![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/home\/yiddis6\/public_html\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/kosher-records.jpg\" "\\"kosher")
<\/a>Notso Kosher Records<\/p><\/div>\n
My desk<\/strong><\/span> is piled high with free CDs: Ezekiel\u2019s Wheels,<\/a> Golem<\/a>, all kinds of Dutch and Polish bands, and the old standbys — Klezmer Conservatory Band<\/a> and the Klezmatics<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 12 best klez CDs of 2012 jumped out of the pile and said, \u201cKiss me, I\u2019m Jewish.\u201d<\/p>\n These recordings (listed below) are the nonrequired klezmer albums for the year.\u00a0 These recordings are essential:<\/p>\n 2. I Believe in Cod<\/em>.\u00a0 Andy Statman<\/a> flips out.\u00a0 Sample lyrics: \u201cMay cod bless you and guide you . . . . Praise cod in the high heaven and in the deep sea . . . Teeming oceans, fire and hail, snow and mist, storm and wind, obey cod\u2019s will.\u201d<\/p>\n Alan Douglass, Yiddishe Cup enforcer, 2011<\/p><\/div>\n 4. <\/strong><\/span>This Can\u2019t<\/strong><\/span> Be Klezmer<\/em> by Yiddishe Cup. This Ohio band goes outside the matzo box and constructs a toy jail, complete with corporal punishment. Perfect for the heartbroken, horny and dead.\u00a0 Yiddishe Cup mixes barely adequate musicianship with a touch of humor.\u00a0 On \u201cToot,\u201d an earthy trombone solo morphs into a mimicry of flatulence.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t sound like klezmer, but what did you expect from This Can\u2019t Be Klezmer<\/em>?<\/p>\n 5. \u00a0Nonhierarchical Dynamics<\/em> by tsimblist Pete Rushefsky<\/a>.\u00a0 Nothing on the 1 and 3; it\u2019s all off-beats.\u00a0 Drives you crazy, but in a provocative way.\u00a0 There is an after-party. You have to be in New York City to get full value.\u00a0 Beer by Brooklyn Brewing.\u00a0 Be there.<\/p>\n 6. The Recluse<\/em> by Merlin Shepherd<\/a>.\u00a0 Shepherd, a British clarinetist and actor, reads Thomas Hardy poems while his wife, Polina, does consecutive Russian translation. The clarinet licks are sparse, but apropos to lyrics.\u00a0 Novel.<\/p>\n 7. Correspondence<\/em><\/strong><\/span> by Michael Wex<\/a>.\u00a0 Wexmaniacs,\u00a0 you’ll love this: 60 LOL minutes of Wex badinage from his KlezKanada emceeing. \u00a0Can anybody top Wex\u2019s Walter-Brennan-is-a-Jew riff?\u00a0\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Almost as good: Wex’s riff about trash-talking Miami Heat Yiddish-spewers. \u00a0 All but LeBron, who remains the Hebraist.<\/p>\n 8. Odorless and Colorless<\/em>.\u00a0 Shtreiml<\/a>.\u00a0 Bandleader Jason Rosenblatt spent years in the lab on this one.\u00a0 This record is rotten.\u00a0 It contains sulfur. \u00a0Le jazz hot<\/em> — and funky — from Montreal.<\/p>\n Jack Stratton, about 2008<\/p><\/div>\n 9. Without a Net<\/em>. Acrobat-and-drummer Jack Stratton<\/a> uses metal parts from surgeries gone bad — mostly hip replacements — to perform Meron-klez drum licks.\u00a0 Particularly good: \u201cBlur Blind,\u201d \u201cBodies Thrown Back\u201d and \u201cClarity.\u201d\u00a0 The rest of the album is pretty conventional.<\/p>\n 10. <\/strong><\/span>I Want<\/strong><\/span> to Make You Edible <\/em>by Yiddish Princess<\/a>.\u00a0 Lead singer Sarah Gordon does freestyle rapping here about cereal (Kashi Autumn Wheat and Island Vanilla), which leads to kishke<\/em>, which leads to ka-ka.\u00a0 Juvenile.\u00a0 And fun!<\/p>\n 11. Red-Dirt Jewboys<\/em>. Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys<\/a> go down to Georgia on this one.\u00a0 How does Margot\u00a0 balance her terrific cross-cultural composing and heavy drinking? \u00a0Margot is the klezmer mixologist for the 21st<\/sup> century.\u00a0 Her next album is, efsher<\/em>, Klezmer Gamelan<\/em>?<\/p>\n<\/a>1. Orlando<\/em><\/strong><\/span>,<\/strong><\/span> 3 Days, 2 Nights. <\/em>Frank London and his Klezmer Brass All-Stars<\/a> lead us on a klez tour of Disney World. Talk about selling out \u2013 but a good <\/em>selling out.\u00a0 The cut \u201cMickey\u2019s Philharmonic\u201d features London on electric toothbrush — pulse position. \u00a0\u201cWhistle While You Work\u201d is all about short people — Jewish short people: Billy Crystal, Abe Beame and Menachem Begin, and that\u2019s just the first 30 seconds.<\/p>\n<\/a>3. The Room Where I Was Born<\/em>.\u00a0 Violinist Steven Greenman<\/a> recreates the aural architecture of his childhood bedroom in Pittsburgh.\u00a0 Check out the Steelers pennants and Fiddler on the Roof<\/em> LPs. Greenman does a cover version of the Klezmorim\u2019s \u201cMedyatsiner Waltz,\u201d which itself was a cover. Sweaty and no A\/C.<\/p>\n