Lipa's Leap of Faith Review

To my great surprise, more and more JM albums continue to find their way into Spotify and Lipa’s latest Leap of Faith is up there now, so I have no excuse not to write a review now. The big downside is not having access to the album artwork, which means I can’t really know all the details about the composers, arrangers and all.

Chatzotrois - Not really groundbreaking, this song is pretty much a conventional and sounds a little familiar, probably because of the trumpet-filled arrangements a la Yisroel Lamm. The song does get more interesting after 3:00 thanks to Lipa’s great improvisational skills but the song itself is average and much too long. ***

L’Olam - this is probably the first JM song to use Portuguese and Dutch in its lyrics - tudo bom? tudo bem? - meaning all good? all well? (yes I speak Portuguese). This is one of Lipa’s signature lighthearted songs and although I have not much to speak about in terms of musicality, I do appreciate the risk taking and his efforts to make this structure-less song work. Reminiscent of Shlomo Simcha’s multi-language song (forgot the name) with even more languages.****

Yigdal - Beautiful Yeshivish song, just enough interesting to stand out and be memorable. The first and second parts mesh well, and the choir arrangements are subtle, smart and add a lot here. The actual arrangement is rather boring and could be more interesting - again it sometimes brings us back to Moshe Laufer-ism but all in all this is a solid slow song. However the song could stop at 5:00, sparing us the last minute of boring piano solo. ****

Kvodo - Best song so far, from beginning to the end this song is complex both in the vocals and arrangement. The choir is perfect, again subtle and smart as it should be, enabling Lipa to interpret this song marvelously. This is Lipa at his best and the lyrics choice is ngood too. *****

Vayehi quickly topples Kvodo as the best song so far, a song that is musically groundbreaking with a lot of dissonant notes and a package of perfect arrangement, choir and interpretation by Lipa. He is somehow equally comfortable singing a slow Yeshivish, a funky feel good song and an unusual composition like this one - great versatility. This song reminds me of Yossi Green’s chant song in his last album Hipsh (review here). Special mention to the falsetto at 3:40 and on, which closes the song well. *****

Hang up the Phone should be viewed in Youtube, where the video has a staggering 150,000 views so far.

For this song Lipa has been called the Jewish Lady Gaga in the web, among other comparisons, and nothing describes this song better than Jewish Pop, something we rarely see out there. This song normally would get many Cherem’s but after the Big Event fiasco, Lipa seems to be vaccinated and ready to explore his musical instinct. For the whole package and for the Chassidish twist at 2:40 this is a 5 star song. *****

Vedabkeinu stands in stark contrast with the previous song with its distinctive Chassidish feel. Almost like saying “don’t kill me for Hang up the Phone, here is a normal song”. Bottom line, not really anything special here. **

Yeled Katan - unusual to see a Chassidish guy like Lipa singing a Hebrew song a la Yishai Lapidot. Lipa is all over the place! 4:10 is a really good moment of Lipa, a great vocal shtick but this song seems to mimic Aleh Katan of A. Fried, without the same success.

Leap of Faith - great song name, this falls into the typical Lipa Yiddish song, a genre that is not really my cup of tea. **

Rochel - boring slow song, with a theme that was explored so many times by the likes of Shwekey (journeys), Shloimy Gertner (rochel), London Boys Choir and others. **

Mizrach - another song which should be viewed in Youtube (here). Great concept, very catchy song and a well crafted video. Bingo. Special mention to the Michael Jackson-ish “Ah” sung between Mizrach/Maarev etc..*****

Shul - Didn’t really get the point of this song *

Clearly Lipa’s music continues to develop his skills and grow musically. He is popular, cool and his music is distinctive and innovative. And even more important, he doesn’t seems to be afraid of the skeptists and the Kanoim who find modern music an abomination. He is a risk-taker and if you know me I always say this is the single most important attribute in a performer. This album is as good or better than Meimka DeLipa, with very solid 11 songs and virtually no “fillers”, those pointless songs most singers fill theirs albums with to get to the holy 10 song mark.  Even though I heard it for free in Spotify I will buy a copy soon. Why? Because I want to own this album. It’s really good.

Lipa's New Video

Without any doubt, Lipa today is what's really cooking in Jewish Music. He is cool, original and fearless and as seen in this video, that's a powerful combination. Lipa broke out from the Yiddish-speaking niche a long time ago and today he goes out of this way to appeal to everyone everywhere, with a much bigger reach than the previous heavyweights, namely, MBD Dedi Shwekey and A Fried.

Yishai Lapidot used to always be the crazy guy in the block and still remains very popular specially in Israel but Lipa is more exotic and possibly crazier, with a potential to literary be the biggest thing in JM in the past decade - and it looks like he is not far from that now.

I will be reviewing his latest album sometime soon so stay tuned.

Lipa's Hang Up the Phone Video

I will be the first one to admit I was late getting to Lipa's boat, but every year that passes it becomes clear how big of an impact he's having in Jewish Music and how that has propelled him to become the #1 singer today.

While his music is too pop for my taste and, for the most part, not really singable, he's undeniably extremely original and not afraid of breaking new ground in music. This video is a great example, with a clear Lady Gaga feel to it but still original, somewhat heismish, and stylistically cool.

That's very rare in JM; actually, almost non existent. MBD, A. Fried and Shwekey always stayed away from this commercialism which is so present in Lipa's career, but people seem to appreciate it and follow Lipa's every next move. While Shwekey has become boring, Lipa has managed to bring a fresh air of creativity and coolness to our ears (and eyes). Litvish boringness vs. Chassidic heimishkeit. Granted, both Shwekey and Lipa have a very strong following but Lipa is clearly more original and more musical, often times composing very unique songs and also performing the way he did in this video. It's the first time I've seen this kind of dancing in JM and it comes in a good time - kudos.

I never did a review of Meimka DeLipa, but that's an album that I'm listening a lot lately. While I still think his Yiddish songs are too niche-focused and take away from his appeal, I fully appreciate his boldness and musical talent, which is evident in this album. He's not afraid of using unusual, dissonant, scales and he is very into building a story for every song. Almost every song has a beginning, middle and end - remarkable. My favorite is the rock song Mizmor Letoda, a true masterpiece he composed by himself.

Spotify and Jewish Music

Now available in the US for a few months already, the much hyped Spotify music platform offers what is the very best Jewish Music subscription out there now.

Spotify has a freemium model - you can actually listen everything for free but for 10usd a month you have mobile access and no ads. I opted in without knowing that there was such a large selection of JM in it - really surprising.

You can find there A. Fried, Ohad, MBD, Gad Elbaz, Chaim Israel, Shlsheles, Chevra, Carlebach and even some lesser known singers like Gershon Veroba, Menachem Phillip and many more.

Notable exceptions I noted were Yaakov Shwekey and Lipa but I'm that will not be for long.

All in all, the ease of use of Spotify plus all the JM content is irresistible - you can use it in your PC, iPad, iPhone and Android.

For many years it seemed like Jewish Music would eventually have to succumb to the iTunes model, although the JM producers did their best to prevent that. But now it's clear to me that the real game changer is Spotify, with its cool social-sharing featuers where you can share your playlists with your facebook friends.

MBD's Kisufim Review

Yes it has been a while since my last review. But MBD's last album is a great excuse to write again, and I went ahead and downloaded the album from Mostlymusic's website, the first time I used their service. By the way, their website is working well and the process of buying was easy although I would suggest a Facebook Connect option as I hate signing up for anything these days (disclaimer: I have no connection to Mostlymusic and I payed for the album from my pocket)

To the album: it is MBD's last album and I deep inside don't want to be harsh on him and I do hope it's a good one.

The first two songs, Shalom Aleichem and Menucha have a lot in common, for the good and for the bad. Both songs have a "folkish" sound, have pleasant but forgettable arrangements, have Zemiros lyrics and are not really melodical. I would not put these two songs back to back as he has done here but I believe it does sets the tone and it shows what MBD is aiming for - authenticity. They remind me very much of MBD's Kumzitz Album which had this same concept and was very succesfull. These two songs don't have the same impact because they are not hits and are rather forgetable but at least it was well produced and it did set a very specific mood from the start. ***

Al Kein is a sad slow song that has a weak first part but that gains momentum in the second part, which doesn't follow the traditional "low first part/ high second part" setting that we know so well. The arrangement and adult vocals are as good as the first two songs but those who know me know how much I dislike these child solos. I do like soft child solos like in 4:55 and onwards but the child solos before that were unnecessary and in my opinion are counterproductive, specially in a sad song like this one. ****

Shomrei is a great composition from Rav Kalish that has a great arrangements, both instrumental and vocal. Here I don't mind the children singing - it fits in the mood of this song - and this unpretentious song is reminiscent from the songs introduced by MBD in Efshar Letaken, like Gevald for instance. *****

Hazkiri is the second slow song of this album and although the first part is ok, the second is really weak. The song is well arranged but otherwise unnapetizing. Wondering what caught MBD's attention here. **

Tzemach tzemach is a simple, refreshing niggun that is perhaps one of the strongest pieces of this album. It's a kumzits song that was very well arranged and all vocals are well balanced and pleasent to listen. Not a hit but this song is about pure relaxation. ****

Anim zemiros is reportedly a song from the Rebbe but honestly never heard it before. It's a nice composition and i specially like how the words in the second part don't particurarily fit well in the bars - it makes the song unique and differrent. Nice ending too, with a sweet falsetto from MBD. *****

The Chabad niggun is nice and very "traditional" but we had that covered with the tzemach tzedek niggun. I think it's positive to have one niggun in an album but two is just too much Dragging the album to the boring side ***

Hashiveini has unnoriginal lyrics and the compositon is very weak, so MBD needed some magic to make this song fly. Mission not accomplished and this song is an unnecessary "filler" in MBD's farewell album *

Nichsefo is the typical Moshe laufer song - Midtempo, easy to sing and not particularily original. But it's fun and interestingly, not arranged by laufer. I guess they wanted to maintain the folk feel that we have throughout the album, something laufer would probably not do if he were to be the arranger. ***

Kisufim is a yiddish song composed by mbd himself with Lipa lyrics. The tune is actually ok but it has no climax, leaving us with the feeling that something is missing. I guess it's more about the words....***

Simchas toireh - see Chabad niggun comment above. By now it's pretty clear MBD is going to a strange direction here. Nothing wrong with the niggun but it's just flatly boring and not only this adds nothing to the album, it actually takes a lot away from it. And the arrangement here is below the quality of the rest of the album. *

Ani maamin. Worst possible choice of lyrics, unnecessary child soloist and nothing new.
Yibone. Actually a great classic i did not mind to hear again. But what's the point of squeezing two distinct songs in one track?

Impecably arranged by M. Hershkovitz, Ashreini is another song composed by MBD and it features among the best in the album. I wish we would have more of those.

Bottom line, do I like this album? I prefer to put it like this - I don't dislike it. The arrangements are simple and groovy, with a common theme: strings, more strings and a great choir. As a result, Kisufim does have a very unique sound but the problem is not the production. I think MBD played too safe and tried to say goodbye with a Kumzits album that is not as good as the Kumzits album. The album lacks innovation and courage, two things that that every album should have and that could have made this album a masterpiece. That's why I didn't like this album too much. Efshar letaken was much better.

With that said, my big kudos for MBD for giving us so many great moments throughout his remarkable Jewish music career.

Continue or not to Continue

Even tough I'm pretty much retiring from this blog, it keeps getting very good traffic without any effort from my part.

I'm spending all my blogging time in my Safrut blog but this one continues to keep steam somehow.

As much as I like to review and comment about the Jewish Music scene, I'm unsure there's still a need for it today. So I pretty much get discouraged to spend time writing, listening and buying the latest JM gear.

Which leads me to the big q' - to continue or not to continue?

Ohad 3 Review + Video Songs

I've been wondering if I should review Ohad 3 or not... The album is out already for quite some time - perhaps I should review something else.
Meanwhile, I've come across two videos:

I've heard Shwekey's brother a few times but he seems more rounded this time; he evidently took voice coaching classes and he sounds better now. The song is quite weak, forgetable although the lyrics are sung in a different way than the usual Mi Adir. He starts with the last part and if not for this lyrics change I wouldn't even bother to watch it - I don't listen to Mi Von Siach/Mi Adir songs anymore. Got sick of them.

Which brings me to another Music Video, this time by Yossi Green.
 The contrast is evident - the lyrics. Yossi Green can spend months until he finds the right lyrics for a song, and he ultimatedly did find a great set of lyrics for this song. The lyrics alone propel this song to another level and YG knows how to play with the lyrics and interpret them. But I'm afraid he is alone; most of the songs I hear are still old lyrics battered again and again. Mi Adir/Mi Von Siach and Halach Hagoel are perhaps the most overused lyrics, and even Ohad 3 unfortunatedly had a Mi Von Siach - a waste of time in an otherwise interesting album.
The tune is interesting, changing the tempo very smoothly between the second and third part of the song, and the vocals are very good - first time I hear these fellows. YG has mastered the composition process like no other JM composer in the past decades, a real blessing for JM fans.
And unlike Yosef Chai's video, this video is novel - it is a real story. Somebody comissioned YG to compose a song for his Bar Mitzva son and the video illustrates the process. That's new, original and fresh.