Re: Kletka Red, et al

[Ari Davidow <ari...>]

>Re:  Kletka Red
>
>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.

I'm still in the initial listening stage. I'm not yet impressed.
I mean, there isn't any soul here. Just thrash meets klez, more
or less. Yawn. But give me some time. I feel that way, more and
more, about most of the "Radical Jewish" releases on Tzaddik.
Worse, they're all starting to sound alike, which given the 
diversity of artists is pretty scary. But they all seem to
be about noodling.

I know I'm sounding like a one-note person, but compared to
Di Naye Kapelye or Budowitz, this stuff just isn't there.
No new frontiers. No new music. No excitement. And no soul.
So far. When I listen to Di Naye Kapelye stomp through a 
good dance and then raise the level of intensity and keep
going and then DO IT AGAIN! To me, that's exciting. Listening
to Budowitz swing to kazillion rhythms without a drummer, just
duelling ensemble improv, to me, THAT'S EXCITING. I guess, 
there's noodling and there's noodling ;-).

I'll step back and let others have their say while I listen
a few more times.

I'm also wondering if anyone has heard the new Frank London/
Greg Wall collaboration (Hassidic New Wave). Hassidic music
is this generation klez--simpler than the earlier klez, more
like Jewish trance (and a lot of affection for guys with keyboard
synthesizers instead of bands). So much for the folks who want
klez to be in a museum. The Hassidic stuff isn't an outgrowth
of klez that usually interests me, but I'd be interested to
hear from someone who has heard this outgrowth of an outgrowth
in the Jewish music world.

ari


Ari Davidow
ari (at) ivritype(dot)com
http://www.ivritype.com/