Teiku is like Kurt Cobain dancing the hora with James Taylor at a cracked out wedding.

12 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Progressive Rock, ROCK: Psychedelic



Details:
Teiku-the name of the album and the initiative behind it-displays an impressive collection of skills. Asher Levi's bass strikes an excellent balance between punchy and warm, and Yisrael Abehsera certainly has chops on the drums. Michael Tewner, known more for his work on bass, plays keyboards here with great sensitivity, while Rapaport's vocals are tender yet forceful.

On "Dangerous Trampoline," Rapaport's intimate singing gives way to lush Steve Miller-like harmonies. "Approaching" and "Beautiful" feature meandering, jazzlike melodies and the latter sublimely complex rhythms. The art-rock studio numbers "On my Way," "Control" and "Pain," take the listener into enjoyably dark corners.

The word Teiku, a classical rabbinic concept referring to an irresolvable conundrum, in modern Hebrew refers to a tie in sports. Not to be confused with the progressive New York-based Jewish band of the same name from the Seventies, this Teiku wrestles fiercely with themes of personal direction, existential angst, the echo of love, heaviness alongside light, and religious yearning.

More than anything else, this artsy recording is moody and introspective, but not in a manner that weighs too heavily on the listener.

Perhaps Teiku's unique strength is the way it approaches Jewish music. Nothing here is shaped by adherence to predetermined categories; the extent to which the album is "Jewish" is dictated only by Rapaport's Jewish-tinted perspective on the world.