by RAF KATIGBAK

When you see Matisyahu perform at Cabaret next week, your head will explode. No, seriously. It will happen like this - first, it starts with your eyes, when the sight of a young Hasidic man in a black hat, full beard and peyos (religious curls) going completely mental on the mic makes them bug out of your head like Large Marge in Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Then, it'll move to your ears when you hear the guy's mad skills, skills that go beyond novelty - tight lyrical flow, sweet reggae sing-jay vibes and crazy versatile beatboxing talent. Then finally, your head will start to spin when the 24-year-old Hasid's uplifting and deeply spiritual message really gets into your brain. Then, boom! No more head.

For the last two years, Matisyahu has been blowing domes at sold-out shows at places like New York's Knitting Factory and Mercury Lounge, while blowing his own dome living and studying Torah at a yeshiva in New York's Crown Heights. Two years ago, before he became a dedicated ba'al tshuva (newly religious), he was Matthew Miller, a card-carrying Phish-head and hip hop/reggae fanatic, studying drama and music at New York's New School. Now, with a look that's more Maccabee than Mac Daddy, Matisyahu's armed with a solid backing band, a commitment to adhere to Jewish Law (no, he doesn't perform on Shabbos) and a laser-guided determination to rock any crowd with his unifying message.

Mirror: Your orthodox belief stresses that the Torah is the ultimate truth and that this physical world, with all its politics, philosophies and material goods, is secondary. How hard was it to accept that?

Matisyahu: People do drugs and all kinds of other things to tap into that reality because they have a sense or feeling that that is the truth, that this world isn't the end-all. So I also had experiences that had me searching for a way to tap into that reality -

MI: Like Phish concerts?

MA: Sure, like Phish, and experiences going to Israel, going into the mountains and the wilderness, spiritual awakening type stuff. I spent 10 years trying to find that way and nothing was really working, nothing was keeping me grounded. You see a lot of musicians like Jim Morrison who didn't have anything to hold them down. They believed in a higher plane and they went for it, but all in a way of self-indulgence. I realized that there has to be a method of doing it that keeps you grounded and keeps you real. So when I discovered religious Judaism, Torah, mitzvahs, it seemed like the ultimate blend.

MI: Speaking of the ultimate blend, Rastafarianism borrows heavily from Judaic imagery - Moses, Zion, the Twelve Tribes of Israel and so on. Why, then, do you think the idea of Hasidic reggae seems to make as much sense as an Amish strip club?

MA: There really is a huge difference, and people recognize that. The first thing people think about Hasidim is rules - wearing black coats and ridiculous kinds of rules. A lot of people think Rasta and they don't see the rules, they think of smoking weed. But the other day I was getting off the train and I saw a Rastafarian and the two of us made eye contact - I think there's like a similar thing going on, too. We both have beards, we both have a spiritual consciousness, we're both sort of rebels of society.

Too cool for the old shul

MI: How have your peers handled your act?

MA: For the most part, they're pretty into it. The more closed off Hasidic groups are probably not so into it. I mean, I've had a few experiences. One rabbi was in the kitchen at a kosher event and I'm there singing, and the guy came out and gave me the pointer finger in the air, going, "What are you doing?!"

MI: Oh, diss! How did you react?

MA: Well, the nature of music is that it can bring out soul in the person or it can bring out the animal, just self-indulgence. Sometimes at my shows I see men and women dancing together and smoking pot. So I have to think, what am I doing here? Am I really bringing out the right message to people, are they really tapping into it?

MI: Come to any conclusions?

MA: The conclusion is, there's no other option. Music is the type of thing that can reach people in places that you wouldn't be able to reach otherwise. The whole purpose of what I'm doing is to bring out a spiritual message - that a person is on a spiritual mission in the world.

With guests at Cabaret on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 8 p.m., $20

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