earthshaker sound sytem debut
Jah Trinity’s Earthshaker Sound System shook the air at Higher Ground, a venue in Adelaide, on Friday night, May 1st. assisting was reggae singer, deejay & selector Jessie Proverbs.
Milton told me at a dubstep night (N-type & friends) a couple of months ago that his new sound system was almost ready, & showed me a photo on his mobile phone.
we finally got to see & hear it. the sound system has excellent bass, although I suspect that only a fraction of its power was used.
a few times, safety switches (I presume) overloaded, & the room was in silence while Milton & others hunted down the problem, then music returned just as people were getting engrossed in their conversations. one man excitedly sang for a couple of minutes, the first time the sound dropped out.
the records Milton played were British roots music, including a lot of steppers dub. I recognised a severe dub of Aswad. otherwise, I don’t know the artists, just the style. Jah Warrior, Iration Steppas, Tena Stelin, Prince Alla, Dub Creator, Jahmaine Lion & so on.
a few times, we got the total bass throbbing air experience. can’t describe it really, except to say that all other frequencies are cut out, & the whole volume of air in the room throbs very deeply. it’s a feature of British steppers dub.
the tracks which moved me most included Nyabinghi chants. African religion survives the remarkable migrations to Jamaica, & then to England, & remains part of reggae culture.
Jessie gee’ed us up with some stirring vocals, & some conscious tunes. he left his slack records at home! his sound is a tad more Jamaican than Milton’s.
I accepted a lift home, & left before Milton’s second set. he’ll be running these dances once a month.
a nice group of people was assembled, on a rainy night. some came from Melbourne & Port Lincoln. some local dubstep djs, older reggae faces, a couple of African men, drum’n'bass crew, & other folks. we saw a few different styles of dancing.
Earthshaker promises a resurgence of proper reggae culture, for militant people, not lazy, blunted hedonists.
