John Brown’s Body w/ Passafire

The American reggae act John Brown’s Body had been for years incorporating dub and electronic flourishes into their otherwise traditional roots sound before 2006, when bassist Scott Palmer succumbed to cancer. That tragedy triggered a slew of line-up changes, including the defection of singer Kevin Kinsella, whose successor, Elliot Martin, doesn’t share Kinsella’s regard for roots reggae. Under Martin’s command, John Brown’s Body has beefed up their jam credentials, trending toward a spacey, genre-hopping pastiche that’s more Sound Tribe Sector 9 than Toots and the Maytals on their latest album, 2008’s Amplify, which embraces hip-hop, funk and pop.