Bearsville Theater
Rootz Underground Reggae
Friday, August 22, 2008
Doors at 9pm; show at 9:30
$8
“Spreading a message of not just love but higher meditation and social responsibility is keen to the group's sound. But Rootz Underground doesn't preach, they teach, and none of the messages on MOVEMENT come off as overbearing. Lead singer Stevie Newland has the rare, raspy, smoked out voice of young Bob Marley meeting Smokey Robinson, and, over one-drop riddims, his singing style is addictive. These cats should definitely make a smash on the global reggae scene in 2008, and if you're curious what else is hot in the genre besides standard dancehall tunes, MOVEMENT is the answer.” -Broward Palm Beach New Times
The Rootz Underground revolution emerged on the scene in a blaze of high energy performances and conscious lyrics in 2000. All the band members had crossed paths and sometime or another since childhood. Individually, each had embarked on a road of truth, seeking musical and spiritual harmony, and when their paths inevitably forged to form Rootz, they got together to offer up a striking and refreshing mix of conscious lyrics, and a harmonic alternative reggae sound that marries their intellectual, spiritual and creative energies.
This marriage has birthed music that is inspiring, energizing and real, progressive, unique, and with edge their reggae has a modern hip hop feel infused with slivers of jazz, rock and revolutionary dub. It pulses with message, from social to love revolution, from the poignant Rain to the guttural and revolutionary How much Longer, and the witty In the Jungle.
"While most of Jamaica's music scene looks to hip-hop for inspiration, a new breed of reggae acts sounds more like rock and punk in comparison. Kingston's Rootz Underground is the most impressive of this bunch, an incredibly tight (and young) six-piece outfit that has been together for eight years. While the band revives roots reggae of the late 1970s and early 1980s, don't label it a nostalgia act: Movement might recall the Meditations, but everything here feels contemporary, like "Hammer," a slice of conscious reggae broad enough to sound new in the 21st century. Like American jam bands, Rootz prides itself on stellar live performances (not surprisingly, Stephen Newland's charismatic singing here is surpassed only by killer grooves). In this respect, the band is poised for greatness. Go see them live. Now." Playboy June 2008
291 Tinker St., Woodstock, NY - (845) 679-4406