CD Info
2010
Anova Music
12 Tracks
English Lyrics

For the most part, on this site, we talk about metal. But, there’s a lot of varieties of metal, I talked about some of them in my review of the Israeli experimental band Soul Enema a week or so ago. Well, here we have another Israeli sound, from Tel Aviv, that goes in some similar directions, but maybe without the strong "funny farm" component. That’s not to say there’s not a little music that takes us in less than "traditional" directions, there is. It just goes in some slightly different directions than the previous band. But, it’s clear, the music coming from Israeli goes in some places we don’t ordinarily visit. Now that’s not to say it isn’t lyrically interesting, and thought provoking, and musically satisfying, it is. Eatliz takes us to some places that are not on the more typical musical maps, and they do it with some solid musical work, and some strong vocals that take me back to my days on Miami Beach when I spent a lot of time listening to Israeli music, and even singing a little bit in Hebrew with a choir there. Oh, by the way, I was really good. At least I thought so.

This bunch doesn’t just do music, they fuse their music with videos, they work in some interesting artistic activities, rather like some of the New York folks of the 60s. Of course, Hugo Flores of Factory of Dreams also does a lot of this with similarly interesting results. But the music here seems to be more than just making music, at least the more typical sounds we usually look at here. It’s certainly not Gothic, although there is an atmospheric direction. It utilizes a female vocal, not operatic but certainly entertaining. But, this music communicates, and it seems to do so in something of a visual sense, the music tends to paint a picture. And this is a good thing since pictures are such a large part of the bands repertoire. It’s a little hard to actually explain this congruence of art forms, maybe it would be useful to actually look at one. This is from one of the tracks on the CD under review here, it’s called Lose This Child, a relatively strong musical track on its own, but you get a somewhat more thorough understanding of what’s going on when you see the video. Take a look. This is called stop motion video, it’s popular with a lot of video artists these days, you get some interesting presentations.

There’s not a single approach to writing reviews of music, no two reviews are the same, no two follow the same path. In many instances, people will just listen to the music and then write something up, their impression. OK, that works in some instances. I generally like to know what’s going on, what the lyrics say, what are these people thinking. And sometimes you can do that with a solid listen to the CD and a little research into the band, some reading of reviews, a little focus on the band’s website. And sometimes it takes a bit of interaction with the band, especially if the band gets into some deeper thinking, or some more advanced musical directions. Of course, you don’t always get the information you request, and sometimes that means no review. With Eatliz, I needed help, this is pretty sophisticated music, some really intense lyrical directions to augment the sounds which are themselves way beyond my limited musical background. After all, I was involved with Southern Rock, we were usually blind drunk when we developed lyrics. . .as well as many of the sound patterns. So, I went straight to the band for some explanations, and they were kind enough to provide some information that shines a light on this work. My first question asked for an overview of the work, what’s going on, what is the Eatliz world all about? The response was revealing. " In the broader sense Eatliz is a fantasy-surrealistic world for all of us and gives us a space for going wild. The unexpected music we make helps us connect with artists from different areas. From animators to designers, who really digs the music, which inspires them. Guy is the mastermind behind the art concept of Eatliz, being a 3D animator and director he has this vision for Eatliz combined with fantasy. From the album art covers, to the animation music videos, our live DVD, our show flyers and even on stage. We cooperate with cool young Israeli designers that make Lee custom made stage outfits." Lee, by the way, is the vocalist, and she does wear some interesting outfits. But, of even more interest are the topics addressed in the various titles. One of the most interesting was Berlin which really threw me for a loop lyrically.

Glowing eyes burning red / Draw me a gun, shoot my chest
There’s no there’s no CHANGE! / Hell no hell no.
I drink every night / And sleep through the day
I drink every night / And all to make it go away

Well, it was beyond me so I asked about it, got another interesting response. "The inspiration for the song is Tel Aviv night life and it is a critique point of view of the nocturnal urban experience through a screen of alcohol. It is a dive into a dazzling pool of urban glitter that ends with sobering up and getting back to the lucid reality. In this state of intoxication, Tel Aviv glows and shines as if it was Berlin." OK, got it. And that I can appreciate, been there, done that, maybe not in Tel Aviv but in more than a few similar locations.

There were other tracks that were of interest for other reasons. Tears begins with a great base line, then moves to the lyrics over a sophisticated guitar line. The base line comes back at irregular times, a signature component of this track. And what’s it about, you ask. Well, again, we get an interesting interpretation, "Tears is about insomnia and the vague line between what's real and unreal that you experience from insomnia. It's also about people that don't know their limits and when is the point that you need to stop and give your body and soul some rest, and also about psychiatric pills that should be the solution to insomnia." It’s a nice song, smooth and lyrically catching, until the end, when we get a bit of a visit to the rubber room with distorted sounds and a visit to the Robitussin raga.

Goldie is another track that stopped me for a while, interesting musical direction, reminded me of some of that music we played on Miami Beach, but I didn’t see the lyrics taking that kind of direction, so, once again, I asked for clarification, "Goldie is about remorse, about moments that you say certain things and regret it a second after you said it in the heat of the moment and after you just crushed some souls that were on your way on the worst timing ever, while you're danger to the public. It also refers to the music since it is built with continuous breaks and changes. When the band is working on new songs that I bring, sometimes they complain that it's over complicated and push me to back to the sketching board and come up with something simpler. " Well, I didn’t see this one as simpler, but it was certainly a highlight for me.

So, anyway, I think you see the picture here. There is a reason why this band has the kind of international reputation and following they have. The music appeals to a broad range of listeners over a broad range of cultural environments. It’s not just one component, the lyrical direction, the vocals, the instrumental component. It’s more a combination of all that, and, of course, the visual interpretation and presentation. And music that makes you think, both lyrically and musically, is something to be appreciated. My understanding is that this CD is actually quite different from previous efforts, and having listened to some of that music I would agree. And growth and diversification in any effort is a move in the right direction. Solid work.

9 / 10

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