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 Caught in the Carousel - Music Reviews and More
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Socalled
Ghettoblaster
JDub
Growing up, my rabbi always told me how meat and dairy don’t ever go together. Fair enough. But he never said anything about the Torah and hip-hop. Hailing from Quebec, Socalled (the pseudonym for Canuck musician Josh Dolgin) is a cultural Rubik’s Cube—he’s Jewish, he’s fascinated with Eastern European sheltls and Yiddish vaudeville, he plays hip-hop and he also plays the accordion. Top that. Now that Matisyahu has made it cool to be a Jewish rapper who loves reggae (the Beastie Boys made it cool to be Jewish rappers who love hardcore), the world has softened a bit and the road has been paved for someone like Dolgin. With his trusty Akai MPC by his side, Dolgin sings about history and culture and just where this world is headed. Fueled by a stray sax and a light, breezy beat “(These Are The) Good Old Days” is an uneasy polemic about conspicuous consumption; “(Rock The) Belz” is a wondrously sampled stew of hip-hop and Yiddish, bringing to mind the collaboration between Terry Hall and Mushtaq on The Hour Of Two Lights; and “You Are Never Alone” though it features a rousing rap, is really a collision of World rhythms and soulful breaks. But if Ghettoblaster is one thing, it’s a difficult album to predict—for example, the decidedly misleading title of “Slaughter On 10th Avenue” is a heartfelt and meditative piano instrumental, while “Bikel Family Nign” is an a cappella number courtesy of the pipes of a lone avuncular voice—the kind of voice belonging to your eccentric, though beloved Uncle Harel. Okay, fine: my Uncle Harel. Inventive, original and armed with a social conscience that looks to both the mistakes of history and the flaws of the present for answers, Ghettoblaster is a rousing call to arms; a manifesto for getting it together and hoping it stays that way. Oy, this is good…
--Alex Green
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