A little late tonight.
You can have a Rock N Roll Hanukkah...if you want to. Sure, you'll likely start with The LeeVees. And throw in some Meshugga Beach Party. Some Macaroons and Yule Logs. A track or two from Sam Glaser, Poppa's Kitchen and "Hanukkah Gone Metal". A few loose tunes like Velouria's "Til Next Hanukkah" and The Goblins' "Ha-Ha Hanukkah". Don't forget Lorna did a tune or two. Maybe you're even fortunate enough to have the great Indie CD, "I Made It Out of Clay". But you're still not quite there. Let's see if we can help out.
You can have a Rock N Roll Hanukkah...if you want to. Sure, you'll likely start with The LeeVees. And throw in some Meshugga Beach Party. Some Macaroons and Yule Logs. A track or two from Sam Glaser, Poppa's Kitchen and "Hanukkah Gone Metal". A few loose tunes like Velouria's "Til Next Hanukkah" and The Goblins' "Ha-Ha Hanukkah". Don't forget Lorna did a tune or two. Maybe you're even fortunate enough to have the great Indie CD, "I Made It Out of Clay". But you're still not quite there. Let's see if we can help out.
As it happens, we got a new EP this year from Eve Rising, a side project of Indie Rocker Holly Montgomery who got a bit tired of singing "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel". The EP, "Book Of Our Tribe", can be found at Amazon, CD Baby, and iTunes (digital only, thus far, though Amazon offers a CD-R). Let's check out another Hanukkah tune from Eve Rising.
The Indie Hip Hop Pop Rock group SHTAR, based in Jerusalem, has given us some great Hanukkah tunes in years past. This year's "Ma'oz Tzur" (not the tune you know) carries a message of unity and against exclusion and bullying. The song doesn't seem to be available for purchase or download anywhere. Below the video on Youtube, it says that "this ans all other SHTAR music" can be found at the group's website. But all I see is a bunch of links, none of which lead to a download or purchase site for this song. If it were Christmas music, it generally wouldn't even be mentioned on this site. I don't do streams as a rule. Hanukkah music gets a break because of it's scarcity.
Here's one that goes back a few years, but it's got a nice Indie Glam flavor without alienating fans of mainstream Pop. Glittering Prizes for Jonathan Toubin. Glittering Prizes seems to have been a one-off that consisted primarily of Will Berman and Alix Brown and "One Night Of Hanukkah (With You)" was dedicated to Jonathan Toubin, apparently ill at the time, with all proceeds going to Toubin. Toubin is a well known and popular New York DJ (killer Halloween mix on Soundcloud available for free download). He's got a wicked collection of obscure records (including plenty o Soul) that he spins, though I'm not sure what his Christmas/Hanukkah gigs consist of. "One Night Of Hanukkah (With You)" is available on Bandcamp for a single Washington (one dollar).
I do apologize for the lateness of this post. I go over all of the videos and tunes I "hoarded" and, yes, I have them bookmarked, but the quality isn't nearly as strong as past years. 2014, man, that was a good year for Hanukkah tunes. This year, not so much. Some really good stuff, like the Gibbonses on Day One, but a lot of mediocre music. It's forcing me to go back and see what oldies we might have missed. Probably should have stuck with one song a night. Anyway...
I still don't think your Rock N Roll Hanukkah is going to be complete without dipping into Judaica that isn't specifically related to the holiday itself. The now defunct JDub label was great for that. With groups like Golem and Girls In Trouble, Soulico, The Sway Machinery, and The Balkan Beat Box, I can't think of a domestic label that did more to bring Jewish music into the 21st century. Artists like the LeeVees, Matisyahu and The Macaroons were launched by JDub. The JDub recordinds of these artists are still available, lots on those "thrown together compilations" that seem to over-populate Amazon. "(These Are The) Good Old Days" by Hip Hop Klezmer artist DJ Socalled was initially released a decade ago but still sounds ahead of it's time. This is one I've actually used in a Hanukkah mix and you can find it on "Hot Tracks For Hanukkah" (to name just one spot). This is not a collection of Hanukkah songs, but an album of Judaica from the JDub label thrown together the year after the label folded.
I still don't think your Rock N Roll Hanukkah is going to be complete without dipping into Judaica that isn't specifically related to the holiday itself. The now defunct JDub label was great for that. With groups like Golem and Girls In Trouble, Soulico, The Sway Machinery, and The Balkan Beat Box, I can't think of a domestic label that did more to bring Jewish music into the 21st century. Artists like the LeeVees, Matisyahu and The Macaroons were launched by JDub. The JDub recordinds of these artists are still available, lots on those "thrown together compilations" that seem to over-populate Amazon. "(These Are The) Good Old Days" by Hip Hop Klezmer artist DJ Socalled was initially released a decade ago but still sounds ahead of it's time. This is one I've actually used in a Hanukkah mix and you can find it on "Hot Tracks For Hanukkah" (to name just one spot). This is not a collection of Hanukkah songs, but an album of Judaica from the JDub label thrown together the year after the label folded.
As we just discussed, your Rock N Roll Hanukkah, by now, has the numbers, but may not be strong from start to finish. To round out your mix, you should probably consider a tune or two that is neither Judaica nor Hanukkah related, but might contain an image or theme that fits and will keep people partying, minds on the holiday, without being related. In doing this, stay away from well known artists and tracks. Nobody is really buying that, oh I dunno, "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles is a Hanukkah tune (I know it isn't Rock, but it's the first song that came to mind). No. You want something like Bosco Delrey's "Baby's Got A Blue Flame". Yeah, that's the ticket. Grab it on Amazon.
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