Saturday, September 26, 2009

Teruah Teshuva - An Appology

Ok, folks. It's time for public teshuva (you don't get to see the private teshuva emails). One of the great things about writing this blog is getting to know a lot of the great musicians who are active in Jewish music. Sometimes I get a great CD in the mail. And while I've reviewed a lot of them, I haven't gotten to all of them.Which leads my my apology. I have a pile of CD's on my desk that have been sent to me for review. Some are brand new. Some are collecting dust. The challenge for me is that I take reviewing seriously and find it a bit intimidating. But that is my problem, not yours. If I accept your CD, I'm obligated to listen and review it.

So, to every musician who has sent me a CD for review and has been disappointed that I haven't made good on my promise. I'm sorry. I will try to get your review done soon and in the future will try to be more timely with the review.

Here's a list of the albums I've received that I haven't gotten reviewed yet. Every one is an interesting listen and well worth checking out.


PitomPitom. "PunkAssJewJazz" by the fantastic jazz guitarist Yoshie Fructer, on the Tzadik Radical Jewish Culture label. JazzReview.com review
Can CanAll Hell, by Can Can a great punk band led by Patrick Aleph, who also does the Punk Torah video blog. Forward review.
Saints & TzadiksYiddish meets Gaelic on Saints & Tzadiks, by Lorin Sklamberg of the Klezmatics and Irish vocalist Susan McKewon. BlogCritics.org review
Sam Glaser's Rockin' Chanukah RevueSam Glaser's Rockin' Chanukah Revue Upbeat Chanukah pop from one of the hardest working guys in contemporary Jewish music. Jewcy review
Hebrew SchoolHebrew School, by New York indie-pop musician and Six Points Fellowship grant winner, David Griffin. Featured on my second podcast. Review.
FleytMusic in Konsert!FleytMuzik in Kontsert! is Adrianne Greenbaum, world class Klezmer flutist, and her ensemble performing live. Absolutely wonderful. Rainlore's World of Music review
Little Shop of HorasBrian Bender and the Little Shop of Horas eclectic klezmer / world-beat album "Eny Velt" . Klezmershack review
Lech LechaMelech B'n Arieh's piano and electronica album "Lech Lecha" Interview on Jewish National Radio
KlezmafourPolish combo Klezmafour's heavy klezmer/jazz/rock debut should get snapped up by Radical Jewish Culture fans everywhere. Klezmershack review. Hit their website contact and album info. (The website is hard to navigate, I've got their contact info too.)
Nomi TeplowAmerican/Israeli pop singer Nomi Teplow's new album "Like a Rushing Spring". Big pop sound to deeply felt Jewish lyrics. Reviews
Zeda's Beat BoxSt. Louis Jewish rock project, Zeda's Beat Box's first full album "Seven".
ShereleWonderful Mexican klezmer jazz combo Sherele's Oy Mame Shein Pickles Chiles and Jrein Interview (in Spanish).
I'll do my best to review each and every one of these albums over the coming weeks. Just making this list has reminded me how wonderful many of these disks are. This should be great fun.

Oh, and if you've sent me an album and it's not on this list...double apologies. Email me and give a smack on the head.

9 comments:

heebnvegan said...

Did you intentionally lead off with the three bands on the list I'm most interested in? I have seen the first two live ... it's only a matter of time for the third. :-P

By the way, I think it's commendable that you aspire to review every CD you get a review copy of (and say teshuvah when you can't live up to that standard), but don't feel compelled to do so. Newspapers and magazines don't review every CD that comes their way, even if they request them in the first place. It's nice if you can do it, but if it's simply not practical and the album just isn't that review-worthy, don't beat yourself up.

scott krane said...

Great Blog. I dream about seeing Jewish music break now ground, as I feel it is often lackluster in Israel, anyway.
Definetely into John Zorn, Klezmatics...thanx for the blog!

Check out my musings at www.blogspot.scottkrane.com

scott krane said...

nice work.
Any news on Zorn projects? Anyone push the envelope of Jewish music like him?
check out my blog, the link is below!

Jack said...

Hi Michael...Thanks for saying so. But I feel that if I tell someone I'll review their CD than I should, unless I tell them otherwise. I'm not a newspaper, I'm in this game to help bands (and fans). And the Jewish music community isn't the mass market music industry. It's small, with few media outlets. So I do feel responsible for living up to my part of the deal.

Jack said...

Hi Scott...There are lots of active bands pushing the envelope of Jewish music. Depends on what you like. If you're into Zorn / Radical Jewish Culture style music, I'd check out Yoshie Fructer's Pitom, the Polish group Klezmfour, the French group Anakronic Electro Orkestra, the jazz-blues-cantorial group Sway Machinery, and Deleon, a Sephardic indie-pop band. Drop me an email (jackzero@gmail.com) and I can give you some more pointers.

heebnvegan said...

Scott, I realize you're asking about bands affiliated with Zorn, but FYI:

I just bought tickets to see the play Enemies: A Love Story (based on the novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer), featuring John Zorn's music. :-) It's playing in NYC through 10/18.

YS said...

Scott,
If you are looking for Zorn-friends doing cool stuff you should check out Daniel Zamir. He's a alto sax doing busy jazz and it's clearly Jewish. You can hear some of his stuff on his MySpace account.

Jewish Wedding Music said...

If and when I put out an album (yeh right) I don't want to hear any excuses...:)

Jack said...

Avraham, you'll be first in the queue. Promise.