UBK - Desert Love

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that UBK, better known as Uri Brauner Kinrot and even better known as Boom Pam's lead singer and guitarist, is one of the most talented musicians around. I really like how with this upcoming (and very anticipated) debut solo album he's just doing his own thing and playing music he loves. There's also something very charming about him. I still remember the first time I heard his deep voice in the golden duet with Karolina "The ballad of the freedom knight and the mermaid". And of course there's also his work with Boom Pam, just check out their brilliant performance at the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow. I can't think of better fitting ambassadors for the current Israeli music scene. I love the 70s feel of this song and clip, as if it belongs to a much simpler time and place. It's crazy that the desert is only about an hour from Tel Aviv but so, so distant. Reminds me of my bus trips to Beer Sheva when the wide open scenery of the South would merge with daydreams and much needed escapism from the hectic daily life.

HEXE feat. Avia Farchi - Alternate World

I must say that before I heard he was performing in Israel, I hadn't heard of Son Lux, and even afterwards, I didn't really get around to listening to his music. But then Timeout.co.il asked a few local artists to cover Son Lux songs. Most of the songs didn't leave a very strong impression on me, maybe because I was unfamiliar with the originals, but then I heard this one. It's so beautiful and successfully captures a very specific feeling and time. It also complements the original and feels very "Son Lux" while still maintaining its own personality. Since hearing it I've listened to Lanterns quite a few times and I just can't get enough of it, there's always something new to discover. HEXE is an intriguing collaboration between Jonathan Lipitz and Tamir Gordon and here's their latest single. I think I'm slowly diving into a new world of music... I wasn't able to find too much info about the very talented Avia Farchi, just that she's soon releasing her debut e.p and in the meantime here's a taste of her material in Hebrew.

Electric Zoo - There You Go

Really lovely track. I first discovered Electric Zoo at 2011's inDnegev and a few months later in a small concert where they blew the crowd away with their high energy songs. It's 60's style but you can somehow feel the humidity of Tel Aviv and it sounds amazing. I was pleasantly surprised to discover this song, which is very different from their normal style and shows a much softer and tender side of the band. It also fits perfectly when listening to their newly released album. You can tell that a lot of work was put into it and it sounds great as a whole. free download by the way!

Nosei HaMigbaat - The Voice of Another God

It's 2014! I have a feeling it's going to be a very good year with new beginnings and excellent new music. But before that, I want to go back to 1988, when the cult (some might even say mythological) band Nosei HaMigbaat (The Top Hat Carriers) released The Cassette, which had a limited release of only 700 copies (though I'm sure there are countless copies of copies). A few days ago, the band reissued the cassette in digital format, and you can hear it in its entirety over here. In last year's documentary about the cassette (which brought up the idea of reissuing it), one of the band members said that Nosei HaMigbaat is a band you heard a lot about, but you didn't actually hear their music. And it's very true because up until this week I had heard so much about how they're such a breakthrough band in the alternative music scene, specifically the Jerusalem alternative scene, and also how influential they are on so many artists today (and without a doubt on artists in the future as well) but I hadn't really listened to their music, only to a few songs from their first and last official CD "Who Killed Agatha Faltskog" (which you can listen to over here) without even knowing who I was listening to. The truth is, even if you've listened to their CD, you don't really know the band unless you've heard the cassette. The cassette was released when the members were 17, after a few years of performing together and after dropping out of the High School of the Arts in Jerusalem. It really sounds like it was made by 17-year-olds living in Jerusalem in the late 80s, but it's so different from anything I've ever heard, and it feels like a fresh breath of brisk Jerusalem air, making it quite perfect for today. These days, you don't need to look hard to find provocative artists, but they clearly lack something that these boys have - "the first ones didn't know they're the first". "Who Killed Agatha Faltskog" made the band famous in 1991, the same year Nirvana, R.E.M and Red Hot Chili Peppers crossed over and forever changed the mainstream. It's much easier on the ears and very enjoyable and influential in its own right, but with different band members (Ram Orion and Adam Horovitz replacing Ishai Adar, who enrolled in the army), it just wasn't the same, and on some songs, you can even hear the beginning of the end. Together with this cassette, I discovered two other very talented groups from Jerusalem from the same period who would often perform with the band: "Shalosh Chet" and "Israel", both helping create a much-needed alternative in Jerusalem and in Israel as well.

American Jerusalem I love it Yeah

I thought of walking around a bit to see,
You know there's a new building next to City Hall
I drank, I became drunk
I tumbled down the street
Where the mail clerk's tree is planted, oh the mail clerk
The little hiccups woke up
The Prime Minister in the new building
Imagine his little head
Hitting the ceiling in panic

My dear, are you awake my dear? My dear? Oh!!!!! Oh!!!!!!!

I would wander covered, in love
What a wonderful treason on the principles of the individual the principle of existence
Walking on the wild side of Santa Monica
In the afternoon
Another disgusting trip between the alleys the ruins the doubts and that's it

I thought I heard the voice of another God
This is the thing, this is the thing,
This is the time to get the acid into the brain
It's so cold, so cold and broken

I hear them in my head
I hear the stupid
I hear the wankers
I hear the liars
In my head, in the head of the next generation.
The oxygen of the underground, the breasts of the country,
Na na na,
Na na na
Na na na
Na na na

On my right the Prime Minister's head
On my left the court of the City Hall
In another minute the great flood will sweep us
The sick man of America will vomit
The national poet will document it all
And passing under the bridge I look back
Just like that they suddenly integrate you in a rehabilitation framework

The first ones, the first ones
The first ones didn't know they're the first
The last ones didn't know they're the last
The stars are shining in the darkness
The highway is empty
I'm sailing home
You can't do two things at the same time
Can't do two things at the same time,
Two things at the same time, at the same time, at the same time
At the same time, at the same time, at the same time.

The voice of another God
The voice of another God
The voice of another God
The voice of another God
The voice of another God
The voice of another God
The voice of another God
The voice of another God
The voice



This chilling song referring to Mt. Hertzl was written by Ohad Fishof, the band's lead singer, in memory of his close friend Amir Zinder who was killed in Lebanon in 1988 and wrote the songs "My God is Tired" and "Birthday" which both appear on the cassette.

A visit at the mountain
A visit to the mountain
On a gray day you see
People crying over empty graves
Lamenting their approaching day
On a clear day you don't see anything
Look at the hundreds of little lights
The shadow casts black numbers
You're so white she hasn't learned a thing

A visit at the mountain
A visit to the mountain
You can shout "Mazal Tov, Mazal Tov"
The little lights and the flags lead you
To the frozen mercury skies

During a debate in the hall he vomited
Asking in panic he says
Asking in panic he says
Asking in panic he says
Take yourself a sheep and build her a home
During a debate in the hall he smiled and was silent
For me there are no more houses

A visit at the mountain
A visit to the mountain
You can come once a week
You come more
You come more
You come more
More

Yuval Dayan - Don't Say

This radio song is exactly what I needed for these very tense days. There's something very comforting in Yuval's voice and something very enjoyable in her contradiction of innocence and maturity. Yuval wowed the judges of 'The Voice' with Idan Raichel's "Remainders of Life" and she's about to release her debut album featuring intriguing collaborations with Amir Dadon, Lea Shabat, Idan Haviv, Gilad Kahana and Dudu Tassa (the last two wrote and composed this lovely tune, which fits Yuval perfectly). I'm also curious to hear the 5 songs on the album that Yuval wrote and composed on her own. Yuval also just started her army service in the military band, and you can follow her army adventures over here.

All the nights I had with you
I stored the warmth of your body
For the bitter winter
One smile of yours that I remember
Won the forgetfulness
In the cold rain
Don't say don't say don't say to me come
Don't say don't say don't say to me no
Don't say don't say don't say to me come
Don't say don't say don't say to me to come
Placing my head between the clouds
Hoping for a pleasant dream
In the middle of the day
Every salty second of alone
Is a comma in one story
That will only have a good ending...
Don't say don't say don't say to me come
Don't say don't say don't say to me no
Don't say don't say don't say to me come
Don't say don't say don't say to me to come
All the nights I had with you
Brighten my darkness
With your smell

Yali Sobol and Rea Mochiach - Snow

Tel Aviv is again covered in snow
Couples are skating on the Yarkon
Children are playing on the boardwalk
Sculpting with ice a castle
Sidewalks are spread with salt
The city snow plowers are broken
I am standing by the little window
Looking at backyards

Snow in Tel Aviv, not to mention snow in Israel, was always a fantasy. It was something you dreamed of when you were a kid watching American television. Up until last week, we weren't even sure that a regular rainy winter would arrive, making it a bit (just a bit) hard to enjoy the warm and sunny weekends. To say the truth, I found last week's reports on the approaching storm too dramatic - okay, so there will be a lot of rain and maybe some snow in Jerusalem, you'd think this was a hurricane...But then the rain came, and with it the heavy snow in Jerusalem and the North, and it was clear that this wasn't a regular winter storm, and it was actually much worse than expected. It's quite shocking that there are still 20,000 households without electricity since Thursday, and that Jerusalem is still besieged by the snow (update: the main highway to the city just reopened a short while ago for public transportation). I woke up yesterday morning to discover that there was a power outage, but thankfully it only lasted for about an hour. I can't even begin to imagine what 3 days without power in the freezing cold feels like, especially when it comes by surprise. And yet, the snow is so beautiful, and these photographs of snowy Jerusalem are stunning. It's as if the white blankets all the dirt and troubles, even the massive news coverage is comforting, "What did the news talk about before the snow?" a friend asks. In Tel Aviv, we didn't have any snow, but we did have a dramatic hailstorm, and for a short while, cars and roofs were covered in white. I had to get to work and had no choice but to take a taxi. The driver, an elderly Russian man, was silent, and we both stared at the icy roads and remains of hail, well aware that it was a special moment. When I got out of work, of course, everything vanished as if it had been a dream.
This song opens Yali Sobol and Rea Mochiach's album "El Dorado". I think it's one of the last albums I bought, from a friendly CD store that no longer exists, in a city I no longer live in. I love how it sets the tone of the album, and I was so happy to see that someone finally uploaded it to YouTube yesterday. The album is made up of little stories, and the next one is this gem 'Approaching Tel Aviv' which captures the exact feelings of greeting a loved one from the airport, after he or she has acquired a world of new experiences, and in a way beginning together a fresh page, leaving behind everything that had happened before. Yali, the son of playwright and director Yehoshua Sobol, is also a composer and novelist, but best known as the vocalist for Monica Sex. The band just released the video for their latest single "Again descends a grey khaki light" and I love how it makes a simple get-together with close friends for a picnic by the Yarkon so magical and nostalgic. Rae Mociach is best known as Berry Sakharof's musical partner, from the breakthrough 'Signs of Weakness' which he produced to 'Adumey HaSefatot' in which the two gave a new interpretation to poems by Ibn Gabirol. He's also the head of 'OrchestRea' and a very talented producer, which I think especially comes to play here with his album which he produced and arranged, and specifically with this song. I love how there's something magical and temporary about it, just like the snowy weekend. In a few days everything will go back to "normal" and we'll have something else to endlessly talk about.

Danski - Overton

In the sandcastle there's a snowstorm
Arising here, arising there
Half an overtone in my space
Generating sounds, crumbling pain with flowers
I have an overtone where I used to have a heart,
I have a black hole where I used to have a heart

In a black castle there's a thunderstorm
Arising in it, arising there
Half of it only mine in the space of years
Punching holes, breaking down pain with plants

I have an overtone where I used to have a heart
I have a black hole where I used to have a heart


The rain has finally arrived and I can't think of a better soundtrack than Danski's new album '11'. I first came across Danski's e.p a couple of weeks ago and I was waiting for the full single on youtube, as well as a rainy day to go with it. I was delighted to discover that the e.p is now a full album, it's so wintery and beautiful, perfect for a day like today.