Track Listing

1. Fire Of Heaven / Altar Of Earth
2. Youth
3. Time Of Your Song
4. Dispatch The Troops
5. Indestructible
6. What I'm Fighting For
7. Jerusalem
8. WP
9. Shalom/Saalam
10. Late Night in Zion
11. Unique Is My Dove
12. Ancient Lullaby
13. King Without A Crown

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3285 in Music
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2006-03-07
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.com
The thumbnail description of Matisyahu: File under Hasidic Beatbox Reggae. Despite having markings of novelty, it's really nothing of the sort. Fronted by a man named Matisyahu (born Matthew Miller), they are truly a band. Two independently released CDs brought them a rapid and well-deserved ascent, making their signing with a major label a logical step. Youth benefits from a more expansive sound and production by the fantastic Bill Laswell (Golden Palominos, Laurie Anderson, the Last Poets). Matisyahu's singing and the substance of his songs (spiritual living, self-awareness, the value of knowledge and learning, kindness to others) are presented with a loving sincerity, and buoyed by tremendous musicianship. In particular, drummer Jonah David and guitarist Aaron Dugan bring a wider set of influences and interests to their playing than the reggae tag the band often gets. Free of any proselytizing, this melding of Talmudic teachings and Jamaican rhythms flows so naturally that it underscores the shared roots of the two cultures. --David Greenberger

More from Matisyahu

Live At Stubbs

Matisyahu's Music You Should Hear

The So Called Seder: A Hip Hop Haggadah

Customer Reviews

The Ultimate Cross-Over
Next time you’re strolling through Crown Heights, Brooklyn and happen to see a tall, bespectacled young man wearing the garb of the Hasidic Jewish community coming towards you, try humming a few bars of Bob Marley’s “Exodus” and see if he smiles at you and joins in.

Matthew Paul Miller (Matisyahu) spreads his messages of faith and “consciousness” through the reggae medium, and although this sounds strange to say the least, he’s getting his message across, particularly to the young people. As he sings on title track and second single “Youth”:

“Take a stand
Fan a fire for the flame of the youth
Got the freedom to choose
You better make the right move
Young man, the power's in your hand”

His style borrows heavily from the vintage reggae of Marley and the spiritual messages of singers like Luciano rather than the popular dance hall music of Sean Paul, but you can also hear other influences such as The Police in “Despatch the Troops”, and Matthew Wilder in “Jerusalem”, as well as rap and hip hop.

Matisyahu gives his all in his live performances, as can be seen in the video for “King Without a Crown”, his first single that made the world sit up and pay attention. If it takes a gimmick to get the message of peace and harmony to young people than I’m all for it.

Maybe not the best reggae album in the world, or the most spiritually uplifting, but certainly fun, catchy and with no need for Parental Advisory warnings.


Amanda Richards, April 22, 2006

begging for airplay
this is a partial departure from Matis' (sadly) out of print debut album "Shake Off the Dust... Arise." whereas the first album was a delightful combination of reggae, hip-hop, gypsy and powerful spiritual rhymes, "youth" modifies the sound with strong elements of indie rock (especially the title track), folk ("what i'm fighting for"), electronica and even - eegads - vocoder. guitar solos most closely associated with rock are prominently featured, especially on the "king without a crown" remake and the title track (coincidentally my least favorite tracks.) some of the songs would fit quite nicely on a red hot chili peppers album.

that said, songs like "jerusalem" and "unique is my dove" deliver enough of the original matisyahu to keep current fans happy. the gamble is that the attempt for greater popular airplay will score a few hits while not losing too many existing fans. my guess is the indie-rock space is too crowded already and that this album won't lose too many fans. however, another album of this sort would probably take the shine off of this otherwise bright star without the hoped for benefit of a hit.

put another way, an essential part of matisyahu's appeal was the spiritual aspect which added a sincerity that made him standout from the constant bombardment of commercial acts. another CD like this would be all but certain to destroy that image and i'm afraid matis would digress into a clown act.

after a few listens i've pretty much abandoned "youth" and reverted back to matis' earlier stuff. normally i would have given this music 3 stars but out of respect for matisyhau i gave it 4.

Hasidic Reggae S. California Jamrock
The perfect customer to buy this CD is a Hasidic Jew who has enjoyed the sounds of Sublime, 311, No Doubt, and maybe a little Phish, Grateful Dead and Bob Marley. While characterized as reggae, Matisyahu's music isn't really packaged into a genre. If you are Jewish don't expect Carlebach, and if you are into reggae, don't expect anything Jamaican.

Overall, the CD is good, but the sound departs from Matis' earlier work. If you liked 'Refuge' on Live at Stubbs,' or 'Shake off the dust ... Arise,' you will really like this album. If you thought he was a bit too reggae before, but liked his music nonetheless, you will really like this album. This album is a bit more rock, but generally slower. You will still find some beat-box, some double-time rhymes, and some jump-up-in-the-air music, but it is not 'King Without a Crown' remixed into 12 new songs.

I've always like Matis' music and I still do. I always thought it was because I am Jewish, but once I pulled out my old 311, Sublime and Bob Marley albums, I realized why I like Matisyahu. He combines those sounds with a positive message. If you are not familiar with Judaism, some of the lyrics will be lost on you, but the same could be said of a lot of secular Jews. Admittedly, in order for me to get all the lyrics I had to get out my Hebrew Bible and Google a few things ... the bottom line is that even if you are secular, you probably won't object too much to Matisyahu's message. His most religious messages should be easier for the most secular listener to tolerate than the misogyny one can hear in similar sounding music.