With a career spanning over 30 years, The Planet Smashers have released their tenth full-length. Titled On The Dancefloor, that’s exactly where you’ll see me headed after hearing the album. It’s chock-full of the Montreal ska royalty’s vintage sound. Don’t mistake that as me saying the band is resting on their laurels. Each of the 13 tracks bubbles over with energy, life, and the vibrancy needed to make it through another day in this hellish landscape.
While it covers a variety of interconnected topics, ultimately, On The Dancefloor is a slice of life. No matter the individual theme of a given track, The Planet Smashers are calling for resilience and defiant optimism in the face of tyranny. Amongst the dance songs, love songs, and party tunes, the band shares an equal amount of political and protest songs, too.
The Planet Smashers do a wonderful job of weaving the fun and light with the serious.
At the end of the day, they’ve created the soundtrack to defying the odds and making it through another day. With a more political and social tone with the album, the band delivers a 2 Tone revival influence to the songs. It channels the spirit of the era and the bands that made 2 Tone so special (pun not intended).
Hell, The Planet Smashers even brought Neville Staple and Charley “Aitch” Bembridge (from The Specials and The Selecter, respectively) along for the ride on this album. Having those two on the album allowed The Planet Smashers to highlight their original ’90s aesthetic. The powerful brass lines, melodic hooks, and thoughtful lyrics helped nail down the 2 Tone-inspired sound
With all the pent-up frustration and chaotic energy in the world today, The Planet Smashers want to speak for the voiceless.
This album seeks to connect with a generation of misrepresented and underrepresented people. The band has chosen to harness the good, the bad, and the ugly to create a cathartic masterpiece. They does a wonderful job of expressing my frustrations and anger with current events on tracks like “Alien” and “Belly Up.” Also, songs like “Meet Me On The Dancefloor” get me out of my rut so I release the pressure valve a bit and let off some steam.
Even though The Planet Smashers have been around since 1993, they aren’t a nostalgia act. Their music is more vibrant, youthful, and important than it’s ever been. On The Dancefloor is an instant classic in a nearly perfect discography. It’s fitting that the band’s tenth album is a 10. Though it’s taken until August, I finally heard an album that touched me on multiple levels. This is the first perfect album I’ve heard so far in 2025.
