Jul 17 1985 @ Irving Plaza New York, NY

THE six Los Angeles teen-agers who make up Fishbone mugged, leaped, whooped, giggled, staggered, shouted and knocked out songs at manic tempos in the band's New York debut, Wednesday at Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place.

Fishbone's raucous songs aim to fuse anything from Jamaican ska to jump-blues to hardcore punk, and its lyrics juxtapose black-humored political pronouncements with gleeful profanity.

A majority of the band's songs Wednesday leaned toward the bouncy rhythms and horn riffs of ska, but more often than not it was ska overlaid with vocals tossed from member to member, sudden shifts in tempo and mocking dissonances. Fishbone is rude and proud of it.

Although Fishbone's stage show was full of careening comedy, its music suffered from a bad sound mix at a punishing volume. Verbal jokes were sometimes buried in the onrush of noise. And at times, the band seemed to be cramming too many styles into a single song. Still, even Fishbone's excesses show promise -ambition that matches the band's energy.

By JON PARELES

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