The sound of eSKAlation, a nine-piece ska-punk band from Nuremberg in Germany, catapulted yours truly straight back to the 1980s, a time when the Berlin Wall was still firmly standing and being leftwing hadn't become an insult yet. Misguided youth sentiment? Perhaps, but we definitely enjoyed 'Zukunftsmusik', this band's sophomore album. Those among you, who, like yours truly, enjoy a dash of ska-punk with the finger on the pulse of a number of abuses in western society, will probably find eSKAlation to their liking. With Anna Stecklein, eSKAlation also has a strong front woman, now and again evoking memories of Nena, in its ranks (and yes, that once again brings us back to the nineteen eighties).