Staff WriterMontBleu Resort and PR Entertainment presents Matisyahu w/ The Dirty Heads, and with special guest, Pacific Dub, Thursday, September 27, 2012, inside the MontBleu Casino Resort in Lake Tahoe, NV. General admission tickets will be available for $39.50 by calling MontBleu, 775-588-3515, at the Box Office, or online.
Since first emerging on the international stage in 2005, Matisyahu has established a reputation for following his muse—from the stripped-down roots reggae of the gold-certified Live at Stubb’s to the trippy ministrations of Youth to the polished pop eclecticism of Light. Then, in 2010, he returned to the venerable Austin venue that introduced him for Live at Stubb’s II, demonstrating that all those travels had somehow only strengthened his connection to his musical bedrock. It was a whirlwind half-decade journey, one that earned Matisyahu a place in pop culture at large.
And it was only the beginning…..Now based with his family in Los Angeles, Matisyahu blasts off yet again with Spark Seeker, a bold new studio album 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.”
Outer garments, of course, long defined Matisyahu in the eyes of many. “I was the Hasidic reggae superstar,” he says with a knowing laugh. So when Matisyahu took to Twitter late last year to post a picture of himself with his new look, he did it with a certain amount of relief. “It just felt good to sort of restart everything,” he says, adding that the transformation actualized one of the central themes of Spark Seeker: the impermanence of the physical form. “The spark seeker digs for truth and meaning and is willing to let go of everything to find it. He’s honest and authentic with himself and lives life from the inside out. He creates music from the depths and doesn’t worry about what category it or he fits into.”
“We live in a world where people tend to think in extremes and categorize with ultimate statements,” Matisyahu says. “While it’s true that at one point it would’ve been pretty accurate to describe me as Hasidic reggae, for most of my career my music has been a blend, a mixture.”
For Spark Seeker—not just a collection of random tracks, but a complete piece of work made with one producer—Matisyahu spent a year recording with Koool Kojak (Nicki Minaj, Travis Barker, Ke$ha) at the latter’s home studio in L.A. Then the pair went to Israel with an open slate. “We booked a studio there and invited various friends and musicians—including Zohar Fresco, Daniel Zamir, Ravid Kahalani and rapper Shyne—to come and simply play music,” Matisyahu says. “We began to blend all of this live instrumentation to create a unique record, made by multi-faceted human beings who have many sides and many sources of inspiration.”
The result reflects that wide array of voices and experiences. In the hard-hitting “Warrior” Matisyahu describes feelings of frustration and desperation, while lead single “Sunshine” rides what might be the most uplifting groove in his catalog; elsewhere, “Searchin’” pairs a gritty digital-dancehall beat with chanted lyrics and “I Believe in Love” exemplifies the album’s deep melodic streak. Throughout Spark Seeker you can hear Matisyahu embodying the album’s title—and embracing its humble promise. The album has a depth to it as well as a lightness, which alludes to the most essential theme of the record–that everything in life, especially music, exists in mixtures and blends. “Things are not as black and white as we would like to think. Not everything can be oversimplified,” says Matisyahu.
“This is definitely pushing the boundaries of what I’ve done before,” he acknowledges. “It’s a new kind of record for me.” At this point we’d expect nothing less.
On tour with Matisyahu is The Dirty Heads, a Reggae rock band from Southern California with a melodic style that includes hip hop and punk genres. Their debut album, Any Port in a Storm, was released on September 23, 2008, by Executive Music Group. The group is perhaps one of the most prominent groups in a sub-genre of reggae, which is heavily influenced by the original incarnation of Sublime. The group first came into prominence within the rock/reggae scene when their song “Ring the Alarm” was chosen as the first song on the very first Pier Sampler, an offering of free songs that is available for a limited time four times yearly. The band started out touring heavily in California, Arizona, and some parts of Mexico before it became a national touring act. The Dirty Heads have toured the U.S. multiple times with bands such as O.A.R., 311, Pepper, Kottonmouth Kings, Unwritten Laand Sublime with Rome. The band has also been part of marketing campaigns for Etnies Jeans, Rag Dynasty Shirts and Vestal Watches. The Dirty Heads were among the first bands featured on YouTube’s “RAWsession”. The set included a cover of Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida”.
Opening the show is Pacific Dub, one of the youngest and newest bands to solidify themselves as professionals within the Reggae-Rock scene.
Doors open at 7:00p, show starts at 8:00p. Tickets are $39.50, and available at all Ticketmaster outlets, and at the MontBleu Box Office, or online. You can also purchase by phone by calling MontBleu Resort, 775-588-3515. This is an all ages event.
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