Is it klezmer? Is it punk rock? It’s both! Trombonist Dan Blacksburg has long had a predilection for honoring his Jewish heritage by parlaying it into some of highly progressive, audacious music that also happens to be wildly fun. Electric Simcha was one of those radical experimentations, using traditional Hasidic wedding and other celebratory music and mashing it against the raw, rail-less energy of thrash rock. Joy is a long-lost document from that time, a full studio album recorded in 2011 and recently rediscovered.
Electric Simcha only existed for a couple of years around the late 2000’s early 2010’s, when Blacksberg was also active with his Dan Blacksberg Trio. But Electric Simcha was a quartet, with Nick Millevoi on guitar, Travis Woodson on bass and Julius Masri behind the drum set; Blacksberg of course played trombone.
Blacksberg doesn’t just play trombone, he sings, though except for “Rachomono” it’s really gravelly vocalizing between trombone blasts, pushing this music closer to Black Flag even as his wailing also very much evokes traditional Eastern European music. It’s not only just appropriate here, the music wouldn’t have the same jew-punk attitude without it.
“Freygish” is so rapid, it’s hard to imagine how you’d dance to it, but you’d want to dance to it all the same. Blacksberg’s vocal yells get closer to the Cookie Monster with each passing run and Millevoi is just letting his chops all hang out in rapid-fire fashion. Just when you think the song has run its course, it hops over to a new melody but same quick tempo.
Millevoi’s heavily distorted guitar guides “Nigunim” through a very klezmer melody and after an interlude alone, the band returns with a runaway train vengeance. Blacksberg really belts it out — convincingly — for “Rachomono,” and that commanding performance is paired with Millevoi shredding out of his mind. The doom-dirge approach to “Oz” is perfect for this sad but unforgettable melody.
Woodson and Masri get their turn in the sun during “Simcha,” the former taking a ridiculously overamped bass and creating a thundercloud of chaos. It ends up being an extended prologue for more irresistibly chirpy Hasidic jubilant music and Millevoi guitar rage.
This is the rare kind of music that’s both incendiary and charming. Think of it as Jewish party music for the punk set, but you don’t have to be either Jewish or punk to enjoy the hell out of this.
Joy is now available on Bandcamp.
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