“It started with the name,” said Jah Division drummer Chris Millstein, from the back room at Glasslands in Brooklyn, NY, secret herbs and spices in the air. This origin might indicate a gimmick and definitely a joke suited for High Fidelity. But Jah Division, a reggae inspired pun on Joy Division, manifested into something cultish and real over the past few years, much to the band’s surprise. Particularly, it’s always new when eager audiences show up and space out.
Featuring members of prog and psych Oneida and Home amongst others, the group converts Joy Division basslines and rhythms into live dub reggae, replete with percussion and sound effects. Joy Division’s melancholy gets slowed down and stretched out until it becomes a new animal. The group staged their alchemy at Glasslands last night, preceding Ecstatic Peace artists Awesome Color.
“It’s all about the repetition,” said Michael Troutman, bassist for Awesome Color, dub and dancehall fanatic, and bass stand-in for Jah Division last night. “It opens everything up.”
Troutman’s band is a scarily heavy power trio in rock’s Grand Funk tradition; the pairing with a dub group that twists up Joy Division songs might seem unlikely. But like he says, the repetition and “for a lack of a better word, groove,” links Jah Division and Awesome Color together. The musicians in both groups also play with a purity of spirit; despite their respective band names and the tongue in cheek that accompanies all smart people, there’s no irony for Jah Division in dub and no joke for Awesome Color in rock and roll.
In Williamsburg, real and permanent is like water in the desert. For kids who grew up on a non-conscious mash-up of rock, dance, Hip-Hop, and reggae, the results of these multiple loves intertwine somewhere near an ultimate heart, alive in the deep sounds of both groups last night.
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