ANALOGUE LOVE: THE ROCKSTEADY CONSPIRACY RETURN WITH IN VAIN
Six years after their debut Rough and Sweet, The Rocksteady Conspiracy are back. The Austrian-Italian vintage rocksteady band have not come to cheer you up. In Vain, their latest LP released on Aggrobeat Records, with the vinyl following its digital drop in July, is bruised, unvarnished, and pulls no punches.
The Rocksteady Conspiracy’s lead singer Fabian drives the record with unsettling honesty, moving through bitter realisation, restless frustration, and simmering fury at a broken world, before arriving at the gutting sadness of Thirsty.
The album’s guest vocalist, Boss Capone from Dutch outfit The Upsessions, adds his own weathered reckoning on Trouble and Danger.
IT’S ABOUT LOVE, SUFFERING AND THE ANALOGUE SOUND
The latter half of In Vain offers a brief flicker of hope on Tonight, before a run-in with Police drags us back to earth. What Can I Do? wrestles with fate, while Miss Reggay closes on a wistful, tender dream.
Sound engineer Florian Widhalm brings everything home with a closing dub track infused with psychedelic effects. It elevates the project, bringing it to a euphoric and ecstatic close.
As the band put it: “No religious clichés are trotted out here, no patois is mimed, and Babylon isn’t burned down. It’s about love and suffering and the analogue sound without any fuss.”
Their authenticity counts for everything.
IN VAIN TRACKLIST
01. Good To Know
02. No Time
03. Talk Talk Talk
04. Trouble and Danger ft Boss Capone
05. Thirsty
06. Tonight
07. Police
08. What Can I Do?
09. Miss Reggay
10. Waterwalkin’ Dub
ABOUT THE ROCKSTEADY CONSPIRACY
Rooted in classic ska, rocksteady, and early reggae, Austrian outfit The Rocksteady Conspiracy blend soulful vocals with deep respect for Jamaican originals. Their debut LP Rough and Sweet (2019) and the Boss Capone collaboration Trouble and Danger (2023) mark a band with genuine conviction.
