Metal Jew

Israeli Metal compilation

A while ago Metal Israel published a call for artists to be part of a new compilation of unsigned Israeli Metal bands.  There were three 'rules':

Unsigned bands only.
No heresy.
No girl singers.

Aviva, who runs Metal Israel is an orthodox Jew and disaproves of heresy and female singing.

Yesterday I received the following mass e-mail:

Hi There,

I wanted to let you know that I am producing a CD to feature the very best unsigned Metal and Rock bands from Israel!

The CD will be released on our label the Jewish Music Group which is distributed by Sony-BMG in the USA!

Can you please spread the word to all the bands in Israel (female lead singers are wanted too!!) to send a demo CD to:

CA Dean Schachtel
National Director Of Sales And Licensing
Jewish Music Group
11825 Ventura Blvd.
Studio City, CA 91604, USA

They can also E-mail me an MP3 of a song to dean@jewishmusicgroup.com 

Here is a little background on me. I have been in the music business
For 25+years. I worked for the Warner Music Group (Warner Bros./Atlantic
Records) for over 10 years where I did A&R and I produced many albums
including the great ?Stand Up And Shout: Dio Anthology? for Ronnie James Dio!!

 We are going to pay the bands to appear on the CD and they will get
fantastic worldwide exposure as it will be covered in all major rock
and metal magazines, websites and radio!

I e-mailed Dean back and he confirmed that Metal Israel is no longer involved. It's interesting that the e-mail emphasises that female singers are okay. Heresy also appears to be fine as well. Of course both are fine with me too, but I do wonder if the project might be better run by Metal Israel. I doubt whether the compilation can acheive what Dean claims it will do. Unsigned band compilations are ten a penny in the Metal world and rarely sell well. Does the Jewish Music Group have the expertise to market this in the underground? We'll see - I certainly hope the compilation does well.

Actually, this isn't the first compilation of Israeli bands. The Israheller compilation came out over 10 years ago and although not all the bands were unsigned, most of them were. There was also a  tape compilation in the early 90s called 'Unholy Bands From The Holy Land'.

 

Apologies

I had a few formatting problems with the blog. Apologies - normal service has now resumed.

Aborted tattoo

There's a picture of the Belgian death metal band Aborted in the latest issue of Terrorizer in which one of the band is sporting a Hebrew tattoo. It appears to read 'Emet Anochi Kofer' which I think translates to something like 'Truth I Absolve'. Does anyone know what this means - is it a quote from somewhere? And why does the guy have it on his arm?

Manowar

Talking of Manowar (previous post), there's an excellent lengthy article on them by Adrien Begrand in Popmatters (link courtesy of Running the Voodoo Down). Haven't had time to read it yet but can't wait to do so - Manowar and absurdly over-the-top Metal acts were a major theme in my book and still fascinate me.

Metal: A New Respectability?

A recent survey by two academics from Warwick University reveals that Metal was very popular in a sample of 'gifted and talented youth'. I'm pretty lukewarm about surveys of this kind (and perhaps a little jealous of the level of media coverage the authors received), but what's interesting is that it's been the cue for some sympathetic articles on Metal fromThe Independent The Guardian , The Observer and even (God help us) The Telegraph.

It's possible that music journos may be finally about to twig that Metal is the most vibrant source of innovation in rock. The rise of 'hipster metal' (i.e. Sunno))) et. al.) has helped in this process. Simon Reynolds (acclaimed music journo and long-term Metal sympatico) has posted some interested discussions on Metal in the past few weeks on his blog.  He links to a couple of other excellent posts on Metal by music critics here and here.

The interesting question (which I discuss in detail in my book) is whether, if elements of Metal garner critical acclaim from respected music journos, the Metal scene would stay the same. Many Metallers actively disdain critical acclaim. My argument is that one can't separate hipster Metal from the defiantly un-hip context within which it emerged - to remove it from that context is to risk losing something important. Much as though I get a frisson in reading about Blut Aus Nord in The Wire for example, there is something dessicated and bloodless about high art appreciations of Metal. What I love about magazines such as Terrorizer is their simultaneous love of avant-garde experimentalism and dumb populist Power Metal. If you love Mastodon but hate Manowar then maybe you're missing something...

Metallica and Philosophy

Blackwell are about to publish a collection called Metallica and Philosophy . It's hard to tell what it's like without reading but here is the contents:

Metallica and Philosophy

Edited by: William Irwin (King's College)

Series: The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series

Who's Who in the Metal Miltia
Heroes of the Day: Acknowledgments
Hit the Lights
DISC 1 ON THROUGH THE NEVER
1. Whisper Things Into My Brain: Metallica, Emotion, and Morality
Robert Fudge
2. This Search Goes On: Christian, Warrior, Buddhist
William Irwin
3. Alcoholica: When Sweet Amber Becomes the Master of Puppets
Bart Engelen
4. Through the Mist and the Madness: Metallica's Message of Nonconformity, Individuality, and Truth
Thomas Nys
DISC 2 EXISTENSICA: METALLICA MEETS EXISTENTIALISM
5. The Metal Militia and the Existentialists' Club
J. Jeremy Wisnewski
6. The Struggle Within: Hetfield, Kierkegaard, and the Pursuit of Authenticity
Philip Lindholm
7. Metallica, Nietzsche, and Marx: The Immorality of Morality
Peter S. Fosl
8. Metallica's Existential Freedom: From We to I and Back Again
Rachael Sotos
DISC 3 LIVING AND DYING, LAUGHING AND CRYING
9. To Live is to Die: Metallica and the Meaning of Life
Scott Calef
10. Madness in the Mirror of Reason: Metallica and Foucault on Insanity and Confinement
Brian K. Cameron
11. Ride the Lightning: Why Not Execute Killers?
Thom Brooks
12. Living and Dying as One: Suffering and the Ethics of Euthanasia
Jason T. Eberl
13. Fade to Black: Absurdity, Suicide, and the Downward Spiral
Justin Donhauser and Kimberly A. Blessing
DISC 4 METAPHYSICA, EPISTEMOLOGICA, METALLICA
14. Believer, Deceiver: Metallica, Perception, and Reality
Robert Arp
15. Trapped in Myself: "One" and the Mind-Body Problem
Joanna Corwin
16. Is It Still Metallica? On the Identity of Rock Bands Over Time
Manuel Bremer and Daniel Cohnitz
DISC 5 FANS AND THE BAND
17. Metallica Drops a Load: What Do Bands and Fans Owe Each Other?
Mark D. White
18. The Unsocial Sociability of Humans and Metal Gods
Niall Scott
19. Boys Interrupted: The Drama of Male Bonding in Some Kind of Monster
Judith Grant
20. Justice for All? Metallica's Argument Against Napster and Internet File Sharing
Robert A. Delfino
The Phantom Lord's Index

New song by Salem

The website Ynet has a great performance of a new song, 'Blood', by veteran Israeli Metallers Salem. From the evidence it looks like the new album will be killer:

'Blood'

My first review!

Just seen the first review of my book - in the Time Higher Education Supplement (16 March 2007 edition). They gave it quite a bit of space with a photo of Cradle Of Filth. John Street was very nice about it and I'm altogether pretty damn chuffed.

Jewdas session

Next Wednesday 21st March I'll be teaching at Jewdas rootless cosmopolitan yeshiva . It promises to be an interesting evening (although the presence of the pro-Israel-boycotters John Rose and Sue Blackwell sticks in the gullet a little). I'll be 'discussing Jewish 'texts of denial' and looking at how otherwise intelligent members of the Jewish community suppress uncomfortable political and historical truths'.

Good news

Sanity has prevalied and Tea Packs will be representing Israel at Eurovision