057: Youth, by Matisyahu

Matisyahu (USA)
Youth (2006)
13 tracks, 47 minutes
Spotify • iTunes

The first time I'd heard of Matisyahu was on Later…with Jools Holland. He was dressed in a simple white shirt and a long black coat, with a large bushy beard on his chin and a kippah on his head. And then the incongruity: he was spewing some fast and accomplished beatbox directly into the mic. Then his band kicked in with some bass-heavy reggae. It was the first time this northern-English village lad had encountered Chasidism – and I wouldn’t have expected it to sound like this.

The album he was playing from on Jools was his second from the studio, Youth. The music is reggae, but with heavy doses of rock (from the band) and hip-hop (from Matisyahu’s raps), and others besides. It’s also produced by veteran electronica/world music/everything wiz Bill Laswell, who adds a welcome bucketload of dub into the mix.

The music is good in and of itself, but it’s the lyrics that make this album particularly interesting. As it was made back when Matisyahu was Chasidic (he’s since moved to a more mainstream version of orthodox Judaism), the words and themes of Youth are very relevant to that lifestyle. There’s lots of talk of God, references to scripture and religious philosophy and Judaically-informed guidance and advice. In the end, a lot of the lyrics sound rather similar to those of roots reggae, albeit with 100% less Jah.

It’s not perfect: the occasional use of a cod-Jamaican accent is a tad embarrassing and some of the rockier bits are quite cheesy, but 2006 is just about getting long enough ago to start looking regrettable, so let’s forgive the album a couple of dated elements.

A nice little thing to note is that alongside the standard record, a limited edition dub version was released too. Excitingly entitled Youth Dub, this side-release allowed Laswell to go nuts with all his creative might, and bringing Matisyahu’s backing band, Roots Tonic, to the fore. I love a dub remix album, so it’s all good by me. I can’t find Youth Dub to listen to anywhere online, and its rarity means it’s going for mad money second-hand – if you want to listen, drop me a message.