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After coping with the psychedelic prog rock jam funk madness of Celestial Mass, Gong live at the Big Chill Festival and A Tribute To Ozzy Osborne (I haven’t told you about that one but I was born in Brum), Koby Israelite have produced something of all three with a large dose of “Klezmerish-a-long” and lost Balkan beats in a nightmare of a film soundtrack.

And whilst that sounds like it a totally unholy mess, there’s something that pulls it together as a coherent piece with some impressive tracks that stand out like the Moricone-esque ‘The Moroser’, the Klezmer-prog-metal of ‘Circus Mayhem’, ‘The Arrival of The Telepather’ and the Randal & Hopkirk/Tales of the Unexpected of ‘Meeting An Angel’.

The album comes with a short story of King Papaya by award winning Israeli writer Ofir Touche Gafla that’s a bit weighty for me; does it explain the rant that’s ‘Bald Patch’?

Mr. Israelite (real name apparently) is a real multi-instrumentalist as he provides the accordion, drums, keyboards, vocals, Indian banjo, buzuki, percussion, clarinet, electronics as well as writing all the music (apart from a adaptation of Hendrix track with a Koby adaptation of a trad. Romanian song - nice idea but I’m not convinced it works).

Koby is based in London and his previous albums have been on John Zorn’s Tzadik label (whilst on the subject, current favourite Zorn tracks are ‘Mahshav’ and from this years’ O´o, ‘Miller’s Crake). Israelite’s background is that he’s classically trained but self taught on the accordion. He’s played with Emir Kusturica at the Barbican recently and Baaba Maal at the Royal Festival Hall at this years’ Meltdown. The other musicians on the album are Yaron Stavi (of Gilad Atzmon’s Orient House) on both double and electric bass, John Telfer (baritone sax) with additional vocals by Lucy Randal (singer in the group Step 13) and Charlotte Burke.

Any comparision with Atzmon’s Presents Artie Fishel & The Promised Band is wide of the mark, King Papaya is far more avant-garde. Whilst I’m not sure if it’s a case of assault and battery, but by the end the closing track ‘The Saddest Joke Ever Told’ (that’s really the culmination of what’s gone beforehand as it changes from the mournful to the circus tent), you’re ready to start again with the opener ‘Overture’.

Certainly very impressive on many fronts but it’s not the easiest of listens.

Reviewed: Koby Israelite - King Papaya (Circus Mayhem) Cat. No. CM1001 Release date: 28th September 2009 Notes: The album comes with a 28-page story by Ofir Touche Gafla. Artwork, illustrations & design by Raphael Rispal. Mixed by Ophir Star: K.I.: “My very good friend Ophir Star sadly passed away shortly after mixing this album. King Papaya is dedicated to his memory.”
Tracklisting:
1 Overture (2:43)
2 The King’s Laughter (4:37)
3 Peardition Girls feat. Charlotte Burke (4:23)
4 Word Travels Fast (2:26)
5 The Moroser (4:08)
6 Still Laughing (0:27)
7 Circus Mayhem (4:28)
8 Bald Patch (2:42)
9 A Band Of Gypsies (4:16)
10 Hell’s Kitchen (1:26)
11 Arrival Of The Telepather (2:15)
12 Into The Subconscious (1:43)
13 Meeting An Angel (3:58)
14 Jacky Jones feat. Lucy Randell (lyrics by Charlotte Burke) (1:24)
15 Last Laugh feat. John Telfer (0:53)
16 Molly’s Sacrifice (4:07)
17 The Saddest Joke Ever (5:24)

Links:
www.myspace.com/kobyisraelite
www.kobyisrealite.com
www.myspace.com/johnzorn
tzadik.com
www.myspace.com/step13