ABANDONSHIP

6th album to 5uu's and this time 5uu's is mainly Dave Kerman all by himself, with almost no other players. This album recorded here in Tel Aviv, Israel, when Dave Kerman, the highly acclaimed avant-rock drummer-composer leaved in Israel for a couple of years. 'Tel Aviv' songs are 'Penguins on Dizengoff' and 'Hill of spring' (translation from 'Tel Aviv'). 'Penguins on Dizengoff' deal with the ridiculous Penguins statues that placed all around Dizengoff Street back in 2000. Indeed, the contradiction between the two could not be greater. North Pole Penguins could not survive in a hot, humidity summer day in Tel Aviv .Dave's humor and irony are here, in the nice tune of this not-long instrumental piece, featuring effects of trickling water in the middle section.

'Hill of spring' is a song that evolves from quite to soaring mood, with moving lyrics about a man who 'lost' in Tel Aviv. It reminds me some Israeli songs about Tel Aviv that written by some song writers and poetess. In fact, for me, Dave Kerman is a true lyricist and a song- writer, let alone an innovative drummer and pushing-the-boundaries avant-gardist. The line 'Florentine is hell-bent' from that song perhaps deals with Florentine street, that became a nice coffee-shops and galleries street, yet the surrounding environment has still been very industrial, with a lot of carpenter houses and welding shops.

As mentioned above, Dave is the almost-only instrumentalist in this album. The album sound is ruled by his very energetic drums, rhythms and percussion, (Also played by Aviv Barak, on 'Thoroughly modern Attila'). Most of the complicated and entangled tunes are done by Keyboards, with many different sounds and effects. Bass and electric guitars could be heard from time to time, but not on a regular basis as in a complete rock band. Various effects are all throughout, mainly street noises. Tel Aviv streets come alive in this album with street vendors voices, honking and car sirens. The Effects, samples, recordings, sound and production made by Udi Koomran, who did a great job, in a small, ordinary department in Tel Aviv. Well it seems to be that there is no need in picturesque farms in south of France in order to create valuable products (Heh Heh). In fact this album is a true cooperation between Dave and Udi right from the start, and one can feel it while listening.

Deborah Perry helped with her wonderful vocals, from Oregon, United States. Her vocals are always a pleasure for me, but for this time the tunes range seems to be very low for a female voice, even on the lower side, what make a less contribution for clarity and crystallite at some part of the already-complicated tunes. Indeed the vocals sound very 'bottomed' some times. Nevertheless, it's still a pleasure to listen to Deborah's singing, albeit this restriction.

Some more 'track information': from the longer tracks, my favorite is the closer 'Belly-Up': A very atmospheric track, without losing the edge. It features slow-down and fasten spoken vocals. It ends with acoustic guitars and interesting sounds and harmonies. And in Dave's usual manner, a little sting at the end. Another favorite of mine is the opener (track 2), 'Couple number 3 is a solo'. This song is about a lonely woman who dancing her life out, with a lot of rhythms, dance samples like Tango, trumpets blast, a great tap-dancing that performed live on the studio/department by Zahi Patish, And a pinch of Hebrew ('Mispar shalosh' means 'number 3').

In short, a highly recommended album that proves that a phenomenon like Dave can do it all by himself, in a small, inconvenient and restless country, certainly not the first place you would think of as a candidate for recording an edgy avant rock album. But don't get me wrong, I'm not against Dave doing some real band recordings, and in fact I'm willing for another album, it's been 13 years already.

By this review, I some kind of 'abandon' myself. I've decided on a 'relative retirement' from writing reviews, out of many reasons. I intend to finish my James Grigsby duties (U totem, Motor totemist guild), and maybe write some more very few reviews, and a bit of ratings. But it will take a long time, and there won't be much more than that. Goodbye than.

* More information about this album, from Dave himself, and nice pictures from Udi, at Udi's blog

udi-koomran.blogspot.co.il

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