Album Review: Dybbuk Tse!

Album Review: Dybbuk Tse!

By: Yoni Mayraz

Album Details:

Genre: Jazz

Released: June 2, 2023

From The Artist: Yoni Mayraz states that the "Dybbuk, known from Jewish folklore, is a malevolent wandering spirit that enters and possesses the body of a living person. It’s a cursed soul of a dead one that wanders tirelessly for sins committed during their life. The most vulnerable victims are the young and the sinful. Possession can be taken literally or as an analogy to the burden that young people carry generations back, which they have no influence on, and which they have to accept. Dybbuk can only be removed by exorcism. The titular ‘Dybbuk Tse!’ is a command to remove the spirit from the possessed body. The album is a story about possession but also about exorcism through music."

Album Review:

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars [⭐⭐⭐⭐.5]

Favorite Track: As We Entered Jericho

Authors thoughts: Wow, wow, wow! What an album! Mayraz has a truly unique sound and artistic voice that comes through here beautifully. A fusion of jazz, 90's NYC hip-hop, and Middle Eastern music, this album harbors a vibe like no other and a rooted story within. These three genres are blended beautifully together through structure, rhythm, melody and star-striking solos from each member of the band. The solos flow from instrument to instrument perfectly and the group seems to be in that state of "musician communication harmony" together. In particular, I enjoyed the groovy and flowing bass lines which Eli Orr rips out on bass guitar with a nice, rich, but synth-like tone. Somewhat dark yet light at the same time, Mayraz delivers his usual style of production while simultaneously experimenting with tinges of murkiness and gloom, resulting in the aforementioned dark/light contrast. I, personally, could not help but get up and dance to some of the tracks on here. My only real critique here is that the titular track (Track 5: Dybbuk Tse!) falls kind of flat in comparison to the rest of the album and the opening vocal sample on it feels out-of-place. Finally, I think the album art is surreally beautiful and worthy of mentioning here because it is just so cool. Very much worthy of it's high rating, I would recommend this album to anyone interested in or looking to get into fusion/contemporary jazz.

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RATING SCALE

~ Created for clarity and reference ~

⭐ - Hated this piece of media, never show it to me again.

⭐⭐ - Disliked this piece of media, has lots of room for improvement, would prefer to not see it again.

⭐⭐⭐ - Purely okay, has room for improvement, no strong feelings one way or the other, might recommend to others.

⭐⭐⭐⭐- Enjoyed this piece of media! Would recommend to others/see again. Minor room for improvement, overall really nice.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - The coveted "perfect" rating (very rare to give out). Truly exceptional work, no critiques to be made. Would 100% recommend and see again.

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