Ceci N'est Pas un Blog: "Sing in idiom of disgrace"

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

"Sing in idiom of disgrace" - The Shondes

Do you miss Sleater-Kinney and Bikini Kill? Give this Queercore feminist punk-slash-Jewish traditional music a spin! It's Riot Grrrl with violins! And it's a band I've really been meaning to write about for some time!

In the beginning, there was no shame. And that was, well, a shame. Brooklyn's radical Jewish, genderqueer, post- Riot Grrrl-cum-classical quartet The Shondes (a name that comes from the Yiddish for "shame" or "disgrace") released their debut album, The Red Sea, in January 2008. Which this plebeian's gladsome ears think is really rather smashing.

Carrie Brownstein vocals meet soaring violins, complex arrangements, political lyrics, a good bit of angst and we wind up with something epic, stirring, mosh-inducing, and definitely worth your investment.

Introducing:

Temim Fruchter - drums/vocals

aka 'The Rebbe'

Louisa Solomon - bass/vocals

aka 'The Mischling Menace'

Ian Brannigan - guitar

aka 'The Shiksa'

Elijah Oberman - violin/vocals

aka 'The Farfoilt Fiddler'

The Shondes have already shared a stage with the likes of Erase Errata, Mecca Normal, Electralane and Lesbians On Ecstasy - musical sensibilities, check. They are activists with such groups as Jews Against the Occupation and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, as well as co-founding (Temim and Elijah) the Reverb Conspiracy, a series of monthly radical readings - political sensibilities, check.

I can confirm that one should feel absolutely no shame for listening to this!