Hebrew School

Pardon my silence these last couple of weeks. Hebrew School (the band) has been gearing up for a launch phase, with details to be disclosed in due course. Other news:

Last Friday in Prospect Park, as part of Celebrate Brooklyn, the Metropolis Ensemble performed an electro-symphonic version of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, followed by Deerhoof.

The Metropolis Ensemble’s offering was somewhat underwhelming to me– mechanistic in its delivery, with production values favoring form over content. In retrospect I now understand why Starbucks, a major sponsor of Celebrate Brooklyn, is closing six midtown branches. You go for the climate and enlivening substance, but lose a little bit of your soul.

Chastened by the hype that has surrounded Deerhoof, I had mainly stayed away, assuming them to be the provenance of the most superficial of our scrawny podunkster emigres. Wrong. Well-worn and unheard material was shaken around and dangled onstage like Michael Jackson’s baby, sharply degraded into crafty noise events, and then hewn back (sometimes roughly, sometimes seamlessly) into the contours of Satomi Matsuzaki’s vocal cords. Best show I’ve seen so far this summer (except for your show, of course).

WNYC has the concert up for listening here.