Jewish Music Last Week Word from: Jake

NYJMH has been covered left and left, and I'll throw in a couple of quick comments too. I only made it out there on Sunday for the Jewzapalooza. David Kelsey bashed Soulfarm's performance that day calling them a wedding band and all such. I know he was trying to be funny, but it came out sounding like a flurry of cheap shots. Even though I myself left the gig 15 minutes into their act I thought they were still ok, and the truth is that it was only after they got on that people really started pulling up to the stage to dance.

Oy Va Voi, who performed right before Soulfarm did not elicit as much dancing, though I was definitely grooving to their excellent reggae-style tune "Gypsy" (the version on their site is not so great - they had a killer female vocalist at the show who doesn't appear on the track). And prior to them, played the band for whom I actually came out to this show altogether, Pharaoh's Daughter. I've written and talked plenty about the band, but one point I'll stress is that despite the style and generally tight song-structure, their jams are more inventive than typical jam-band's. Teitch is a really fine example of it - this song went through many levels of transformation as I've heard it played over the years. Progress is where it's at; all of the derision towards Soulfarm is coming from the fact that they're playing the formulas they used eight years ago.

On that note, check out this downloadable live show of Matisyahu at Webster Hall. I was pleasantly surprised to find a number of new tunes! And this one, Pedal to the Metal is ain't no reggae: it's more like rap or hip-hop, and it's not bad at all.