Israel

Rodney Anonymous vs. The World

by Rodney Anonymous

Artist: Idan Raichel

Surprisingly, your mildly retarded redneck neighbor was actually onto something that time when he started ranting about how "them thar Jews is everywhere." As it turns out, with the notable exception of Louis Farrakhan's block party, Jews can be found in every corner of the world. Israeli keyboardist Idan Raichel even managed to find Jews in Ethiopia, Yemen and the Caribbean. Then he lured them away from law school and the Garment District and into his recording studio long enough to record The Idan Raichel Project for the Cumbancha label with the laudable goal of blending together the most diverse musical elements of the Jewish diaspora.

The Project is such a positive undertaking that you just can't help but pull for it to succeed; which makes it all the more heartbreaking when Idan fails to deliver the (kosher) goods. This is by no means a bad effort, but it could've been much, much better. The main culprit here is Idan's studio. I'm willing to bet these songs sounded perfect before they were moved indoors. Unfortunately Idan has loaded up the tracks with syrupy organ and twinkly piano and then wrapped the vocals in a warm, fuzzy reverb so that what we're left with is a nice CD. A quiet CD. The kind of CD you could take home to mother: You know, the sort of music that gets played in restaurants.

And while not every song qualifies as musical wallpaper — a couple drip so heavily with Middle Eastern textures and rhythms that you'll hardly be surprised when the Department of Homeland Security breaks down your door and subjects you to a canine-assisted cavity search — these few inspired standouts are hardly enough to make the average goy put down that pork sandwich and join a kibbutz.

Verdict:

Since roughly 30 percent of all U.S. foreign aid goes to Israel, it's pretty unlikely Idan and his pals would even notice another check, whereas an invasion of Israel would certainly go a long way toward changing the Muslim world's opinion of America. Plus our troops would only have to hang on to the Holy Land until Jesus Christ returns, which our top government Christo Scientists assure us will be any day now.

(r_anonymous@citypaper.net)

www.rodneyanonymous.com — homepage for the reputable, decent and sophisticated.