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NY DAILY NEWS
February 25, 2005
By ISAAC GUZMAN
DAILY NEWS FEATURE WRITER

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Static, January 2005

REGGAE ROOTS BAND IS BRANCHING OUT

When John Brown's Body formed upstate in Ithaca 10 years ago, the group's name wasn't their only backward-looking trait.

Inspired by classic Jamaican reggae acts, the band played an immaculate re-creation of their vintage rock-steady sound.

JBB's precision and musical authenticity made it a hit on the college circuit, but West Indian fans never really accepted the sound as "real" reggae.
Now the band itself - which plays tonight at Southpaw - has rejected the notion of playing anything like a pure strain of reggae.

"When you get infatuated with a certain kind of music, you go right to its core first," says Alex Beram, who plays trombone and nyabinghi drums in the eight-member band. "But once you get inside of it for a while, you're pushed to take it someplace."

The band's last album, 2002's "Spirits All Around Us," hinted at where the group was going. But its fifth CD, "Pressure Points," due out in April, fully realizes the genre-crossing sound they've been looking for. While the loping thump of the reggae groove is intact, JBB stretches out with electronic samples, distinctly poppy song structures and an atmosphere that sounds more like Massive Attack than Marley.

"It's our ability to take that original sound and make it our own," Beram says. "We're trying to incorporate new elements and more modern styles of production and some programming.

"It's not just 'Let's throw electronica and reggae together.' It's just where we're at and what we're listening to."

A big contributor to the new direction is vocalist Elliot Martin, who took a supporting role to singer-guitarist Kevin Kinsella on the band's first three records. Writing nine of the album's 12 songs, he comes into his own on "Pressure Points."

"Both Kevin and Elliot have a ton of funk, and they're writing all the time," says Beram. "But I think Elliot's extremely relevant to the progression of our sound, because he's got a foot in the future."

If there's a way to be both reverent and revolutionary, John Brown's Body has found it with their latest work. No longer slaves to tradition, they've lived up to their abolitionist namesake and set themselves free.

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Static, January 2005