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.”
“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.
Shop: You can purchase Spark Seeker beginning July 17 (pre-order on iTunes - SRP $7.99)
Win: One lucky winner will receive a copy of Spark Seeker!
***THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED***
Congratulations to susansmoaks!
- To enter, comment on your favorite Matisyahu song (excluding anything mentioned in this post).
- You’ll get one extra entry each if you do any of the following (be sure to leave a comment for each “entry”):
- 1)Blog about this giveaway and link back to Sage and Savvy and Matisyahu (leave the link in your comment)
- 2)Subscribe to my feed
- 3)Add my button to your sidebar
- 4)Follow me on Twitter (leave your Twitter name in your comment)
- 5)Tweet this giveaway--you may tweet once per day based on HST (leave the link in your comment)
- The deadline for entries is June 28, 2012 11:59pm HST.
- If you submitted an eligible entry and it is chosen by random.org as the winner, you will be notified via email on or about June 29, 2012 (make sure your email address is in your profile or comment and be sure to check your junk/spam, etc. folders) and will have 3 days to respond.
- Valid for US addresses only.
- By entering in this giveaway, you have read and agreed to Sage and Savvy’s policies regarding giveaways.
Good luck!
Thank you to the sponsor for providing the product for review and/or giveaway free of charge. All opinions are my own. I received no monetary compensation for this post. Click here for my disclosure policy.
Gem is a Hawaii Mom Blogger who posts reviews and giveaways, and blogs about life in Hawaii as a mom of 3 boys, including one with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. She loves to travel, bake, and eat anything with chocolate.
