large and varied group of distinctly non-shanty artists. A bold proposition, to say the least, and one that could result in genius or catastrophe. Continue reading
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Bounding Main
www.boundingmain.com
Genre: Traditional and traditional inspired sea shanteys.
Rating: PG
Target Audience: Grown ups, mostly
By and large, pirate music comes in two forms, the first being historical. These songs are normally performed by bands of reenactors focusing on sea shantys and drinking songs. Generally speaking, these bands are most appreciated by those who have experienced them live, and who wish to recapture the fun of swinging their grog around amongst a group of friends (I am, of course, painting with a broad brush.) The second form that pirate music often takes would be “pirate core” – music of a more modern nature that focuses on piracy as its theme. Be it pop, rock, metal, or punk, this music is sometimes more polished, and generally more accessible to fans of mainstream music (but perhaps uninteresting or even off-putting to traditionalists.) Continue reading
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Bounding Main
www.boundingmain.com
Genre: Traditional and traditional inspired sea shanteys.
Rating: PG
Target Audience: Grown ups, mostly
When I think of sea shanties, I generally imagine them as performed by folk singers (i.e. musicians performing fairly down-to-earth, no frills songs recapturing the music of old.) I DON’T generally imagine sea shanties as performed by recording artists (i.e. musicians that seek not only to master the art of music, but the science of utilizing modern studio techniques to maximize the impact of the final product.) It was in this way that Bounding Main caught me completely by surprise. Indeed, I’d previously heard them live a couple of times, and already knew them to be fine performers. But upon playing their CD I was caught completely off guard. Continue reading