A Song for the IDF Soldiers

I'm all about the music videos these days, so I can't help but give a little love to this very emotional video and song that plays to a very American sensibility: the support and protection of the military, except this song/video is about IDF Soldiers!

I will mention that the artist, Dov, did contact me with this video and he said that the song is "a tribute to all the mothers who lay awake at night while their sons and daughters defend the rights of the Jewish Nation in Israel." Amen, Amen.

Delicious Jewish Music: I Give You JudaBlue

I'm a sucker for music. I'm a real sucker for Jewish music. And I'm a massive sucker for new Jewish music. I was contacted by a fellow NYU student named Yaniv with a link to a music video for his band, JudaBlue, which is a band of guys jamming Jewish Rock. Less than a minute in to the video, I'm totally sold -- and it's not because the video is crazy professional for such a fresh band. (FYI: Yaniv is the manager and guitarist for the band.)

Want to help me make them viral? Spread it around, folks. These guys have something very good in store for them.

Drool, Swoon ... Maccabeats!

I'm such a sucker for handsome faces and amazing voices (sorry Tuvia, you've got the former, but the latter we both know isn't your strongest point), and I'm in love with the new Purim Song from The Maccabeats. I might have to go to one of their concerts soon ...

My favorite line? Around the three-minute mark: So raise your glass if see G-d in hidden places, he's right in front of you! (To the tune of Pink's "Raise Your Glass.")

Preach on, Maccabeats!

Do You Throw Your Latkes in the Air?

I'm sure you guys have seen this already, but I can't help but share. And ask: What's up with the astronaut?

"It's Shabbos Now"

This video makes me ... really, really really ... want to be in Israel. I'm sure it isn't even filmed in Israel or anywhere near Israel and it doesn't really say anything about Israel, but, it sings to me. Hat tip to Life in Israel for this.

Happy Birthday Gilad Shalit ... the world-over we're praying for you.

Shabbat shalom!

Blue Fringe ROCKED My World.

A little over a month ago, I had the pleasure of meeting and listening to the stylings of Blue Fringe, an indie Jewish music group out of NYC featuring Hayyim Danzig, Avi Hoffman, Dov Rosenblatt, and Danny Zwillenberg. I'm not going to go into their history or how they met or who their influences are or any of that business, you can read that for yourself over on their website. I will, say, however, that I was completely blown away at how incredibly awesome these guys are. Not only do they play amazing indie music, but they also manage to weave beautiful Jewish melodies and lyrics into their songs. It's true "Jewish music," but without the overwhelming aura of much "Jewish music." Coming from a non-Jewish, hipster, show-going, musician-dating, bar-hopping background (as I am), it was a breath of fresh air to be able to hear these guys live.

After listening to their album "The Whole World Lit Up," I was struck by the sound. They sounded like someone else, but with their own, unique twist, but I couldn't place it. I let it go, and continued to listen, hoping it would come to me, and somewhere in the middle of Bereishit I realized that it was Iron and Wine. It's that hint of softness with hauntingly beautiful music that cater to that sound. I can't really pick a favorite on the album, but Bereishit and Eshet Chayil are two of my favorites. I also am a huge fan of their cover of The Flaming Lips' Do You Realize, which is a soft, distinct spin on the original.

The night they were at my shul (for a Chanukah performance), one of the guys -- Avi Hoffman -- wasn't available that night, so the stellar frontman of band Pitom, Yoshie Fruchter, filled in for him. The funny thing about this is that when I was at Middlebury over the summer for ulpan, I spotted a flier near the mailboxes for the band Pitom. So low and behold, when I finally met the frontman, I was stoked!

The great thing about Blue Fringe, aside from the awesomeness of their Jewish music abilities, is that they sound just as good -- if not better -- live than they do on their album. Now I just have to figure out how to get them to play for my wedding. (Nudge, nudge.) So go out, buy their albums, and enjoy the beautiful, beautiful lyrics, music, and voice of Dov. Oh, and if you get a chance, try to get a listen/copy of their song on Shidduchim and dating. It is, in a word, HILARIOUS.

What's the Shofar? A Ram's What!?

Mad props to MyJewishLearning.com for putting together this cute little video about what a shofar is (it's a ram's horn, folks, get your mind out of the gutter). I must also give a hand to the fella from The Sway Machinery for talking so intensely about the shofar. His voice is sort of, well, intense I guess is the only way to describe it. I've never heard of his band before, but now I'm intrigued. Enjoy!





Alternatively, if you want to see The Sway Machinery's cover of "Billie Jean" in Krakow, give it a gander here:

An Entertainment Interlude!

I've spent the past few weeks burning and burning Hebrew and Judaica music borrowed from some incredibly awesome friends. I got a few more CDs last night from our host family, including a couple that are child-oriented but useful none-the-less. We use lots of these types of CDs and videos in my Hebrew class during the year -- sometimes "Geshem, Geshm MiShamayim" is where one should start to really grasp the beauty and ease of Hebrew. I've got Ugandan Hebrew music, Idan Raichel, The Chevra, Erez Lev Ari, you name it, I've got it.

What's it for? For Middlebury, of course! If I'm going to be speaking, writing, and living Hebrew, I need to be listening to it, as well. Did I mention that our only TV access is Israeli television? Score!

So before I leave for Middlebury, I wanted to share a couple of things that came through my email of the entertainment variety since I'm scooting off and want a spic-and-span clean email box.

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I was contacted about a Jewish film called "Tickling Leo" that will be (hopefully) opening on the East Coast in August/September and G-d willing, subsequently spreading above and beyond with success. A ditty on the film:

A family drama set in the Catskills on Yom Kippur, the story explores how a family is affected by the choice one man made to survive the Holocaust in Hungary. It stars the wonderful Eli Wallach, Lawrence Pressman, Annie Parisse, Ronald Guttman, Daniel Sauli and Tony Award Winner Victoria Clark. It was produced by Mary Stuart Masterson and Barn Door Pictures.

and some more details ...

On March 4, 1957, Rudolph Kasztner, former head of the Jewish Rescue Committee in Hungary, was assassinated on the streets of Tel Aviv for the choices he made while negotiating the rescue of 1600 Jews aboard his controversial "Kasztner Train."  Fifty years later in the Catskills, one of the survivors of that train struggles to face his own family's choices in relation to this historical event.

I was intrigued when I was contacted about the film, and I have a lot of reading I've been meaning to do about Rudolph Kasztner and the true incident of his life and death. The trailer will pique your interest, without a doubt, so be sure to give it a look here.

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Since I've been all up and down with the Israeli and Hebrew music as of late, how perfect that I was contacted about an Indie Israeli record label, Oleh! Records. In particular, Onili was mentioned, and although I don't know if her music is right up my alley, it most definitely makes me want to crawl onto a lounge chair by the pool and drink something tropical. It appears she's big in Tel Aviv and has connected with Israel's biggest underground stars, so maybe you've heard of her? If not, give her website a gander.

Music is the Soundtrack of My Life.

For the next month and a half, I'm not attending Hebrew classes. I'm speaking it spottily with Tuvia, but for the most part it's "Ken" and "Lo" and "Lamah" and the like. Since I'm not surrounded by Hebrew speakers, I'm trying to find creative ways to keep Hebrew flowing through my mind. How should I do I intend on doing this? Music! B'ivrit!

So I need all the suggestions I can get for Hebrew tunes, Israeli tunes, tunes of the Hebrew variety. I'm not into Debbie Friedman and those kind of musicians, but I love YLove and that style. I'm willing to try anything, though. So, shoot!

Punk Rock Meets Torah!

I was stoked to see this little bit on Atlanta-based punk rockers Can Can, whose lead man Patrick A. has started posting up YouTube videos on the weekly parshah. I'm mad in love with musicians who are also Torah savvy, like Stereo Sinai and YLove.

According to Nextbook, "Patrick, the only Jew in the band, studies Torah daily and ostentatiously flaunts his Judaism in interviews and onstage. It doesn’t come out as much in the lyrics—not overtly—although lines like “I’ve got a hand on the Bible/you’ve got your hands on my mouth” speak to the experience of being religious and existing outside the box." (And if you look carefully, Stereo Sinai was also featured in this little bit from January!)

I haven't listened all the way through, but so far I'm quite stoked to see what Patrick has to offer up weekly.

Change -- Y-Love and DeScribe style.

DeScribe and Y-Love = AMAZING. This is such a stellar piece of musical awesomeness. Spread the word ... I really can't get over how talented Y-Love is. If you haven't taken up the man, then please, now is the time. The beat is good, the video is outstanding, the editing is great, and I am really loving the vibe.

A Public Service Request!

I love the arts. The only thing I love more than the arts, is when people take the arts out into the world to serve a good cause. I happen to know a couple that I absolutely love who is doing just this! It's Miriam and Alan of Stereo Sinai, an awesome Chicago duo that sing the most awesome tunes in the key of Jew. At least, that's my take on it!

At any rate, Stereo Sinai is offering up their classic track, "Eleven Below" for $.99 on their website through February 16th, and all funds collected through YOUR purchase will go to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Now, you might not live in Chicago, maybe you never visited Chicago, but doing good is doing good. Would it hurt you to download a beautiful song to help some people out amid a cold, biter winter?

According to Miriam, "There are over twenty-thousand people homeless every night in Chicago, and not nearly enough beds" ... "When it's this cold, it's a reminder that we need to step up and take care of one another."

Appropriately, the song was born in the cold. Says Alan: "Miriam and I lived on opposite sides of campus, and it's a long way from one side to the other. I promised that I would come see her one night, but it was freezing outside. I bundled up and walked over anyway. When I showed up at her door, she couldn't believe that I'd actually kept my word. She thought it was romantic. She also thought I was stupid for being outside in that weather." Shortly thereafter, the couple wrote this song.

So listen, you heard President Barack Obama shout it from the steps of the Hill today, didn't you? Do some good, help rebuild the U.S., do your part to better society for those who can't seem to better it on their own. Get to it, spend less than a buck, get some awesome tunes, and help house the homeless!

Jew Tunes a la Chanukah!

Chanukah is right around the corner (only a month away!), and every year I'm looking out for some stellar Chanukah tunes. For the past few years, my only option has really been The LeeVees, whom I love to pieces, but I won't link you to their website because they haven't bothered to update it in two years. You can buy their album off Amazon or iTunes , though, and it's definitely worth the purchase. They also have three shows this year: December 7 at a NFTY event in Chicago, December 21 in Boston, and December 22 with Matisyahu in New York.

But this year, there's something new out on the market -- "Songs in the Key of Hanukkah" by none other than the brother of the infamous fellow behind Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen. The album, by Erran Baron Cohen, was released just in the past week and includes songs in Ladino, Hebrew and English and even has collaborations with Idan Raichel and blends hip hop, tango, klezmer, and reggae.

I highly, HIGHLY recommend Erran Baron Cohen, as he's one of the founding members of the group Zohar , which doesn't have too many albums out, but what they do have out is absolutely beautiful and brilliant music that blends Middle Eastern sounds.

(Note: I was going to make a mixtape using Mixwit.com, but the site is functioning like crap!)

Jew Tunes!

I'm sure everyone on the planet knows who Matisyahu is by now. The man gave a voice to Hasidic rap/hip-hop/reggae and since then the tiny little niche area of the music world has blown up. You don't have to wander very far to bump into someone who knows, has heard, or who maybe is Y-Love. Heck, the ever-talented Y-Love and I are chums on Twitter and I follow his blog, and it's fun watching him globe-hop doing what he loves.

But there is a whole crop of these talents out there, including one who I saw just this evening at a UConn Chabad event -- Nosson Zand, formerly known as NIZ, a Ba'al Teshuvah who is taking on the Kosher Hip Hop biz by storm. This guy, really, seriously, is pretty outstanding. Even Matisyahu has given him some love. So check out the ever-so-brief clip below from the performance tonight.

NossonZand
by kvetchingeditor

Now, I'll admit that after discovering Matisyahu many years ago I didn't really break beyond that barrier of the Kosher hip hop scene. Y Love changed that, but even since then I've been stagnate. But I recently discovered ShemSpeed.com, run by Erez Safer. The site has a boatload of music, merchandise, some free downloads, AND -- best of all -- a radio that you can click open and it streams tunes till your soul is contented with the vibes of hip hop and urban tunes as well as klezmer and Sephardi mixes. There are a bajillion ShemSpeed picks of various artists, including Y-Love, but my favorite simply for name has to be Kosha Dillz -- with a name like that, how can you not want to explore the music?

Oh, and this definitely isn't as an after-thought, but if hip-hop isn't your thing, try Stereo Sinai -- "the Good Book like you've never heard it before" -- on for size. Alan and Miriam are absolutely amazing and are some of the kindest people I've met. "Dance" is a beautiful song, so give it a listen!

The thing is, folks, this is positive, Torah-loving, G-d loving, Israel-loving music that sounds beautiful, is performed magnificently, and darn't, it's just good. These people have some amazing talent and the music simply flows like milk and honey -- it's smooth going down! So take a listen, explore around, and show your love to our super talented Hasidic Jewish/Hip-Hop styling brethren!