- Easy-going reggae'n'roots bands are just a dime a dozen and mostly I couldn't give a damn about them (and I'll keep my dime, thanks!). Brisbane's Cheap Fakes have that going on, sure, and every time front-man Hayden Andrews opens his mouth I keep looking around for G-Love, but, no, that by itself would not be enough. It's that retinue of brass artillery they drag about with them wherever they go: the trumpets, 'bones and saxes (ok it's woodwind, so what?), that gives them that little funky bit extra. A lot extra, actually: the funk is front and center in everything they do. Check out the opener on their new album Hand Me Downs. Stoink is a perfect title for the tight and pacey funk, when it hits its straps and your head starts nodding, you'll know exactly what I mean. Every track on the album has extra brass beyond the band's five core members to help bring it, too. Next up is the album's first single Sand On The Beach which takes you to the other end of the Cheap Fakes' sound. Brassy ska with poppy overtones and it's all about surfing, drinking, strumming and carousing - it's bound to have all those nu-roots fans on the floor. Not normally my sort of thing, but it's, you know, their market and they do it with a fair whack of virtuosity so I can't dislike them for it. There's always something to make me forgive the Fakes any of their sins, like the similarly ska-poppy Sleeping On The Floor which launches into a mariachi-funk interlude that just kills. Great! There's a bunch of stuff to enjoy on this record, try also the breezy Bacharachesque pop of Make It Up and I'm pretty sure I heard some afro-beat funking away down in the back half of the record. If you can catch the sleazily suited boys jumping around at any of their gigs in Brisbane, Byron and beyond, you may not be suprised to learn that Cheap Fakes can bring what they do live, too. Whichever way you get into the Cheap Fakes, I think you're going to find it's worth your while.

- Chris Cobcroft.