Some more new videos and songs by Israeli bands

  Once again, I bring you a compilation of new videos and songs from a variety of Israeli acts.

Free Sergio - So Far Yet So Close/Hate To Break It To Ya

   I am starting off this post with pop punkers Free Sergio as I stupidly forgot to include their song So Far Yet So Close in the previous instalment. They have brought out another song Hate To Break It To Ya, so this seemed like a perfect time to mention them both. The former is what could be considered an "easycore" track, with metallic riffs and melodic punk vocals. Although the Israeli accent is pretty prominent, the actual vocabulary is intelligent and the lyrical content itself is positive and relatable. It has a sort of Rise Against meets Millencolin feel to it, which is the impression I got of the band when I saw them do an acoustic set some time ago.



   Hate To Break It To Ya showcases the band's ska sound, again, similar to Millencolin or even Less Than Jake without the brass. The vocals on both tracks might be a tad weaker than I'd hope for, the band musically have the genre down and I'm looking forward to seeing them play as a full band some day.  

The Meatballs - Don't Waste My Time/Frowning Face

      Here's another 2-in1. The Meatballs are an Israeli band who have been in existence since '09. The band plays old fashioned rock and roll, pure and simple. Don't Waste My Time takes its influences from more the 50s blues based rock and roll, whereas Frowning Face is very much in the 60s surf/B-Movie vein, with the video even including scenes from what seems like a real 60s B-Movie. I've been told these guys are fun live, as can be seen in the first video. I'm still yet to see them. 

Both songs are singles from the forthcoming album Cut To The Chase.

Document - Disposition

  A while ago, I went to see a band called Document, after hearing about them from friends and thinking about adding them to a show. Admittedly, I may not have given them the best live review but I did believe the band to have well crafted songs. Their latest single Disposition is good example of that. It is heavier than their previous work and generally well produced. Whereas the band can initially be considered indie and/or new wave, this has an almost post-punk sound and is simply captivating. The video is arty and quite dark, which works perfectly with the song itself. 

Bones Garage - Birthmarks

    Sliding perfectly into the next video, the friends who informed me of Document were the band Jeronimo. My second time seeing Jeronimo live was with another young band, Bones Garage. Bones Garage recently released their album Massacre/Dance, which I must get around to reviewing soon. This is their latest video for the song Birthmarks. When I saw them live, I appreciated the band's style although wasn't 100% into it at all times. Birthmarks, however, is beautiful. It's one of those songs which would definitely get tons of airplay and would intoxicate people with the "Aaahh" and "Wooaah" parts as well as with the song's simple beauty. Both the song and the video are incredibly professionally produced, which is surprising for such a young band. The video itself is like a short movie, showing two separate lives of a boy and a girl all the way from birth to when their two worlds collide at a record store and we then see their relationship progress from thereon in. If you like really good indie music and/or dark pop, GET ON THIS! They starting to really make a name from themselves in Israel's underground scene. 

Heartrates - Rapunzel (Live at Keoss Studios)

   Finally, I am compelled to post a live video from a show I actually witnessed. Heartrates are an Israeli metalcore band who I saw as the opening act at an event at Keoss Studios in Tel Aviv. As readers of my blog may already know, I am not the biggest fan of israeli metal/metalcore, but sometimes a band comes along who just hit the right spot. Heartrates' style reminded me of some of the UK metalcore/hardcore bands back in the early '00s, such as Funeral For A Friend, Incoherence and Hondo Maclean. Not only was the style good, but the band had great energy, especially the frontman, who must already have girls swooning all over him. Looks aside, he has a great connection with the crowd and, in my opinion, wasn't heavy on the metal clichés like some other frontmen out here are. I'm hoping to see them some more times and am looking forward to any future releases.

Live Review: Zimmer//Koro Play Swapsies #2, Tel Aviv [15th November 2014]

The Orions

BEST

DUST

Tonight sees the second installment of venues Koro and The Zimmer swapping line ups. This time, bands of co-owners of Koro play The Zimmer.

DUST

I am loving this band right now. Tel Aviv based DUST are a hardcore band a la most NY bands/good stuff that came out on Bridge Nine Records. Although it's hardcore, DUST do not just play standard, get-your-2-step-on, sing-about-nothing hardcore. Within their groove-laden hardcore, these skilled musicians also use harmonious riffs and changing time sigs which they take from their more stoner and post hardcore influences. I have seen them play a few times before tonight, of course, and have loved them since the first performance. They play songs from their self titled mini album that I am already familiar with and others that I recall from previous shows, but tonight there was definitely some new ones and they had even more groove than the others. This makes me look forward to future recordings. The band plays energetically, like a hardcore band should. My current favourite of theirs is Numb due to it's wonderfully melodic and energising intro. And the last song of their set (name?) always gets me shouting along "I'M TIRED OF BEING SICK AND I'M SICK OF BEING TIRED." If you like hardcore/hardcore punk, you'll love this band.
5/5

BEST

Yet another band I've known from the scene, BEST is made up of members who are all already in about 3 other bands and who have some form of a hand in the running of the Koro venue. BEST crawled out of the woodwork about 3 years back after a bit of a lull on the "hardcore band" front in Israel. Tonight is the first time in quite a while that I've seen these guys. Tonight they decided to uniform up in dark jeans and white vests. As much as the songs are there, I wasn't totally blown away this time and felt like the songs just blended in together. Could be said about hardcore in general but only to an untrained ear. I love the guys and I love their other bands as well as this band's Of The Worst mini album but I think they need to get some really cool new tunes to really kick me in the manhood. 

3/5

The Orions

Another band I haven't seen in some time, Tel Aviv surf based band The Orions finish off tonight's show. Albeit performing to a now smaller audience, no-one can help but dance to some fun instrumental surf rock. That's what The Orions do well and what they've been doing for about the last 3 years. They have definitely improved in musicianship and have fortunately kept that same energy they've had since the beginning. As they work through material from their EPs, they definitely gained some new fans in my friends from London and other Orions virgins in the Zimmer tonight. You don't even need to have listened to The Orions recordings to enjoy an Orions show. It's just pure party music. They could play weddings if they wanted to. They probably will ...Hope I get invited. 

4/5