The New York Times‘ Laurel Graeber included the Macaroons’ Sunday show at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in her arts roundup!  Check it:

The above picture you’re looking at isn’t a B&W image of the Grand Canyon, or something taken from space, instead, its the grooves of an ordinary vinyl record, magnified 1,000x.  The lumps and other bumps you see on the otherwise smooth looking surface is dust, which is why it pays to keep those records clean!  The image was captured under an electron microscope by Chris Supranowitz, a researcher at the University of Rochester.  Just another reason vinyl is cool.

YouTube is premiering a documentary about SoCalled on March 16th.  It looks absolutely wild — and features Katie Moore, Fred Wesley, C-Rayz Walz, David Krakauer, Matt Haimovitz, Arkady Gendler, Benjamin Steiger Levine, D-Shade, Gonzales and Irving Fields.  You can check out the trailer above.

I know it’s not Christmas nor any time close to it, but i recently stumbled upon this gem that i felt like sharing with the world. Atom Goren led a synth-heavy, punk rock, one-man band called Atom and His Package from 1997-2003.  His songs were made on some music sequencers and synthesizers, named the package and the guitar.  Some instrumental tracks, some classic punk covers (Waiting Room), the random hip-hop cover (My Mind’s Playin Tricks on Me) and all around electro-punk sing along brilliance. He really likes punk rock, hockey, metal and other things. Over his 6 years, Atom put out multiple cds, 7″s, and tapes and played countless shows, with his package in hands, blowing minds and shaking dancefloors from here to there.

Thanks to Battle of Midwestern Housewives, i just stumbled on an amazing tune called What We Do on Christmas. It’s an ode to … the Jews.

Atom and His Package - What Jews Do on Christmas DOWNLOAD

ever hear the right wing crazies talk about the jewish conspiracy. and how the jews run the media, and they have all the money, and they pretty much dominate the world. no, well i’ve heard of it and that would pretty much leave one day of the year when no one else is around to have a whole year of planning of world domination, and that’s christmas. merry christmas buddies! Read Full Lyrics

More music:
She’s in the Bathroom & She’s Shaking Me Until Tomorrow (Andrew Dick & AC/DC Medley)
Atom and His Package (Theme Song)
Snowshoe BBQ

Team JDub is headed to Austin for SXSW, and we’re bringing Soulico with us!  If you happen to be down there too, check Israel’s best DJ crew at these official parties:

ALL MUSIC IS WORLD MUSIC
Thursday, 3/18 @ Momo’s (618 W. 6th)
Soulico is on at 11PM!

Saturday, 3/19 @ Palm Door (401 Sabine St.)
Soulico is on at 10PM / Balkan Beat Box is on at 1AM

Want to know what we’re up to while the team is on the ground in Austin?  Follow us on Twitter!
@jdubrecords
@24kgoldsher
@micawave
@harveyelliot
@tater2863

The NY Jewish Week is running a great article about new JDUB KIDS band the Macaroons!  The piece finds Jewish Week writer George Robinson in conversation with Macaroon Dan Saks.  Check it out HERE, with full text below the cut.

“The band’s Passover EP (cunningly titled “The Macaroons’ Passover EP”) is a good example of the approach the group has taken. It opens with big booming bass drum beats and some nifty Ray Davies-style guitar skronk, and then slips effortlessly into witty power-pop with more than a hint of Davies and the early Kinks. The lyrics are both silly and funny, a good combination for reaching an audience of children and their parents, and the end result is catchy fun.”

A MUSICAL FIFTH QUESTION - GEORGE ROBINSON

Dan Saks says his 5-year-old niece likes “grown-up” music as much as she does the kid-oriented pop that is probably a more prominent part of her musical diet.
“There’s no differentiation for her,” he says, “So there shouldn’t be for us either.”
“Us” is the Macaroons, the latest addition to the burgeoning number of bands specializing in music tailored to Jewish children (and their parents), who are performing in town on March 14. Saks, 31, plays guitar and bass and sings in the band, moonlighting from his “grown-up” gig with Sephardic rockers DeLeon.
“We’re all big music fans and a lot of the ‘grown-up’ music is also perfectly suitable for a kid,” Saks says, speaking from his home in Brooklyn. “[The Macaroons’ music] is all child-appropriate. These are rock songs. The stories are simple enough for a kid, but these are songs we would write anyway.”
His words seem to be plucked from a famous interview with the great Warner Brothers cartoon creator, Chuck Jones. He was asked if the wild men of the WB cartoon unit wrote and directed their films for children or, given the considerable sophistication of the humor, for adults. Neither, Jones replied, “We made them for ourselves.”
Saks chuckles on hearing this anecdote and agrees emphatically with the sentiment. All four of the Macaroons have “adult” gigs, too.
In fact, one could say with justification, the Macaroons are really a spin-off of a spin-off band.
“Our four founding members are also in the LeeVees,” Saks notes. That band was a Jewish-themed side project for members of Guster and the Zambonis, and put out a Chanukah record a couple of years ago. After some discussion among the LeeVees of doing another holiday record, but one aimed at children, the band got together with JDub Records and, as Saks casually puts it, “we went for it and there it was.”
“None of us are children’s musicians,” he explains. But we specifically wanted to make a Jewish kids’ record. There was a hole there. Our friends are at the age where they are having kids; one of the guys in the band just had a kid. People say it’s hard to find kids music that we also can listen to all the time. And that was even more true of Jewish kids’ music. We wanted to do something that would fit in with the Jewish parents we know.”
Given the penchant for repetition that young children possess, that meant creating an album that would be catchy enough to keep a young listener involved, but sophisticated enough that — on the 20th hearing of the day — a parent wouldn’t be ready for a strait-jacket.
The band’s Passover EP (cunningly titled “The Macaroons’ Passover EP”) is a good example of the approach the group has taken. It opens with big booming bass drum beats and some nifty Ray Davies-style guitar skronk, and then slips effortlessly into witty power-pop with more than a hint of Davies and the early Kinks. The lyrics are both silly and funny, a good combination for reaching an audience of children and their parents, and the end result is catchy fun.
“We want to reach people like my friends who are just starting to have kids, who are not Chabadniks but also not completely removed from Judaism,” Saks says. “It’s a way to share the fun cultural side of Judaism with their kids. These are same people we’re trying to reach with DeLeon.”
Where will the Macaroons go after this Pesach blitz of gigs, and album and EP releases? Saks admits he doesn’t know.
“We’re just getting started on this,” he says. “The record [“Let's Go Coconuts”] comes out soon; we’ve enjoyed the gigs we’ve played and had fun writing the songs. I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t keep doing it.”
The Macaroons will be playing at the Museum of Jewish Heritage (36 Battery Place) on Sunday, March 14 at 1 p.m.; doors open at 12:30. For information, go to www.mjhnyc.org. The band’s Passover EP, which features four songs from the first album and a bonus track, will be available online on March 16; the first album, “Let’s Go Coconuts” will be out on March 23. Both will be available from JDub’s site, http://jdubrecords.org.

Gothamist reports that though the OU denies it, ultra-Orthodox group Chevra Mehadrin is revoking the hechsher (stamp of approval) of all lox, due to a parasite that sometimes infests wild salmon.  Personally, I’m willing to risk a few worms here and there if it means chowing down on that perfect bagel on a Sunday morning!

Sure, I might be falling prey to the sensationalist nature of internet news, but I can’t help starting a call to arms when a Jewish delicacy is threatened: save the lox!

The new JDub Webstore is here and it’s better than ever. We’ve teamed up with Insound/White Label to bring you the easiest and best in online shopping. We’ve added free downloads, new releases and our full catalog available in all formats. We are also proud to announce that all of our releases are now available in digital format for only $8.99 each (that’s $1 less than iTunes).  So, head over to store.jdubrecords.org to check it out and also keep your eyes peeled for new releases and free music to be updated regularly.  I’m sure there is something for everyone at the jdub webstore, no matter how you are!!

Bouncing Souls - The Freaks, The Nerds and The Romantics

START SHOPPING

The Macaroons are doing a family passover concert at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery City. Grab the kids & your dancing shoes and be sure to check out The Macaroons on March 14th at the museum.

Sunday, March 14th
@ Museum of Jewish Heritage (36 Battery Place / Battery Park City)
Doors 12:30 pm / Show 1 pm / FACEBOOK
$10, $7 children 12 and under. Discounted tickets available for Museum members.
Buy tickets HERE

While in LA, the Macaroons were tasked with finding the perfect Purim costumes for their show at the Echo.  In the video above, they show you how it’s done.