Mordechai Shinefield
By Mordechai Shinefield
-
The Schmooze Top 5 Middle Eastern Metal Albums of 2013
At some point in the early ’90s, folk metal acts from the Middle East received the decidedly un-PC neologism, Oriental Metal. The term, implying a heady mix of thrash guitars, throaty vocals and maqam-inflected scales, fell into disuse but the relevant bands did not. In a year when the Middle East was marked with military…
-
The Schmooze Top 7 Jewish Albums of 2013
“Bella Ciao” By Barbez Following up his 2007 ode to Paul Celan, Dan Kaufman writes a gothic masterpiece inspired by the ancient Roman Jewish community and the Italian Resistance to the Nazi occupation of Italy. Tracks like album opener “Et Shaare Ratzon” are swirling ahistorical melodies packed with aural hooks and haunting poetry about World…
-
The Schmooze In Folk Music, Sincerity Is Not Enough
“Thoughtless Sounds,” Max Jared’s debut Shemspeed release and the first on Shemspeed’s new folk imprint, Soul Snack Records, follows the blueprint for sentimental adult contemporary rock laid out by Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson: light accessible vocals, sensitive acoustic strumming and unobtrusive tunes. Like those other artists, Jared’s lyrical pallet assumes a sacred hippie slacker…
-
The Schmooze Reggae’s Jewish Connection
In 1997, writer, producer and performer Michael Goldwasser founded reggae collective Easy Star All-Stars, and has since then released half a dozen albums with names like “Dub Side of the Moon,” “Radiodread,” and “Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band.” Their latest album, a reggae-homage to Michael Jackson, “Thrillah,” slows down singles like “Beat It” and…
-
The Schmooze How Anti-Semitic Comics Got Replaced
Jewish Images in the Comics: A Visual History By Fredrik Strömberg Fantagraphics, 304 pages, $26.99 In the epigraph to his second volume of “Maus,” the seminal graphic novel about the Shoah, Art Spiegelman quotes an anti-Semitic text: “Mickey Mouse is the most miserable ideal ever revealed… Healthy emotions tell every independent young man and every…
-
Culture For Ladino Musicians, World’s A Stage
On July 9, amid rainwater cracks in limestone rock, charcoal ibex painted by prehistoric man and discarded artifacts from Victorian-era picnics, a loose collective of Jewish women will sing songs of the Sephardic Diaspora. Vocalists Sarah Aroeste, Mor Karbasi and Françoise Atlan will perform at the inaugural Gibraltar World Music Festival in the time-formed Cueva…
-
The Schmooze Haredi Urban Legends to Scare Kids Straight
Crossposted from Chakira At a time when American Haredi controversies are blossoming, from stadium-filling Internet protests to molestation charges, there are apparently still offenses lurid enough to shock. One such transgression, perpetrated by a Bnos Yaakov Elementary School, was reported by the community blog The Lakewood View. If you were following the Internet protests, you…
-
The Schmooze Ladino East Meets American West
Though she has been involved in the Ladino music scene since Neil Armstrong strode the moon, Ljuba Davis’s new release, “East and West,” is her debut album. The 43 years Davis has spent kicking these songs around orally before committing them to permanence rings throughout the album. “East and West,” unlike comparable recent ladino records…
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Who is Ella Emhoff? How Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter could affect her run for president
- 2
Opinion Jewish Republicans are smearing Kamala Harris as anti-Israel. Here’s why you shouldn’t buy it
- 3
News What would a Josh Shapiro vice presidency mean for American Jews and Israel?
- 4
News Doug Emhoff: What would it mean if the first first gentleman is Jewish?
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Israeli military vows to stop flow of donations to soldiers, even from their parents
-
Culture Another Nazi-looted Schiele painting has been returned to heirs of ‘Cabaret’ inspiration Fritz Grünbaum
-
Fast Forward Trump, meeting with Netanyahu, says we are ‘close’ to World War III because of Biden
-
News Angry about Gaza, will uncommitted voters commit to Kamala Harris?