Ma Pitom?

Pitom  are an intriguing propostion. As their Myspace site describes them:

Pitom is guitarist and composer Yoshie Fruchter's musical experiment and exploration into the music that has inspired him. Taking cues from the punk/rock aesthetic of bands like Nirvana and Iggy Pop and the experimental "downtown" Jewish scene, including Zorn and Hassidic New Wave, Pitom rocks you hard - but with class, and both a respect for and disregard of tradition.

What I like about them (from the four songs available on the site) is that they aren't afraid to rock. Ideologically I love the 'downtown' New York scene that the blurb refers to. However, I find it difficult to warm to the dominant jazz-influenced, klezmer-influenced, experimental stuff like you find on Tzadik . John Zorn has been a crucial figure in pushing the boundaries of Jewish music, but his Jewish acolytes have tended not to pick up on hispunk and metal-influenced side, like you find in his Painkiller, Naked City and Electric Masada work. Anyway, Pitom seems less embarassed about using rock/punk as a resource in Jewish musical explorations and good on them.

M