Youth

by Matisyahu

Overview

An orthodox Jew who kicks it dancehall style, Matisyahu may seem a gimmick, but he's the real deal. Unfortunately, he's struggling with the sophomore jinx on Youth, an album that expands upon his debut, 2004's Shake Off the Dust... Arise, without capturing its immediacy or excitement, thanks in large part to producer Bill Laswell. No stranger to genre-combining -- he's remixed Bob Marley and Miles Davis and is always up for any world music versus electronica excursion he's offered -- Laswell treats Matisyahu like so many of his previous subjects. He can't resist adding a sound effect swoop and other studio trickery to most tracks, and he often makes Matisyahu's band sound gigantic and polished when they're really tight and free. While the whole affair is great for showing off bass-heavy speakers, the live and exciting Matisyahu that makes the jam band crowd go crazy is hard to find and the tasteful studio touches of his home-brewed debut are absent. His material is also going through some growing pains, but there is growth and for every song that wanders a bit too much, there's a revelation that fleshes out the artist. The spiritual message was always bigger than the man before, but the sparse "What I'm Fighting For" is a surprisingly intimate track while "Dispatch the Troops" flippantly quotes the Police, an unexpected twist from a man who always seemed stately to a fault, even when he was doing the human beatbox thing. At the time of Youth's release, Shake Off the Dust... Arise was out of print and one has to wonder if Matisyahu's new label, Sony, was behind it. Arise's great "King Without a Crown" appears again here and Sony decides to push the single as if this is Matisyahu's grand entrance. That's a total misrepresentation of Youth, which is really more about a talented artist struggling with the pressures of topping his brilliant first album. Even if he didn't, and even if he or the label chose the wrong producer for the undertaking, Youth is meaty enough to suggest this man is no gimmick but an artist with his eye on the long haul. ~ David Jeffries

Product Details

Release Date:	03/07/2006
Label:	Epic / Thirty Tigers
UPC:	0827969769522

Tracks

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

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Matisyahu   Primary Artist,Vocals
Josh Werner   Keyboards,Bass
Stanley Ipkis   Guest Artist
Aaron Dugan   Guitar
Marlon "Moshe" Ipkis   Guest Artist
Yusu Youssou   Guest Artist

Technical Credits

Bill Laswell   Audio Production,Mixing,Producer
Josh Werner   Composer
Michael Fossenkemper   Mastering
Stanley Ipkis   Musician
James Dellatacoma   Assistant Engineer
Bob Musso   Engineer
Aaron Dugan   Composer
Jimmy Douglass   Composer,Producer
Ill Factor   Producer
Ivan Corraliza   Composer
Sobol Ipkis   Musician
Michael Caplan   A&R
Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff   Art Direction
Ben Goldman   A&R
Marlon "Moshe" Ipkis   Musician
Yusu Youssou   Musician
Aaron Bisman   Management
Dan Mandell   Art Direction
Matisyahu Miller   Composer
Youssou   Composer
Daniel Eisenberg   Composer
Kenny "Tick" Salcido   Remix Coordinator
Jonah David   Composer