|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Matisyahu (USA)
|
|
|
September 13, 20:00
Glavclub 
 "Hearing Matis sing a cappella was nothing less than a spiritual experience. His voice soared, on point and pure, never once faltering Four… Anyone who was present at last night's show witnessed something magical. Many walked away with a sense of peace and pride." - Miami New Times.
When Matisyahu emerged in 2004 with his debut album, Shake Off the Dust... Arise, his musical persona seemed a novelty to some. Here was a Hasidic Jew - dressed in a black suit with a broad-brimmed black hat worn over a yarmulke, and sporting a full, untrimmed beard - who nevertheless performed toasting raps about the glories of traditional Judaism over reggae beats in a dancehall style directly from Jamaica. Moreover, he punctuated his performances with stage diving. It may have seemed like a joke at first, but Matisyahu was serious about his craft, and his diverse style soon garnered Grammy nominations, gold record certifications, and a broad audience.
Matisyahu was born Matthew Miller on June 30, 1979, in West Chester, Pennsylvania. His family moved to Berkeley, California, which they eventually ditched for White Plains, New York. Miller initially rebelled against his traditional Jewish upbringing, considering himself a Deadhead and a hippie by his early teens. But at the age of 14, during a camping trip in Colorado, he reconciled himself to Judaism and visited Israel shortly thereafter. After returning to White Plains, he dropped out of high school and traveled the country to attend Phish concerts. Back at home again, he agreed to let his parents send him to a wilderness school in Bend, Oregon, where he became enamored of reggae and hip-hop, and began rapping at open-mike competitions. He returned to New York at 19 to attend the New School for Social Research in Manhattan, but also joined the Carlebach Shul, a synagogue where his musical interests were encouraged. Meeting a Lubavitch rabbi, he became interested in the strict Lubavitch Hasidic sect of Judaism and renamed himself Matisyahu.
Continuing to perform, Matisyahu assembled a backing band consisting of guitarist Aaron Dugan, bassist Josh Werner, and drummer Jonah David. The group recorded Shake Off the Dust... Arise, which was released by JDub Records in 2004. While touring in support of the album, Matisyahu recorded one of his February 2005 concerts and released the material as Live at Stubb's, which was issued in April courtesy of Or Music before getting picked up for national distribution by Epic Records. Epic reissued it on August 23, 2005, as Matisyahu toured around the country and prepared a second studio album with producer Bill Laswell. The final product, Youth, appeared in March 2006 and was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Reggae Album. A simultaneously released dub version of the album was made available to mail-order customers.
Meanwhile, Matisyahu's backing musicians chose to release additional material on their own, adopting the name Roots Tonic for the side project. Roots Tonic Meets Bill Laswell marked the group's debut in May 2006, and by the end of the year the EP/DVD combo No Place to Be was also released. Jonah David dropped out of the band in June 2007, however, and Roots Tonic effectively disbanded, despite the enlistment of replacement drummer Skoota Warner. The entire group (sans David) turned its focus back to Matisyahu instead, and Light marked the singer's third LP upon its release in August 2009. Two years later, Live at Stubb's, Vol. 2 would appear, this time with a companion DVD release. In late 2011, the singer posted a picture with a shaved head and payes cut with the caption, "No more Chassidic reggae superstar."
In December 2012, Matisyahu shaved off his beard, explaining on Twitter: "Sorry folks, all you get is me, no alias. When I started becoming religious 10 years ago it was a very natural and organic process. It was my choice. My journey to discover my roots and explore Jewish spirituality - not through books but through real life." Since then, the singer has shed some weight, traded his wire-rimmed glasses for contacts and gotten a major haircut. Today, based with his family in Los Angeles, Matisyahu is back in the spotlight with a new clean-shaven look and with a bold new studio album Spark Seeker, that finds the one-of-a-kind vocalist and songwriter exploring uncharted territory with help from an expansive cast of collaborators. "My musical tastes are all over the board," he says in reference to a record that mixes ancient traditional sounds with futuristic electro beats, rapping with singing, songs of the spirit with songs of the body. "And, besides, my music has never been about the outer garment. It's about searching out inspiration wherever it lies. This album is about seeking that spark within."
Spark Seeker, which debuted at # 19 on the Billboard Top 200, was produced by Kool Kojak, who had previously worked with Ke$ha and Nicki Minaj. Kool Kojak said about the album Spark Seeker that it is "a documentation of this episode of change we went through and we documented it with expressions of our feelings and soul through music." And Matisyahu comments it this way: "I've gotten older I trust my intuition more; I allow myself more freedom both musically, creatively and my own life existentially. That's part of the change. Letting go, opening up, trusting."
Matisyahu's new album,Undercurrent is musically Matisyahu's most courageous release to date and lyrically his most vulnerable. Nearly thirteen years after the release of his first studio record, Matisyahu and his band have done something unmatched in his past repertoire. Touching on the significance of this new recording experience, Matisyahu explains. "This is the first album I've made that is produced by myself and the band with out any outside forces involved. It's my baby. No compromises, full artistic integrity."
The vulnerability felt throughout the lyrical narrative comes from acceptance in uncertainty. Matisyahu explains, "This record is like, Abraham's walk back down the mountain. After he's made this kind of breakthrough experience, like how does he now come back to life? And that's kind of what this period of time in my life has been all about. Like "Okay, now you broke out of bad relationships, bad habits, religious practices that weren't working for you, philosophical, you know, mental ties that you had to things." And, and then it's like, "Okay, where are you now?" You know? And that's kind of what this record is."
The courage in the music comes from trust. Trust in the band, and only in the band. There are no post-production bells and whistles or litany of special guests on Undercurrent. The band improvised for hours in the studio with Matisyahu watching on as an admirer without singing a single lyric. Out of the improvisations grew melodic themes, rhythmic peaks and valleys, blissful and proto-song guitar passages, deep dub meditations and ultimately an inspired instrumental record until itself. Only once the band had crafted this musical narrative, did Matisyahu begin to work on a lyrical narrative of his own. The level of interplay between Matisyahu and his band mates on Undercurrent is unquestionable - with each replay, the album reveals a guitar line from longtime guitarist, Aaron Dugan, which elevates a vocal melody that only 15 years of experience together can achieve. Keyboard patterns from BigYuki unrealized in a previous listen connect one song to another and the full band improvisations with Dub Trio bassist and drummer Stu Brooks and Joe Tomino climax with an impressive exploratory section on the record's final track "Driftin'".
With this album, Matisyahu and his band have achieved a musical retelling of the Matisyahu story that explores the forces within that inspire us all, challenge us all, break us down, lift us up, and yet are rarely obvious to the outside observer. Tickets
More info
|
|
|
|
|
The virtual community for English speaking expats and Russians
