Noise

Beeda Weeda to play tonight’s ‘Resolution’ benefit

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Benefit time – with hip-hop lyricists and a dab of R&B. This in:

“Musiq 4 Hunger and Element Lounge in association with Hard in the Paint Ent., ViXXeN EnT., and LK Management presents: “The Resolution 2009.”

“Performances by: Beeda Weeda, Don P., Diamond, Moss Da Boss, Bay Area Bad Girlz, Da Trendsettaz

“Featuring live music from Maya Kronberg (keys), Scott Thompson (bass), Chris Hansen (drums), Brandon McKee (sax), Bill Smolik (trumpet).

“Open mic sign-ups start at 9:30 p.m. Live band jam from 9:30-11 p.m. Special perfomances start at 11 p.m. ending at 12:45 a.m.

“DJ Smocha spinnin from 12:45 a.m.-2 a.m. with an open mic. $7 at the door or $5 with a canned food item. For more information please contact: Li-Mari, vixxenmusiq@gmail.com, (510) 672-8868.”

Super Ego: Tossed Horse

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By Marke B.

Is there such a thing as talent? REALLY? Every philosophical question you have about drag gets tossed up and around when the famously scattered yet oddly hypnotic and definitely entertaining House of Salad takes over, as it will this Friday at Charlie Horse, the infamously packed and outlandish punk/rock/grunge/country/??? party hosted by Anna Conda at the Cinch on Polk Street.

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I haven’t ever been able to assign an aesthetic to the Saladeers — mostly because there’s so many of them, and mostly because no matter what’s been planned going in, it all usually ends up pretty fucked up. But this newest House does give off a few pungent qualities: they always defy definition, from queen bee Ambrosia’s post-melodramatic take on contemporary dance anthems to Kadija’s super-techno and dubstep shakedowns, to Stanley and friends’ old-school vaudeville. And they always put on a good show — even if it’s hilariously undercut by a fierce lack of studious stage effects. The girls need to find the spotlight sometime.

Yet of course I adore them, and you never know WHO is gonna pop up in the Salad spinner. Or what “giveaways” they’ll be packing. (Hint: little, brown.) Basically it’s all about thrown-together deliciousness, so just hold out your bowl and dive in.

Ambrosia Salad et al at L.A.’s Shits & Giggles party

House of Salad at Charlie Horse
Fri/16, 10pm (show at midnight), free
The Cinch
1723 Polk, SF.
www.thecinch.com

July Skies evokes lazy days, ‘fractured memories of the 1970s’

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JULY SKIES
The Weather Clock
(Make Mine Music)

By Todd Lavoie

Oh, 2008 – you’ve been too kind! Well, musically speaking, anyhow – the year left a bit to be desired in some other regards, I suppose, but it certainly did its best to compensate by unleashing a wild torrent of CD releases ready to scratch away at all of our musical itches.

Now that we’re pinning up the new calendar and reflecting on the past year, I thought this might be the perfect moment to throw some superlatives behind one 2008 release in particular, which, sadly, remained largely off the collective radar of the American listening public: July Skies’ sumptuously iridescent ambient-pop stunner The Weather Clock.

Released this past summer in Britain, the disc never received a thorough distribution stateside. It might require a little work to track this one down, but such efforts will be greatly rewarded. Wistfully melancholic and dreamy, it’s tailor-made for a cup of tea, a ruminating mood, and your best pair of headphones.

Sonic Reducer Overage: Magic Bullets, LoCura, White Cloud, Chuchito Valdes, and more

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Mind that One Track Mind: Egyptian Lover’s “Freak-A-Holic.”

San Francisco stirs itself, shakes its shaggy head, and leaves home. Here are a few more reasons.

Leopold and His Fiction
The many moods of the SF indie-folk-rock combo turn toward…celebration with the unveiling of their new full-length Ain’t No Surprise. Electric! With the Healing Curse and Candy Apple. Fri/9, 9:30 p.m., $6. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF. (415) 923-0923.

LoCura
Living la vida LoCura? That means an eye-opening blend of flamenco, rumba, reggae, and hip-hop complete with bellydane and plenty of Animas. Fri/9, 9 p.m., $15. Great American Music Hall, 859 O’Farrell, SF. (415) 885-0750.

Ragas to remember: Robbie Basho’s ‘Bonn 1st Supreme’

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ROBBIE BASHO
Bonn Ist Supreme
(Bo Weavil)

By Max Goldberg

Steel-string master Jack Rose emphasizes the gravity of Robbie Basho’s playing in a brief note introducing this second-generation recording of a late Basho performance: “For me, 12-string guitar begins and ends with Blind Willie McTell and Robbie Basho.”

Basho was loosely affiliated with the “American Primitive” movement centering around John Fahey’s Takoma label, but from early on he displayed a unique voraciousness for cross-cultural transfusions. Besides adapting his last name from the Japanese haiku poet, his extended “ragas” were as likely to veer into Moorish and Persian terrain as the typical Indian-blues hybrid.

Bonn Ist Supreme is a generous helping of Basho’s searching guitar spirals, and while 66 minutes worth of his immersed playing may be too much for one sitting, dipping in piece by piece makes for lovely swimming.
In spite of coming in the midst of Basho’s much-derided Windham Hill period, the 1980 concert shows the guitarist still hard at work at compositions he wrote 15 years earlier. Dewy epics like “Rocky Mountain Raga,” “The Girl and the Lotus,” and “California Raga” are all given energetic run-throughs, and though Basho’s occasional baritone wails make for an easy mark, they’re also a powerful indicator of the guitarist’s unembarrassed zeal.

Adventures! Bodily injury! No sleep! Hawnay Troof/Vice Cooler’s 10 patience-testers of ’08

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Under pressure: Vice Cooler in repose. Photo by Manjari Doxey.

We saved the worst for last. Another in a series of year-end picks from Bay Area musicians, writers, scene-makers, and music lovers. Here’s the rest of Hawnay Troof/Vice Cooler’s best (or worst) of 2008; for more, go here.

HAWNAY TROOF/VICE COOLER’S TOP 10 SHITTIEST TOUR HAPPENINGS IN 2008

1. The police stole my rental car.

On the third to last day of my first US leg we were cruising through eastern Arizona when a policeman pulled us over. He thought we had drugs and illegally searched the car. After not finding anything he was bummed. My friend Rory Rabut was driving, and when the officer looked up his license he found out that Rabut had a small parking ticket that hadn’t been paid yet. He used this as a basis for seizing our vehicle.

Theremin cat, faux GN’R, guit-playing Lil Wayne: Vice Cooler’s 10 things of ’08

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Take me down to the paradise kitty: gotta love that theremin cat.

Another in a series of year-end picks from Bay Area musicians, writers, scene-makers, and music lovers. Here’s more of Hawnay Troof/Vice Cooler’s best of 2008; for the first part of his best-of list, go here.


HAWNAY TROOF/VICE COOLER’S TOP 10 THINGS

1. A goat saying, “Mom.”

The Stooges’ Ron Asheton, RIP

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Specs ‘n’ licks: Ron Asheton back in the day.

The man was a great guitarist, bon vivant, and horror movie actor – so sad! This from NME.

“Ron Asheton, the guitarist and bassist with The Stooges, has been found dead today (January 6). He was 60.

“Asheton was found at his home in Ann Arbor this morning, according to police.

“A cause of death is yet to be confirmed, although initial reports suggest that Asheton died of a heart attack.”

Amp Fiddler lays down the ‘inspiration’ with Sly and Robbie

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AMP FIDDLER WITH SLY & ROBBIE
Inspiration Information
(Strut)

By Todd Lavoie

It’s a meet-up that, admittedly, came as a bit of a surprise, but ultimately makes a world of sense: Detroit retro-futurist funkmeister Joseph “Amp” Fiddler has joined forces with collaboration-loving riddim-machine Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare (better known as Sly and Robbie) for an album’s worth of smooth, spaced-out soul and gravy-thick reggae rhythms.

Bestowed with the quite-appropriate moniker Inspiration Information – the title surely a nod to the great fellow traveler of righteous grooves, Shuggie Otis, whose 1974 album of the same name has seen its influence extended further with every passing year – the disc is the first in what is slated to be a series of releases from the consummate tastemakers at Strut Records built around an intriguing concept.

The idea? Take a few musicians who have never worked together before, stick them in the studio on a tight schedule, and see what happens – it’s a strategy that yielded fascinating results for the Dutch label Konkurrent, whose “In The Fishtank” series drummed up tasty pairings from Tortoise/the Ex and Low/Dirty Three, for example. I’m dead curious to hear what Strut comes up with next – how about a Tussle/ESG tête-à-tête, folks? – but for now, I’m more than content to float and bob along with the rumbling, churning head-music of this first installment.

Zomes, Liquid Liquid, Silver Apples: Mi Ami picks the rest of the best of 2008

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Another in a series of year-end picks from Bay Area musicians, writers, scene-makers, and music lovers. Here’s the rest of Mi Ami‘s best of 2008; for more of their selections, go here.

MORE 2008 PICKS FROM MI AMI’S DANIEL MARTIN-MCCORMICK AND DAMON PALERMO

– Omar-S, “Psychotic Photosynthesis” (both the original and beatless versions) (FXHE)
– Rhythm Based Lovers, “Boogie Vision”/”Snow Drift” 7-inch (Future Times)
– Group Inerane, Guitars from Agadez (Sublime Frequencies)
– Zomes, Zomes (Holy Mountain)
– Kyle Hall, Worx of Art EP 1 (Wild Oats)
– Liquid Liquid, Liquid Liquid (Grand Royal)
– Theo Parrish, Sound Sculptures Volume 1 (Sound Signature)
– Silver Apples, Selections from the Early Sessions (ChickenCoop Recordings)
– Droids, Star Peace (Barclay)
– La Düsseldorf, Viva (Water)
– Methusalem, Journey into the Unknown (Ariola)

Why?, Deerhunter, Chief Briggum land Sholi’s top slots of 2008

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Life force: Dead Science.

Another in a series of year-end picks from Bay Area musicians, writers, scene-makers, and music lovers.

MORE PICKS FROM SHOLI‘S PAYAM BAVAFA AND ERIC RUUD

– Dead Science, Villianaire (Constellation)
– Deerhoof, Offend Maggie (Kill Rock Stars)
– Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago (Jagjaguwar)
– Chief Briggum, Ambiguous Garment (self-released)
– Buildings Breeding, LP2 (self-released)
– Deerhunter, Microcastle (Kranky)
– Why?, Alopecia (Anticon)
– Beach House, Devotion (Carpark)
– Fennesz, Black Sea (Touch)
– Matmos, Supreme Balloon (Matador)
– Dodos, Visitor (French Kiss)
– What’s Up, Content Imagination (Obey Your Brain)
– Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend (XL)
– Love Is Chemicals, Song of the Summer Youth Brigade (Near Earth Objects)

Stoltz, Citadelle, Agent Ribbons make Neil Martinson smile: more picks from ‘2008

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The up side: Agent Ribbons.

Another in a series of year-end picks from Bay Area musicians, writers, scene-makers, and music lovers.

SMILE’S NEIL MARTINSON’S TOP 10

– Citadelle at the Knockout, Aug. 4
– Robert Forster at Great American Music Hall, Sept. 10
– Peter Hammill at Great American Music Hall, Sept. 30
– Kelley Stoltz, Circular Sounds (Sub Pop)
– The Moon Upstairs, Guarding the Golden Apple (Gifted Children)
– Various artists, Daisies soundtrack (Finders Keepers)
– Bart Davenport, Palaces (Antenna Farm)
– Lavender Diamond, www.myspace.com/lavenderdiamond
– Agent Ribbons, www.myspace.com/agentribbons
– Willow Willow, www.myspace.com/willowwillow

Fresh and Onlys and Sonny Smith’s ‘Fine and Good’ picks for ’08

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Ox-y contained: Dragging an Ox Through Water.

Another in a series of year-end picks from Bay Area musicians, writers, scene-makers, and music lovers.

SONNY SMITH‘S “FINE AND GOOD” LIST

– The Dry Spells
– The Fresh and Onlys
– Nodzzz
– Brilliant Colors
– Thee Oh Sees
– Sic Alps
– The Sandwitches
– Jeffrey Lewis
– Dragging an Ox Through Water

Guns N’ ‘Hits’ N’ the free market: Yellow Swans’ Gabriel Mindel gives up last year’s ‘Kill Yr Idols’ moments

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Caffeine-d: Sonic Youth’s Hits Are for Squares (Starbucks Entertainment)

Another in a series of year-end picks from Bay Area musicians, writers, scene-makers, and music lovers.

YELLOW SWANS‘ GABRIEL MINDEL’S TOP TEN KILL-YR-IDOLS MOMENTS OF 2008

1. Sonic Youth’s “Hits Are for Starbucks”
Crap, you guys — really?
2. Obama’s cabinet
Ah, hope and change, I hardly knew you …
3. Guns N’ Roses, Chinese Democracy (Interscope)
What about this isn’t beating a dead horse?
4. Scarlett Johansson, Anywhere I Lay My Head (Atco)
I think my crush has worn off.
5. Ian Curtis’ gravestone gets stolen
6. The “free market”
Too late, capitalism.
7. Heath Ledger.
8. MIA “retires”
I hope she’s better at this than Jay-Z.
9. Indian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Steven Spielberg, US)
10. The USAISAMONSTER announce their breakup
This is probably only a big deal to about 50 people, but it really does bum me out.

‘Girlfriend,’ Special Disco, Danzig: Michael Harkin’s tops for 2008

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Doing it better: Chromatics.

Another in a series of year-end picks from Bay Area musicians, writers, scene-makers, and music lovers.

MICHAEL HARKIN’S TOP 10

– Nobunny, “I Am a Girlfriend”
If the original Ramones replaced Tommy with a drum machine, it might’ve sounded as amazing as this track from Love Visions (1-2-3-4 Go!).
– Danzig at the Warfield
“Mother”… kicking a pizza box out of a roadie’s grasp … Glenn still rules.
– Nodzzz, Nodzzz mini-LP (What’s Your Rupture?)
Fantastic, distortion-free guitar pop.
– Special Disco Version at Mighty
God bless James Murphy and Pat Mahoney for their brilliant edits and many mirrorballs.

Dress up, hook up, play the unofficial office party: Hank IV’s tops of 2008

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On the loose: Los Llamarada.

Another in a series of year-end picks from Bay Area musicians, writers, scene-makers, and music lovers.

HANK IV’S TOP 10 OF 2008

-Los Llamarada at Cake Shop, November
-Newbridge Mayor-Elect Philly Boy Roy appointing Hammerhead as P.I.G. (Pit Inspector General) on the Best Show on WFMU
-Bassist Chris P. getting propositioned/accosted by a persistent lady superfan in the middle of playing a song at Budget Rock VII
-Los Llamarada ordering Pat’s cheesesteaks in Philly slang
-Mission of Burma’s road manager (and Clint’s brother) Jimmy Conley’s story about, as a teenager, being dressed up like a girl by Clint and taken to a mid-1970s New York Dolls show in NYC
–The Shield‘s final season
-Mayyors live
–In Bruges screening at the Shill Building
-Outdoor day party show at SXSW with Ross Johnson
-Buttholes Urfers live on the seventh floor of a Financial District office building at 4 a.m. for Donny Wyatt’s birthday

HANK IV
With Wooden Shjips and E-Zee Tiger
Jan. 22, 9 p.m., call for price
Eagle
398 12th St., SF
(415) 626-0880

The in crowd: Lil Wayne, Charles Hamilton, Zo! and Tigallo, and others make a hip-hop top 10

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Ladies do the same: Charles Hamilton’s “Brooklyn Girls.”

Another in a series of year-end picks from Bay Area musicians, writers, scene-makers, and music lovers.

DANIEL N. ALVAREZ’S TOP 10

10) Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III (Cash Money/Universal)

If for no other reason, Tha Carter III belongs on this list, because it proves that in the age of illegal downloading, hip-hop can still commercially thrive. While the record is uneven, its widespread success was achieved by Wayne’s hard work and prolific output. Most of his mixtapes, especially the ones in the “Da Drought” series, are stronger than this record, yet this album does have some dizzying high points. His expansive collaboration with the elder with Jay-Z, “Mr. Carter,” brilliantly builds to an explosive crescendo, where Wayne lets his hair down and destroys Infamous’ soulful beat.

“Next time you mention ‘Pac, Biggie, or Jay-Z, don’t forget Weezy, baby!” – Mr. Carter

9) Kidz in the Hall, The In Crowd (Duck Down)

Bursting out of hip-hop hotbed, the University of Pennsylvania, the duo’s breakthrough effort is one of the slickest of the year. Riding old-school soul beats, provided by Michael Aguilar (a.k.a., Double-O), the group’s MC Jabari Evans (Naledge) effortlessly cruises through downtown Chicago, putting a premium on storytelling. Often unfairly lumped in with the “hipster-hop” crowd, Kidz in the Hall’s sound actually aligns more with the Chicago scene, drawing striking parallels to Common and pre-robot Kanye West.

“And I’m looking blessed, like I said achoo.” – “Drivin’ Down The Block (Low End Theory)”

Super Ego: New Years blasts — pop, pop!

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Here’s a very select blast of bubbly, DJ-driven New Years Eve parties. All events take place Wednesday, Dec. 31 — and those marked "late" go afterhours for your party-hopping pleasure.

Afrolicious

Feel a warm, wet vibe of the new with DJ Sabo of Sol Selectas, residents Pleasuremaker and Señor Oz, live percussionists, and hundreds of gyrating lovelies.

10 p.m., $20. Elbo Room, 647 Valencia, SF. www.elbo.com

Bootie Pirate Party

Arrrr — it’s 2k9! Swing from the mashup club’s mizzenmast with Smash-Up Derby live and DJs Adrian and Mysterious D, Party Ben, Dada, and Earworm.

9 p.m.–late, $25 advance. DNA Lounge, 375 11th St., SF. www.bootiesf.com

Booty Call NYE

Drag mother Juanita More, playboy Joshua J., DJ Initials P.B., performer Hoku Mama Swamp, and star photographer Brandon — look smart! — bring all the hot boys together to pop a few corks.

8:30 p.m., Check Web site for price. The Bar, 456 Castro, SF. www.juanitamore.com

Eclectic Fever Masquerade

Shake your feathers and bhangra in the new with the NonStop Bhangra dance troupe, and then get global with Sila and the Afrofunk Experience, Daronda, and DJ Felina.

9 p.m.–late, $55. Gift Center Pavilion, 888 Brannan, SF. www.eclecticfever.com

Imagine

Spundae and Mixed Elements explode with local house heroes Kaskade, Trevor Simpson, and baLi — plus, a jungle room and "shiny confetti rain."

8 p.m., $60 advance. Ruby Skye, 420 Mason, SF. www.rubyskye.com

Love Unlimited

Almost every fab disco crew — Gemini Disco, DJ Bus Station John, Honey Soundsystem, Ferrari, Beat Electric — comes together for this all-night beat blast with DJ Cosmo Vitelli.

9 p.m., $15 advance. Paradise Lounge, 308 11th St., SF. www.myspace.com/honeysoundsystem

Deerhunter, ‘Devotion’: the Morning Benders weigh in with a top 10

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Park life: Department of Eagles.

Another in a series of year-end picks from Bay Area players.

THE MORNING BENDERS‘ TOP 10 PICKS OF 2008

1. Department of Eagles, In Ear Park (4AD)
(and the rest in no particular order)
– Beach House, Devotion (Carpark)
– Deerhunter, Microcastle (Kranky)
– Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, US)
– Coldplay, Viva la Vida (Capitol)

Between Oakland soul and the ‘Black Sea’: A top 10 from Jeff Ray of Mission Creek Music Festival

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Itchy and scratchy: Tomutonttu’s Ultra Eczema art.

‘Tis the season – here’s another in a series of top 10s from Bay Area musicians, writers, and scenesters.

JEFF RAY’S TOP 10

– Favorite album: Fennesz, Black Sea (Touch)
Should be renamed Endless Winter. So incredibly lush and can warm up any long Ukrainian winter night.
– Favorite band: MGMT
Fun, danceable, catchy but not stupid.
– Favorite music series, “Relay” at the Lab, Oct. 22–Nov. 15
Great experimental music series hosted by the Lab. Folks from Finland and Fonal Records, Tomutonttu, Thuja, and Loren Chasse all performed, along with others. The sonic works were inspiring to listen to and watch. The Lab is awesome: www.thelab.org.

Hardly art, hardly garbage: Fall Out Boy at Great American Music Hall

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By Michael Harkin

“Why’d they have to do the concert on this day, when they knew it’d be rainin’?” You posed a good question, Mr. Passerby. I arrived at Great American Music Hall at 11:45 a.m. on this damp, overcast Sunday morning, Dec. 22, and 150 people were already lined up around the corner from the club. Mostly teenage girls around, but lots of parents toted umbrellas and blankets – what good sports! – knowing full well that they’d be out there another seven hours with their kids before doors.

My neighbors in line had variously traveled from Stockton, Mountain View, and San Jose, willing to pay far more than the $20 door price to see Fall Out Boy that night. Their health ‘neath those Decaydance hoodies wasn’t quite as important as the close proximity the venue would afford them.

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I can’t readily provide a sufficient rationale for standing out in the rain this long, especially when the band in question is the embodiment of commercial rock’s absurdity – they headlined the Honda Civic Tour last year, for heaven’s sake – and regularly employ such overwrought, cumbersome song titles as “I’m Like a Lawyer with the Way I’m Always Trying to Get You Off (Me and You).” That said, I like ’em anyway – hard to say why. And this beats paying 60 bucks to see them with some terrible bands at the HP Pavilion next summer, right?

Please keep Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan in mind, sweetheart

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ISOBEL CAMPBELL AND MARK LANEGAN
Sunday at Devil Dirt
(Fontana International)

By Todd Lavoie

In this week’s new pop canon spread, I got a chance to hail hosannas upon the late great Lee Hazlewood, whose presence has been quite deeply felt in some of the finest music of 2008. Perhaps the stamp of influence was most deeply inked, however, with Sunday at Devil Dirt, the second collaboration between wispy-piped ingénue Isobel Campbell and croak-baritoned brooder Mark Lanegan.

Here, sad-eyed orchestral pop meets dusty country blues, frequently with dreamlike results – much like Hazlewood’s signature showdowns with duet-partner Nancy Sinatra. Pitching Lanegan’s growls and grumbles against Campbell’s decidedly sweeter murmurs makes for a fascinating update of the Lee ‘n’ Nancy blueprint, but there’s a twist.

Whereas Hazlewood played the Svengali to Sinatra – writing the songs and arrangements and often taking the second seat, vocally speaking, to his partner – here the roles are switched, with Campbell at the helm musically but sticking largely to the second mic in deference to Lanegan’s bellowing lead. Having written almost the entirety of the disc, as well as handling all arrangement and production duties, Campbell has worked some spine-tingling trickery from her place in the shadows: Lanegan gets the bigger boom in the mix, yes, but behind the whisper-thin sighs and coos, it is Campbell who is in control.

Nite Trax: The Jeff Mills mix that made me live in 2008

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Nite Trax: The Jeff Mills mix that made me live in 2008

I’m a-freezing my hanukkah latkes off in Detroit right now (-10 wind chill), so maybe it’s appropriate, among the blizzard of end-of-year lists, that I pop in my hot mix of the year. All 45 Ghostworld conga-line minutes of Detroit wizard Jeff Mills’ triple-table symphonic techno tour de force, “The Exhibitionist.”

Before the techno purists claw my ears out, yes this mix came out in late 2k7 — but I’m on drag time. (I also grew up listening to Jeff as the Wizard, with the Memorexes to prove it, so I can name him king of any damn year I want.)

What really got me about this mind-blowing performance (the sleeve clean at 17:20 made me burst into tears) was how Mills tweaked the massive global rhythms that have always existed subconsciously below fine techno’s surface to come up with the kind of polyrhythmy that dubstep can only achieve at its best. Kinda space samba-y.

Not that it’s a competition — and I was addicted to more dubstep mixes this year than I can count — but I’m a technoist at heart, and this mix really said something I’ve been trying to say for years: that machine music possesses a global soul. I will eternally worship the person who transcribes this for the New York Philharmonic. Or whips out the entire set at Carnaval.

BONUS: Some SF-made mixes I loved this past year:

Lazer Sword: Future Blaps

Kontrol: XLR8R techno tear-up

Richie Panic: An Amazing Lifelike Companion

Public: all mixes (esp. Metallica)

Jews rock out for Hanukkah as if the Spanish Inquisition never happened

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Old-school musical mash-ups – hold the torture: DeLeon.

By Michelle Broder Van Dyke

Eight days of fun packed into one night: two bands, DJs, latkes, He’Brew beer tastings, halvah, Hanukkah survival kits, and a menorah-lighting ceremony – this surely surpasses any party Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, and Blitzen are planning to throw this holiday season.

New York band DeLeon reinterprets pre-Spanish Inquisition Sephardic folk melodies sung in Ladino (a Judeo-Spanish language), Hebrew, and English into postmodern rock compositions. Fusing Spanish and Middle Eastern percussion and electronic rhythms along with a mixture of each aforementioned language, DeLeon’s songs commandeer an array of emotions, ranging from lovelorn and woeful to lighthearted and gleeful, while reclaiming an ancient folk tradition for a modern audience.

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