No Place to Be
Epic
EDEN MUNRO / eden@vueweekly.com
Matisyahu knows the true power of music. This knowledge is not something new, and he doesn’t claim to have created it, borrowing a well-worn page from a well-worn songbook that has been used by everyone from Bob Dylan to Bob Marley, as well as plenty of others both before and after.
Matisyahu is a Hasidic Jew, who sings about Judaism. Not exactly commercial material, and yet it’s as catchy as anything out there on the charts. See, what Matisyahu knows is that you can sing about most anything as long as the music gets under the listener’s skin and inside the head. Here, that means that Matisyahu has wrapped his lyrics up into the rhythms of reggae, creating songs that force listeners to feel the undertow of the groove.
This set is made up of a seven-song EP and a longer live DVD. The EP isn’t exactly a definitive piece of work from Matisyahu, though. While there are some powerful lyrics to be heard, they are somewhat dulled by the slick production that dominates. Likewise, a cover of the Police’s “Message in a Bottle” is fun, but does not particularly work as a rallying cry, again because of the glossy sheen it is given by producers Sly & Robbie (although the remixed Dub version fares a little better).
The accompanying live DVD is where Matisyahu really shines. He and his band take their time during the concert, building songs from ghostly sounds up into full-on heavy reggae grooves, and they aren’t burdened by clumsy production. The sound is raw and left that way, with the songs rising and falling in the moment.
EDEN MUNRO / eden@vueweekly.com
Matisyahu knows the true power of music. This knowledge is not something new, and he doesn’t claim to have created it, borrowing a well-worn page from a well-worn songbook that has been used by everyone from Bob Dylan to Bob Marley, as well as plenty of others both before and after.
Matisyahu is a Hasidic Jew, who sings about Judaism. Not exactly commercial material, and yet it’s as catchy as anything out there on the charts. See, what Matisyahu knows is that you can sing about most anything as long as the music gets under the listener’s skin and inside the head. Here, that means that Matisyahu has wrapped his lyrics up into the rhythms of reggae, creating songs that force listeners to feel the undertow of the groove.
This set is made up of a seven-song EP and a longer live DVD. The EP isn’t exactly a definitive piece of work from Matisyahu, though. While there are some powerful lyrics to be heard, they are somewhat dulled by the slick production that dominates. Likewise, a cover of the Police’s “Message in a Bottle” is fun, but does not particularly work as a rallying cry, again because of the glossy sheen it is given by producers Sly & Robbie (although the remixed Dub version fares a little better).
The accompanying live DVD is where Matisyahu really shines. He and his band take their time during the concert, building songs from ghostly sounds up into full-on heavy reggae grooves, and they aren’t burdened by clumsy production. The sound is raw and left that way, with the songs rising and falling in the moment.
posted by Editor at 7:19 AM
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