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America, what a country! The assimilated young New Yorkers in this Gypsy-punk sextet sure think so, jury duty and ESL classes notwithstanding. Previous Golem discs rewired traditional klezmer (raucous Jewish wedding jazz), mainly with vocals in Yiddish. Their fifth disc’s originals, based loosely on Ukrainian immigrant songs collected by singer Annette Ezekiel-Kogan, are in English and just about every tongue spoken East of the Danube, with rock and reggae underpinning whirling dervishes and Old World lover’s laments. The universality comes from carefree comic irony: Ezekiel-Kogan brassily nails a mock citizenship exam (Q: “Can you name the 49th state in the Union?” A: “Al-aaaaa-ska!”) and cosinger Aaron Diskin rhymes kosher and fo’ sure in a song about how much he loves tuches. Pretty soon, the space between exile and arrival starts sounding like a hot spot."
"This 6 piece Gypsy Punk Gem is renowned for electrifying dance floors with their globetrotting goulash of Jewish, Slavic, and Gypsy songs. Mixing old world and new without compromising either, the album is a startling portrait of an ideal world where there is no need only to ghettoize or assimilate. Citizen Boris winds through the struggles and triumphs of immigrant life in America, with the wild energy and panache that characterizes Golem's Gypsy-punk sound."
"Instantly accessible!"
01. Train Across Ukraine
02. Mirror Mirror
03. Tucheses and Nenes
04. Come to Me
05. Meat Street
06. Zingarella
07. Tell Her You Love Her
08. Citizen Boris
09. Lullaby
10. Chervona Ruta
11. Balkan Espanol
Annette Ezekiel Kogan, Aaron Diskin (vocals)
Alicia Jo Rabins (violin)
Curtis Hasselbring (trombone)
Taylor Bergren-Chrisman (bass instrument)
Tom Monaghan (drums)
Emery Dobyns (percussion)
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
Recorded in 2001, Golem's debut album features tunes sung in Ladino, Ukrainian, Spanish, and of course, Yiddish... not bad for a 5 song EP!
01. Skrip Klezmer!
02. Balkan Espanol
03. Kopav Kopav
04. Madre Mia
05. Az der Rebbe Elimelekh
Aaron Diskin: vocals, tambourine
Alicia Jo Rabins: violin
Curtis Hasselbring: trombone
Taylor Bergren-Chrisman: contrabass
Laura Cromwell: drums
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
Klezmer music is traditionally played at Jewish weddings and holiday celebrations in Eastern Europe. New York-based klezmer band Golem (named after the legendary Jewish Frankenstein of Prague) has infused the World Music scene with a breath of fresh air by injecting Eastern European melodies and Old World songs with ferocious energy, sex, and humor.The album includes tracks in Yiddish, Russian, French, Serbian, and Ladino, each a different story of love and pain set to its own driving beat.
"Gathered from source material from all over Eastern Europe, and from other locations as diverse as Jewish nursing homes in the Bronx to gypsy taverns in Belgrade, Serbia. The six member group then transforms the material and creates something new and all its own.
The music gets increasingly interesting when you follow along with the lyric sheet, in which the lyrics have been translated. The topics of the songs are sometimes strange; for example, the lyrics from a Russian traditional called "Spitting Song": "An old man sits down to think about getting married again. He thinks and thinks and thinks... If I take an old wife, my equipment might not stand up to the job... But if I take a young wife, she might not love me... And even if she loved me, she might not kiss me... And if she kissed me, she'd turn and spit on the floor... He sits and thinks and thinks... and thinks... Maybe getting married again isn't such a good idea."
All in all, I think this CD serves as a good palette cleanser because personally, I don't own any other klezmer albums, so putting this on in between hardcore and punk CDs works very nicely - a danceable beat, melody, and topnotch musicality which everyone can appreciate. Its different enough that it transitions well to pretty much anything. Also, Golem is probably is available to play for your next wedding or bar mitzvah."
01. Mekhaye
02. Spitting Song
03. Skrip Klezmerl
04. Balkan Espanol
05. Tire L'Aiguille
06. Dead Cossack, The
07. Madre Mia
08. Mesecina
09. Papirosn
10. Black Cat White Cat
11. Rivke
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
"If you've lamented the dearth of klezmer rock bands, Golem is out to win your heart. Pushing the tempo - not to mention the envelope - the New York-based band puts a unique spin on contemporary Jewish music. "I tried to imagine how Tom Waits would record a klezmer album," says band founder Annette Ezelkiel. Nowhere is this wild Waitsian sensibility more apparent than on the driving "Bialystok." Golem, named after the legendary Jewish Frankenstein of Prague, has named their songs after old-world places, the longed-after locales of the unsettled diaspora. Golem's reinterpretation of the classic "Rumenye" is a crazy blend of "Metamorphosis," the Violent Femmes, and homesickness. Not all of the songs are so wild; the plaintive tombone of "Belz" wouldn't shock your alte bobe. But Golem is a new kind of Jewish band, combining a respect for tradition with a proclivity toward the sensual and melodramatic. A highly enjoyable album from a band to watch."
01. Odesaa
02. Chiribim
03. Grine Kuzine
04. Romanesh
05. Mito
06. Nikolayev
07. Rumenye
08. Bukovinsky
09. Zlatopol
10. Bialystok
11. Turkmenistaner
12. Belz
Aaron Diskin: vocals, tambourine
Alicia Jo Rabins: violin
Curtis Hasselbring: trombone
Taylor Bergren-Chrisman: contrabass
Laura Cromwell: drums
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
Contrary to popular belief, Golem is neither a towering Jewish Frankenstein who defended the Jews of 17th Century Prague, nor a creature from “Lord of the Rings.” Golem is a 6 piece Eastern European folk-punk band.
Fronted by Annette Ezekiel - singer, accordionist, and 5-foot powerhouse; and vocalist, tambourine player, crazy-man Aaron Diskin; violin virtuoso Alicia Jo Rabins; trombonist extraordinaire Curtis Hasselbring; elegant upright bassist Taylor Bergren-Chrisman, and unstoppable drummer Tim Monaghan, Golem’s sound evokes wisps of old-world elegance filtered through the successes and disappointments of new-world dreams. Spending nights in Lower East Side immigrant-owned bagel shops and summers in Eastern Europe, Annette collects Jewish, Gypsy, and Slavic folk songs, and, with Golem, rewrites, adds, edits, and rearranges them along the way. These are the songs to which Eastern European grandparents danced over a century ago, and now Golem has its unwrinkled fans moshing to the same pulsing beats.
"The word on "Fresh Off Boat":
Love stories? Check. Dances? Check. Warnings to future son-in-laws? Check. Dysfunctional families forcing kids to sell bagels on the street? That’s here too.
After 2004’s Homesick Songs, GOLEM has paired with not-for-profit label JDub (Matisyahu, Balkan Beat Box) and producer Emery Dobyns (Patti Smith, Antony and the Johnsons, the Battles) for their latest release, Fresh Off Boat (a reference to new immigrants who call each other F.O.B.s). Thirteen tracks in five languages, the album hits stores August 8th, 2006, and features Phish bassist Mike Gordon, and legendary Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye and more."
01. Ushti Baba
02. Mazel
03. Bublichki
04. Klezmerke
05. Warsaw In Khelm - (featuring Amanda Palmer)
06. School Of Dance
07. Charlatan-Ka
08. Rent, The
09. Mazurka
10. Golem Hora - (featuring Mike Gordon/Lenny Kaye)
11. Stick It!
12. Czardas
13. Le Mariage
Link
