Catastrophic Life

“The Marx Brothers on acid; the nightmare of Benjamin Netanyahu; freaks; millionaires on a mission impossible; a great story,” this was how a friend of mine pitched the Jewish Monkeys to me. I have to admit it took me a while to get warmed up to this seven-piece band from Tel Aviv. They always seemed too much of a comedy act for my liking.

And indeed, Catastrophic Life – their third album – is equal parts cabaret and rock'n'roll. But let yourself be swept along by the clever Jewish wit of the songs, written in English by lead guitarist Omer Hershman, and the German-Hebrew infected vocal style of oddball frontman Jossi Reich. He sings humorously of midlife crises in ‘Can't Get it Up’, and ‘Catastrophic Life’, the video clip of which Reich hopes will go viral, telling the story of an inconsequential male protagonist, who in Reich's words, ‘never became an alpha monkey… a potential Trump voter… liberal neurotic [who] is conscious of himself as belonging to the vast majority of underachievers, also called losers.’ And all this set to a plodding, schlepping, slow rock atmosphere, coming as a relief after the fast-paced ‘Too Little Too Late’ – a satirical nod to proto-punks New York Dolls' ‘Too Much Too Soon’ – which pits klezmer against punk and features a young-blood brass section, overlaid with a surging surf guitar, kicking out some killer Middle Eastern riffs.