I used to have a music blog—a mildly successful music blog. This was all many years ago, but it was a small but mighty publication where I rambled on about my favorite obscure B movie track (*B movie is a band—Nowhere Girl is a great song) or N.O. Bounce anthem (Fuck Katrina by 5th Ward Weebie wins by a wide margin) and received the occasional promotional email from the indie music publicist and DIY label.
I have some spicy takes, as you may have already realized from reading this blog—and, while I’m extremely hard on myself (all the time) I must give my younger self credit where credit is due; as I was ahead of the curve on a lot of musical milestones.
I documented the rise of K-pop before it became an international sensation in the west, promoting groups like 2NE1, Wonder Girls, and Girls Generation. I saw the South Korean pop wave coming over a decade before BTS or any of the other synchronistic and android-esque pop musical acts promoted by JYP and other Korean music labels of today; and yes, Boa, the Britney Spears of Seoul, and 2NE1, the “Korean Destiny’s Child” of girl groups are still superior to ANY K-pop I have heard in the last decade.
In addition to my weird obsession with mid 2000s K-Pop, I was also correct in my assessment that musicians and bands like Florence and the Machine, Neon Indian, Aloe Blacc, Ellie Goulding, and Lissie among many others would blow up (at least temporarily) and gain some mainstream success, if not becoming out-right pop stars.
But I am late on Noga Erez. And I’m embarrassed about it.
I am embarrassed that the reason I started to listening to The Vandalist at all was because of headlines Erez was making not for her music, but because she’s being very publicly uninvited from music festivals and dropped from tour dates. In addition to losing income and promotional opportunities, Erez is also being harassed online.
Why? you may be asking—it is of course for the one reason you can bully anyone nowadays, as Erez is an Israeli Jew. Being a Jewish artist is bad on it’s own right now—but being an Israeli Jewish artist—well, you’re basically cursed, blacklisted, uninvited, dropped, character assassinated.
However, the joke is on her detractors at this point, since I was compelled to listen to Erez’s new record because of all the bad publicity she has been receiving, which I think has created a Streisand effect. While there are still 5 years left in the decade, and I can wait a tiny bit to make sweeping conclusions about the best record of the roaring 20s—the hill I will die on is christening Erez’s The Vandalist as best album of the year, and it is indeed an ALBUM—yes the caps are necessary.
It is a compilation of songs that are strong on their own but are organized with intention. It is a project like a novel that has a meaning beyond an individual track or song—each one is a chapter, but together they form a story, a musical message.
The Vandalist is the rare record that defines a place and time—a cultural era. Even if now, “I hypocrite” am going to cherry pick tracks to listen to below, I am doing it in the hopes that you will be intrigued enough to eventually listen to the record in full, and in order—like it is intended to be played.
The fact that the album is also an indictment on our current cultural climate is refreshing and exciting. Erez holds no punches with songs like “PC people” quite literally calling lefty bullshit artists out, with lines like:
“I’m pissing on your PC this isn’t fucking Disney I’m pissing on your peace and love.” “Peace and love” as Erez croons on the song, is indeed “an alibi.”
Erez’s record is also one of the only artistic responses to our post October 7th world that I have come across. It is brave it is daring and it is vindicating to see an artist broaching the subject, and aceing the assignment.
The album opens with the title track “Vandalist” where Erez sings about “sleeping with one eye open” her shoes are “always on” which to me, alludes to running to bomb shelters and PTSD. PTSD is a condition I know intimately, and is another reason this record hit me like a ton of bricks. Which is a funny expression to use in retrospect—because I just watched the video for Vandalist for the first time today, and the promotional clip features Erez literally punching a concrete wall.
Erez’s opening song speaks to a reality many of us are experiencing right now—the anger, the paranoia, the betrayal, and the very real impacts of physical and emotional violence. The song ends with Erez chanting “oh you think you won but I just made you sing along…” possibly mocking all the musical antisemites who may be subconsciously enjoying her music, and I hope they are—it’s a good album!
I should also mention, Erez doesn’t just rap and write her own songs, she also produces all of them along with her partner in music and life-Ori Rousso. She is involved in every part of her musical process—a true rarity in today’s over-produced artistic climate.
Erez also has a sense of humor. Not to be overshadowed by the title track on the record, the second song on Erez’s album, titled “Dumb” does not disappoint. It’s a stupidly smart track with a killer beat and hilarious one liners:
“Dumb people never think they dumb….
no hell no…
you have three fingers adding one plus one…”
If you’re only going to listen to only one of Erez’s songs—make it this one.
And I leave you with the song that made me tear up— because yes I am a Jew, and I know what the line “mommy from the desert daddy from the snow and I am everywhere because I got nowhere to go” means. Godmother is clearly a song about the diaspora. We are Middle Eastern (Moroccan, Iraqi, Iranian, Algerian, Libyan, Syrian, Lebanese, Yemeni) we are European (Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, German) we are from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
It is also fitting that Godmother includes vocals from powerhouse Eden Ben Zaken—an Israeli pop princess from a blended background (like most Jews in Israel) of Moroccan and Polish roots, who incorporates Mizrahi (Mizrahi is a catchall name for ethnic Jews from Middle Eastern and north African countries) musical traditions into her records.
I’m adding as many songs as I can to this essay (please click the links) and adding my favorite tracks from the album to The Window Before Death Playlist—scroll to the bottom—yes, I finally figured out how to embed Spotify playlists and links from Youtube instead of hyperlinking them…what can I say? I am a Luddite.
For those who already know (and those who don’t) the Window Before Death playlist (the name of this blog and a riff on a Leonard Cohen line) is a running tally of all the songs and bands I have mentioned in previous posts (sans Macklemore—read the essay).
To conclude my review, this blog endorses Noga Erez for artist of year. The Vandalist is social commentary, it is an indictment on the world we live in, it is musical infused humor—it is art at it’s highest form.
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Housekeeping-What to expect in 2025?
More complaining! More music reviews! More art journals! More existential dread!
I’m also doing more in depth writing projects. I am working on the Z600 Part 3 (finally) and hopefully putting the crazy antisemitic Australians behind me—please read Z600 Part 2 and Part 1 here and here. I am also working through a draft for a monster essay on fentanyl, xylazine, and nitazenes. So please, read all about drugs you should not be doing in the new winter Issue of Root Quarterly, out soon. I also have been invited to do some writing for Jamie Reed—yes this Jamie Reed. Which is surreal and exciting news.
Speaking of surreal weird exciting news—I’ll be going to Los Angeles in March to work on a project with Lincoln Jones and American Contemporary Ballet? Somehow?
Anyway I’m still kind of in a weird overwhelming headspace with all this stuff and procrastinating on everything (including a commission that I scheduled time to work on instead of writing about Noga Erez…) so in about 5 minutes after I hit send I’ll get back to that…
As you may have read I got rid of my Instagram (if not here’s the hyperlink to that monster essay). This is my social media now, so please enjoy these recent drawings of cats below, this is the only place I am posting them besides my website, which I desperately need to update…another goal for 2025…
Anyway, Happy New Year!!!
