OH MY GOD! Is this actually happening? Yes, that's right! For the first time in quite some months, I am reviewing a show that's not at Koro. SHOCK HORROR! Saying that, it still involves the Koro in a roundabout way.
The Driers
Quite some time ago, apparently since the last time I actually reviewed The Driers, Ben (Mad Choice/Zaga Zaga/part owner of Koro) was recruited for drumming duties. As seen in recent times with Mad Choice, Ben's drumming has become more creative. Drumming for The Driers has given Ben a platform to really experiment and showcase his versatility. Even with songs which originally had a very simple rhythm pattern, he has used his techniques to allocate some complex yet still very suitable beats and fills. Tonight, the band is great as always. Bit of a weird set up on the stage, with Ben seated down left of stage (I believe that's what it is in theatre speak) instead of in the middle as is more common at shows, which kind of makes them all seem quite distant from one another. Other than that and the unfortunate technical hiccups experienced by bassist Tomer, the band and their songs are all on point. All the catchy songs that regular watchers of The Driers know and loves are here tonight, such as set opener Porchlight, the punky Fifty, the anthemic Lipstick Buds and the rave-inducing set closer Alarm. Guitarist Ronnie and bassist Tomer's vocal harmonies never cease to captivate me. The band also play a brand new song called Squeeze, which has an awesome groove in the chorus and made my face ache from smiling. Even though the guys have been getting a slightly larger audience nowadays since their humble beginnings, it was really only myself and a couple of other friends of the band who were giving them any real support down at the front. Hopefully, those standing around at the back still enjoyed them and will see them again another time. 4/5
Photomat
As well as coming here tonight to see The Driers (and to review a show somewhere new for a change) I wanted to check out a band I had never heard of before. That band is Photomat. I went into the show not knowing anything about them...and I still don't. According to their bandcamp, their earliest recording, entitled Lekulam Yesh Ka'eleh (rough translation: Everyone Has Them/These) is from May last year but I still don't know how long they've actually been around. If their sound is anything to go by, they could have easily started in the late 90s/early 2000s. We've got here a girl bassist (Enav), a girl drummer (Noa), a guitar playing frontman with a trendy hairdo (Noam) and a samplist on the side (Alon) adding all the extra beats, keyboard melodies and other bits and bobs. That and the sound combined together had me thinking of the more electronic Britpop I used to enjoy. Actually, it sort of made me think of North and South, who I think only British people will remember from the TV show No Sweat that spawned the band. Photomat play electronic pop that has just enough edge to make it stand out form some of the other bands out here doing the same thing. Normally, I'm not a massive fan of Hebrew singing bands because I can't always fully understand when watching live, but that doesn't matter tonight. The melodies and the groove of the songs was enough to have me bopping along. After checking bandcamp, the songs which really got my attention were Hakol Chutz M'ken (Everything But "Yes") and Hilacht Alay, Kesem (rough translation: You Walked All Over Me, Magic Woman). The former is an upbeat and catchy singalong (at least melodically for me, at the time) whereas the latter took the night's atmosphere down a notch to a sultry little number which beautifully built-up throughout the song.
The band definitely have a few fans in tonight, who are standing at the front swaying and making up dance moves, but a few things bug me about this performance. Is one of them that the frontman forgot his words a few times? No. That's happened to me. Is it that he made a big deal about ruining the song? Yes. Although some people may have noticed, the most professional thing to do is just carry on. Luckily, the band continued and repeated themselves so that he could get back into it. Is another issue being the samplist? No. I even tried to introduce samples into Woolly Boy but haven't yet mastered it. Is it that the samplist was using beats which in comparison made the drummer look like she wasn't really doing anything? Yes. She seems like a very competent drummer, listening to the band through headphones and managing to hold the backbeat. However, she did just seem to be playing a simpler version of the electronic beats already provided. As a drummer myself, this just had me focusing on that a good amount of the time. The band in general were a nice surprise and definitely made this Britpop kid remember his youth. On further inspection, some of their lyrics are actually quite clever and relatable, which is always good. Whether this sort of thing really goes down well nowadays, I'm not too sure, but playing what you like to play is the most important thing. 3/5
As some of you may know, Useless ID frontman Yotam Ben Horin has moved (back) stateside to help further his solo career. From his last solo album, Distant Lover, he has released a video for the song Sad. Filled with Hollywood Blvd street entertainers and great sights, we see Yotam following an incredible blonde to the subway where his heart gets a little bit bruised. Yotam has managed to still keep this LA filmed video an Israeli affair by teaming up with Israeli actors and film crew. For those already familiar with Yotam's solo work, it will not surprise you that this song is beautiful and melancholic; others expecting acoustic punk should still be pleasantly surprised. Both the song itself and the video hit a sensitive spot inside you. Yotam definitely knows how to pen a song. Yotam has been working on new recordings which I'm hoping we'll hear in the not so distant* future.
If you don't know by now, I am pretty infatuated with an exciting band from LA called Dead Sara. Their latest album, Pleasure To Meet You, has been high on my playlist recently and I am generally in love with their writing style and Emily Armstrong's powerful vocals. Despite both the album tracks Suicidal and Mona Lisa preceding Something Good as singles, Something Good is the obvious chart topper off the album. It is beautiful, uplifting and catchy as hell. But then...I've already said this in a previous post. They have now released a video for the track and I have to admit, I'm not totally blown away by it. It basically involves a lot of dancing, train stations and the band running around from place to place. It reaches a high point when the band finally join in with some contemporary dancers and everyone is just letting go and free, but I would have liked to have seen some band performance and more of Emily passionately singing her heart out. Either way, if this song doesn't finally get Dead Sara any [proper] mainstream success, I don't know what will.
MooM is a brand new band featuring Sima on vocals (Not On Tour), Ez Ra on guitar (The Orions), Gad on bass (has probably been in bands I don't know) and Heshbon on drums (Zaga Zaga). I first saw these guys at a show at Tel Aviv's central bus station and I was absolutely gobsmacked! Despite having a female singer from a pop punk band and a guitarist from a surf band, MooM play fast paced crust/sludge a la EYEHATEGOD. Having only 4 songs and lasting 4:45 minutes, this First EP still probably isn't the shortest EP or even album ever released but it has to come close. As a fan of bands like EYEHATEGOD and Napalm Death, this band feed that love of dirty riffs, super speed and venomous vocals. Sima's vocals give a slightly more punk edge and actually remind me of other Israeli band MESS. The backing vocals (I think done by Gad) add a hint of death metal/grindcore to the mix. With the added factor that this is a purely live recording, the whole thing just sounds raw and brain meltingly demonic. I wish this wan't just a 4 track EP and am looking forward to at least 10 minutes more of this kind of stuff from them. I guess seeing them live will have to do for the time being. For fans of EYEHATEGOD, DOOM and Extreme Noise Terror. 5/5
Back in December, I went to a show at the Koro to see three bands I had never heard of before. One of them was the young band Jeronimo. I was impressed by these guys' rock riffs and energy that I even put them on the first Punkalovich show, which unfortunately they had to pull out of because of personal issues. The band are back on track again and released their long awaited self titled EP. Opening track, Aircraft Boneyard, starts off heavy and quite epic. Drummer Itamar's spacious fills over guitar feedback followed by a tribal rhythm tell us that we're expecting something big. We're then hit with a cool riff that leads us into full throttle mode similar to the likes of Kyuss et al. I definitely remember this as one of the ones I liked when I saw them. The chorus is catchy and will have you singing "THEY'LL BRING YOU DOWN" along with them. However, the song feels like it is a little bit longer than it needs to be. The mid-section and solo in particular feel like they could have been cut short. It is all well-played, though. Next track, Scratch, has that similar hard hitting feel. The opening riff is reminiscent of something you might hear in a Disturbed song. Don't get me wrong...the song itself sounds nothing like Disturbed. That's just the best comparison I can come up with for that riff. The song itself is pretty rocking but the vocals bug me a tiny bit. I'm not expecting Israeli bands to sound exactly like American or British bands but when an accent is a little bit too strong, it can throw me off a little bit. Guitarists and vocalists Auriya and Yonatan share singing duties throughout the record and it's at the beginning of this track that the Israeli accent really shines through. Torch Torture takes the tempo down a bit. Compared to the first two tracks, it has more of a Alt. Rock vibe. It slowly dawned on me that it sounds a little bit like Kool Thing (Sonic Youth) only a fair bit slower. What really sticks out on this track, possibly due to the weird mixing of the EP in general, is the bass playing. Throughout the song, and especially in the chorus, bassist Eilon does some pretty crazy runs which sound great. The track really picks up near the end when the band turn up the volume a bit more for a heavy instrumental section before rocking out on the final chorus. Next track Jeronimo is, I guess, almost meant to be the band's theme song. This is definitely one of the main songs that got people moving at their shows (when there were people). It runs on a bit of a repetitive riff throughout a good part of it but we do get a break in the song which builds to a continuous proclamation of "JERONIMO". Stabbing Sound comes across as something heavily influenced by the British Invasion of the 60s. It has a simple yet rocking main riff and a catchy chorus. Final track Zero Kills' riff has Queens Of The Stone Age written all over it, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. With Auriya's raw vocals, the song takes on a more grunge feel. There is some wonderful musicianship all round from the middle part right up to the end. As I already knew from their live shows, Jeronimo are very competent musicians but some of the songs sometimes feel like their lacking something. It could be because of the accents, the tempo being too slow on some tracks, or how certain instruments and vocals sound too high or even too low in the mix...but whatever it is, the EP is still enjoyable. In a way, the flaws do give it a raw quality. The overall subject matter of the EP is still a little bit lost on me, however that doesn't necessarily spoil the enjoyment. Musically, Aircraft Boneyard is my favourite, with the emotional chorus of "You feel OK" and instrumental finish on Zero Kills making it the stand out track. 3.5/5
After touring together in Europe, Israeli nutcases Zaga Zaga and Mexican noise makers Joliette play the final show of their joint tour at Koro, Tel Aviv.
Zaga Zaga
As readers know, I have seen these Zaga Zaga quite a few times already since they began. I didn't quite get it at first; was a little too jazzy, technical and noisy for me on the first couple of times I saw them. After a while, you begin to actually hear melody in what they do and find yourself shouting along to songs like The Dancer and (I Just Called To Say) I Hate Your Band. It also looks like they've officially added a cover of Devo's Uncontrollable Urge. Despite being worlds apart in style, these boys manage to play the cover in a way that sounds similar to the original but still doesn't sound out of place amongst their disjointed shouting hardcore punk. What really impresses me about the band each time is their energy and and enthusiasm on stage. They clearly love what they play and love performing and that is a joy to see. Their tour mates Joliette have also been impressed by them and going crazy and singing along on songs.
3.5/5
Mondo Gecko
Mondo Gecko is one of those Israeli bands who really only manages to play a few times a year. I have seen them a few times over the years. Like most of the other Israeli bands in the scene, they are always great fun to see live...mainly because frontman Nadav is also in those other bands that are great live. Mondo Gecko, having a mixture of metal and punk musicians in the band, play what can be considered as "crossover thrash". I'm pretty sure none of their songs are over two minutes long, if that. There are a few long time fans of the band here tonight running about and singing along. I've definitely seen a better turn out for them but the band still play with the utmost gusto and Nadav constantly gets the crowd going by jumping in amongst them. I am also pretty sure a ladder was used. Yeh...that sounds right... The songs themselves are so short that it's hard to really appreciate them, but if you like your thrash, Mondo Gecko are a band to check out.
3/5
Joliette
Admittedly, I had never heard of this Joliette until I heard about their joint tour and also split Ep with Zaga Zaga. Only a few days before this show, I checked them out for the first time and really liked what I heard. They play Converge-like hardcore but seeing as I've never been that much of a converge fan, I have to add that this is much better, in my opinion.
From time to time, the band play similar crazy hardcore like Zaga Zaga, like on Pisca de Cotsco from their split Ep with said band and on Todos Odian from their Principia album. Even on both those songs, Joliette add a hint of melodic hardcore, sometimes similar to bands like Glassjaw and Finch, and even heavy beatdown bits to switch it all up and it sounds great. Il Yonzorno, from their split with LYED from Texas, is very melodic and diverse in its dynamics and thus my favourite from the set. Just like Joliette during the Zaga Zaga set, Zaga Zaga and some others more familiar with the band were going nuts. At one point, Zaga Zaga drummer Heshbon got on stage and sang with them. The band, like the others, are full of energy live. Bassist Gaston and guitarist Fernando give it everything, both vocally and physically. Other guitarist Juan also rocks out in the corner of the stage while drummer Gabo gives some of the best drumming I've ever seen. There were times when I was just totally mesmerised by his display of innovation.
When it comes to bands who play this sort of hardcore, I was definitely impressed by Joliette and hope they get more recognition. I hope they enjoyed their time out here, because we certainly did.
Earlier today, American rockers Incubus released another new lyric video for a song entitled Make Out Party. "Make out party??" Incubus realise that their teenage fanbase has all grown up now, right? But seriously, the song itself seems to be, lyrically, an attempt at writing a Prince song. Thing is, before even getting to the lyrics and the poppiness of Brandon Boyd's vocals, you had to double check that you didn't select the wrong video. The tone on here is like nothing I've heard from Incubus before (please correct me if there was ever anything on Light Grenades, Crow Left Of Murder or If Not Now, When? that is this heavy because I haven't heard those albums in full.) It's almost Doom-y in places. It has a slow groove and quite fuzzy guitars. Compared to the other new songs we've already heard from Incubus, this is, personally, a very nice surprise and one of the coolest things I've heard from them in years. This track comes from the first Ep of two to be released this year, Trust Fall (Side A), which is set for release on 12th May.
For my Israeli readers, don't forget that if you want to see Incubus, they are playing the Raanana Ampitheatre next month, 9th June. For my readers in the UK, you can see them in London at the Apollo on 16th June. For everyone else in Europe and the USA, you can check out tour dates over at Incubus HQ.
Although I may have been briefly previously aware of tunes such as Out Of Space, No Good (Start The Dance) and Poison, it was really when Firestarter came out that I, and I'm sure a whole bunch of others, really started to take notice of British ravers The Prodigy. It was Keith Flint's new punk look that intrigued me as a 10 year old already interested in a little bit of 70s/80s punk rock but mostly 90s Brit pop and Brit rock. Whereas he was once really only a long haired dancer along with the giant Leeroy Thornhill, Keith was almost seen here as a frontman. It happened again with Maxim, although already been at the forefront of previous tracks, in the Breathe video, leaving brains of the outfit Liam Howlett quietly enjoying the success of his songs from behind the controls. This escalated The Prodigy from being a DJ led rave act to an innovative rock band of sorts. On top of that, the music was guitar sample led and quite heavy. Both Firestarter and Breathe especially can be considered by many musicians today as songs that got them into heavier music. Over the years, the album that spawned those singles, Fat Of The Land, is still considered a classic and an almost revolutionary masterpiece. The band have kept their position as one of most beloved dance acts as well as a proud British export. Both ravers and rock fans alike have been able to enjoy the amazing live spectacle that is The Prodigy both at their Headlining shows and at festivals across the globe. Although later albums Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned and Invaders Must Die did not manage to beat Fat Of The Land's global success, they both reached number 1 in the UK. Tracks like Spitfire (which, at least when I was at University, was being played in rock clubs everywhere along with Pendulum's Tarantula), Omen and Invaders Must Die still kept longtime fans happy and gained them new ones. Everyone was of course awaiting new material and eventually 6 years later the full album has arrived and also hit number 1 in the UK. So....was it worth the wait and the hype? Followers of the blog will be aware that I have been quite excited about this new release and already shared my thoughts on some of the tracks that were already released with lyric videos and/or actual videos. The title track and album opener The Day Is My Enemy is a great track to start off the album and a really good track in general. It starts off with some heavy thumping courtesy of Swiss drumming group The Top Secret Drum Corps which then gets used throughout the tracks while singer Martina Topley-Bird (known for her work with Tricky and Gorillaz in the past) sings the lyrics "The day is my enemy, the night my friend", inspired by Ella Fitzgerald's version of All Through The Night. The track has a slow pace and is generally quite reminiscent of Spitfire. Topley-Bird's vocals fit the sentiment of the lyrics perfectly and also compliments the dark mood of the drumming and main riff. Tracks like Nasty, Rebel Radio, Get Your Fight On and Wall Of Death are the most rock-like tracks on here. Nasty starts off with a twangy riff which is so reminiscent of something it's killing me. It sounds like something you might hear in a martial arts movie, almost as if it's played on a Pipa (traditional Chinese lute). The track itself literally sounds "nasty", with Keith snarling the lyrics as per usual, heavy beats and some dirty fuzzy synths. There's a bit in the middle of the song where you hear someone say either "I ain't no tourist" or "I ain't no Taurus". I'm not entirely sure.That's going to bug me... Rebel Radio, after its robotic intro, is based upon guitar stabs along with synths, electronic bleeps and whatnot. Every now and again, you hear an uplifting calling of "That's the rebel radio sound" which makes you want to throw your fist in the air. Get Your Fight On has some ringed out guitars played over some funky breakbeat for a majority of the track, accompanied by the lyrics "Get your fight on...here's something to bite on". Not really deep and meaningful, but catchy, nevertheless. The synth parts remind me of Invaders Must Die...but then again, synths would do that. This is definitely a song which will get your feet moving whereas the others are more for throwing shapes and jumping up and down. Wall Of Death starts off with a riff that keeps tricking me into believing I'm about to listen to something by Lamb Of God or something. Then the heavy pounding electronic beats come in and we're back on track. This is pure Prodigy, with Keith proclaiming "Fuck this and fuck the cash! Fuck you and your heart attack!" Not totally on board with the latter remark. Who would you say that too? Although not lyrically challenging, the track itself is a slight return to Fat Of The Land and therefore a hit. Despite also having guitar parts, the heavy synths and characteristically Prodigy beats on Destroy take us back and forth between the ...Jilted Generation era and what has been more common from them in later years. Rhythm Bomb similarly mixes guitar stabs with simple old school dance techno beats. The female vocal samples bring to mind No Good, which isn't a bad thing at all. Roadblox begins sounding a bit like an 80s new wave ballad of sorts, until we get to a little glockenspiel/music box melody which then leads to pure drum and bass beats. I love a bit of drum and bass so this perked me up a lot more while listening. I can see this track being a total floor-filler in the near future if it isn't already. Both Wild Frontier and Rok-Weiler (this will soon be a whole new breed of dog) both have intros that make me think of classic computer games. Wild Frontier has already been released to the masses via it's creepy animated video but as a song it doesn't really do anything for me. Rok-Weiler, on the other hand, is a bit more up beat and has that slight drum and bass edge to it. Still, it reminds me of when I used to play something like Hi-octane back in the day. For me, Roadblox and Rok-Weiler could be considered album highlights along with Ibiza, Medicine, Invisible Sun and even iTunes bonus track Rise of the Eagles. Ibiza, upon first listen, was just a total delight. With help from Sleaford Mods, the track has that proper British swagger and Prodigy snarl, with the "Eye-Beefa" mantra and "What the fuck is he doing?" parts burying themselves deeply in your brain. Despite written to be poking fun at the simple DJ culture of Ibiza, it musically has the magic to get people pumped on a night out. Medicine, which could in a way be considered the sister song to classic track Poison, has an Eastern feel through parts of it due to a flute melody. It might be slow paced like the title track but the "A spoonful of sugar just to sweeten the taste..." chorus, along with guitar stabs and hype parts, all make the track a pleasure to listen to. Although Beyond The Deathray is also a very unexpected track, with no beats, just an atmospheric soundscape, Invisible Sun stands out as being almost like a slow rock jam. I can imagine lighters aloft as people sway along to this. Beyond The Deathray has grown on me on further listening but did just feel like album filler. Rise of the Eagles is most possibly my favourite of the whole album despite only being a special bonus track. It has that feel to it that reminds me a little bit of Walk Like A Panther by All Seeing I mixed in with Cobra Style by Teddybears Sthlm.
On first listen, I wasn't taken to the album straight away. Maybe it was because of the mood I was in at the time, but some of the slower paced ones just didn't do anything for me. I felt at times that I had heard it all before; same old synths, noises and beats. I kind of felt that Liam Howlett had run out of ideas. Nevertheless, the more I listen, a majority of the songs still hold up on their own. Ibiza and Wall of Death especially are future classics. If you ever had a fondness for The Prodigy but haven't hear this album, I suggest you do but you will have to listen a few times for some of the tunes to really sink in. 4/5
Now...I know they did a video for a song called Gut Feeling...I was there for that. I did not know. however, that Tel Aviv pop punk band Not On Tour also filmed a really professional looking video for the track Maybe One Day. The track itself, like almost all Not On Tour, is just under 1 and half minutes of a harmonious pleasure. The video confuses me though...as at the beginning we see 4 kids sitting on top of a car talking...and these kids are blatantly British. I'm a Brit...I can tell a British accent. We then see the kids watching the band play...although I'm not entirely sure if it's the exact same kids. Are the two parts filmed separately...one in the UK and one over here in Tel Aviv? Either way, it's fun seeing the band get pelted with paint by what I guess is meant to be little versions of themselves. The band are currently on tour in Europe and the UK, having even played Groezrock this passed weekend. The album, Bad Habits, is to be released soon and I, along with many others who donated to the making of it, have already had a listen to it and will be posting my review in due course. For the time being....ENJOY!!
My brain works in such a weird way, sometimes. A few days ago, I was listening to the new album by The Prodigy and was wondering what the Ibiza video would look like and hey presto...I find out there is one. A couple of days ago, I was listening to Rival Sons' Great Western Valkyrie album and decided to check yesterday if there was any new music videos from that album. Lo and behold, they released just yesterday a video for album opener Electric Man. The weird thing is it was released as a single last year. I'm not sure if they are re-releasing it or not but hopefully more people are going to see the video, giving the single and the album more exposure. It's basically a performance video with the band playing in front of scientists, for some reason. There is also something to do with martial arts; not entirely sure of the connection there but it's aesthetically pleasing. The song itself has a great groove, sexy verses and a catchy chorus. For those who are not familiar with Rival Sons, it's rock straight from the school of Led Zepplin et al. They know how to write both hard rocking anthems and sexy slow jams. Check out Electric Man below and buy the album Great Western Valkyrie now.
Due to my computer problems of late, I'm a bit late on my album reviews. One of the albums I will be reviewing is the number 1 album by The Prodigy; The Day Is My Enemy. From that album, Ibiza is a standout track and was a definite favourite of mine from the get go. Along with Sleaford Mods (I'm not going to pretend to know who they are..), this track is just a pure belter. It has the essence of a more classic Ibiza track, with that balls-out swagger which also makes it sound a bit similar to The Streets. It does, however, have those classic Prodigy synth sounds and wobbly noises, so there's no doubt it's them. Whereas the other more recent videos were animated and didn't feature the band, here we see Liam, Keith and Maxim accompanying the Sleaford mods vocalist as they, by the looks of it, antagonise a travel agent. "What's he fuckin' doin?" Enjoy.
