Matisyahu, the Hassidic singer and rapper, who released "Live at Stubb’s, Vol. 2" in February, is taking "two very different directions" on two new albums due out.. One, which he’s recording with his current touring band the Dub Trio, is titled "Akedah: Teaching to Love" and is based on the Biblical story of the binding of Isaac by his father, Abraham, for sacrifice to God, as portrayed through the teachings of the 18th century Ukranian rabbi the Ba’al Shem Tov. Matisyahu and his own teacher traveled to Medzhybizh, where the scholar is buried, for research and wound up staying in a house once owned by a man who murdered Jews in the town
Matisyahu’s other album is a more hip-hop oriented set with Dr. Luke protege Kool Kojak (Ke$ha, Flo Rida, Katy Perry), who also produced Matisyahu’s 2010 Chanukah song "Miracle." "We started recording some music together and had a blast doing it," Matisyahu says. "It’s a completely different way of recording, more going into the studio and working on a beat and writing right on top of it. It’s more sonically a digital sound than the ‘Live at Stubb’s’ stuff. It will sound more like Top 40 than alternative."
Matisyahu is on tour until September, though he has recording equipment on the road with him and says he may even have Kojak come out and join him in order to finish that project.
In January, meanwhile, Matisyahu will appear in "The Dibbuk Box," playing "basically a Hassidic exorcist" alongside Kyra Sedgwick and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The film is slated to open in January.
Source Billboard
