Re: Kleta Red

[GAronoff <GAronoff...>]

Re:  Kleta Red

I bought the Kleta Red disc "Hijacking" on a lark because I liked the
ambiguity of the cover and the band name.  The disc itself is extremely
challenging.  It has a punk energy and speed, as well as avant guard
jazz-like elements. Instrumentally, the disc is a power trio of electric
guitar, bass and drums.

The first time I listened to the disc I thought that it was just noise.
 After several more attempts, however, the Klezmer/Yiddish tunes began to
emerge from the barage of sound.  Leonid Soybelman seems to have a strong
connection to the tradition even when he is taking it in directions far from
anything traditional Klezmorim would recognize.

The biggest problem I had with the disc is that the songs were too long.
 After a minute and a half of execellently thrashing through a traditional
tune the song should end.  Unfortunately, the band frequently drifts into
self-indulgent noodling and dull minimalist ambience.

For me the overall effect of the disc is to present an exciting fringe
approach to Jewish music.  Frequently hard to listen to, but in turns
energizing and facinating in its attempt to create something distinctly
Jewish out of the racket of late 20th century popular music.  I see the
hijacking of the title as a brash statement that Soybelman is attempting to
hijack the tradition for his own musical purposes.

Has anyone else listened to this disc?  How do you see it fitting in with the
other more mainstream, if anything connected with Zorn could be considered
mainstream, releases from Tzaddik which seem much more solidly based in
experimental jazz and classical?