Fourth Dimension

In what's been a Sunday tradition since February, Fourth Dimension once again offer the Jazid crowd a unique blend of reggae, dancehall, dub, and ska.

The show is presented by Kulcha Shok Muzik, one of Miami's better-known record labels. A four-piece outfit seemingly tailor-made for Jazid, Fourth Dimension offers a lineup whose diverse roots (from Puerto Rico to Long Island) mirror the club's wide variety of clientele (from mandals to Bruno Magli).

The band's Puerto Rican guitarist — who goes by the name Strings, aptly enough — says Jazid's Sunday night reggae fests have been coming along nicely. "More and more people are coming out, and a lot of bands and musicians are coming to check out the scene, so I guess there must be a buzz going on."

The band is influenced by such artists as Steel Pulse, Aswad, Roots Radics, and Culture. "We try to keep our music authentic," Strings observes. "But at the same time we're not trying to copy any other band or artist. One of Nelly Furtado's touring engineers called our style öprogressive reggae.' I guess you could call it roots rock reggae with a progressive edge."

A new album, titled Invazion, is in the works for a September release on the band's own label, to be engineered by none other than Karl Pitterson, the man responsible for engineering Bob Marley's Exodus.

For the time being the band is content to handle the bulk of its own business. "If a major label shows interest and wants to slap their logo on the back of our CD, help us distribute and market to areas we can't do ourselves, that'd be great. We don't sit around dreaming about it."

Being that they play up to eight shows per week, it's not often you'll see these guys out and about on their free time. "We don't really have time to hang out much. You might run into us at Whole Foods, some Italian or Spanish food spots, sushi restaurants," Strings says. "On our time off we try to relax, but mostly we're working on guerrilla marketing techniques."