Puerto Rican Nights

Tel Aviv's Boom Pam returns with a second album for Essay Recordings. Puerto Rican Nights is made up entirely of cover versions of the beloved tunes they've been playing live throughout the years, and which are now officially being released for the first time. As the band explains, "Our mix really describes Tel Aviv... a place where people from all over the world meet. This sound is a sharp cocktail of all the different styles that collide here. And we try to bring them all together." Their music is a prolific dialogue between East and West, with an almost hypnotizing virtuosity and eloquence that moves you. Each member of the band differs from the other and plays an equally important part within the exchange of their artistic personalities. Whether it's their great version of "Shayeret Harochvim" with Maor Cohen (originally a song by Israeli folk pioneers Dudaim), which they turn into a country/surf/Israeli rock version, their theatrical version of "Marylyn Jones," a song from an Israeli Hassidic comedy, with the charismatic singer Dror Romem, or sticking tight to the groove of Tomer Yosef's "Ani Rotze Lazuz" ("I Want to Move"), Boom Pam hold onto their roots, while pulling up others deep from the Balkan underground. There are three great tunes which Uri found on his parents' old cassettes from their days in a Balkan dance group: The first is the dramatic opener "Ushest," and the second is "Krai Dunavsko," in which they flow freely from Greek music to dirty rock 'n' roll, and the third is "Chervoné Coralé." They also bring Dick Dale to life with their speedy version of "The Wedge," drawing new connections between American surf guitar and the glissando sound of Arabic quarter tones. "Longa Sultaniyegah" is an old Turkish song which Uzi learned from his brother. "Ay Carmela" appears in two shiny versions, one instrumental and the other with singer Italo Gonzales. The song was part of the soundtrack to the Israeli movie Comrade, and the section starring the band is included as a bonus video, along with the video for "Dalida." the instrumental version of the song "Boom Pam" is also here, since it has become their personal trademark. Boom Pam are: Uzi Feinerman (guitars, banjo, harmonica & vocals), Yuval "Tuby" Zolotov (tuba), Uri Brauner Kinrot (guitars, saxophone & vocals), Dudu Kohav (drums & percussion).