Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Kurt Wagner to Israel

March 2, 2009 - 9:05 AM by David

Brian Chase, right, keeps the Yeah Yeah Yeahs kosher.

Usually, Israeli audiences get past their prime 1970s and ’80s rockers from the US and the UK in for concerts, and this economy-challenged winter, even that has dried up for the most part.

But a couple treats are in store for the discriminating indie rock fan – upcoming shows by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and by Lambchop front man Kurt Wagner.

The arty New York rockers the Yeah Yeah Yeahs will open up for Depeche Mode at the year’s most anticipated concert, slated to take place on May 10th at Ramat Gan stadium. It’s just too bad we’ll have to spend hundreds of shekels for the mediocre Mode when the real quality music will come from the opening act.

The edgy pop trio, led by striking vocalist Karen O, has released two acclaimed albums full of punky, urban grittiness – 2003′s Fever to Tell and 2006′s Show Your Bones. The band’s next album, It’s Blitz, is scheduled to be released in April. And the band even has an Israel connection.

Jewish drummer Brian Chase has been part of the klezmer fusion band The Sway Machinery, taking over the drums from Israeli percussionist Tomer Tzur, who started the band with the Balkan Beat Box’s Jeremiah Lockwood. Both Chase and Tzur appear on the band’s 2008 EP on JDUB Records, which takes lyrics from the Rosh Hashana service and reconfigures them in a startlingly new musical landscape. in what The Village Voice has called a most “joyful synthesis.”

Maybe Karen’s last name is really Karen Oy?

And, to warm us up for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, we don’t have to wait until May for a show by Kurt Wagner, the enigmatic frontman for Nasvhille-based alternative country band Lambchop, who will be making his Israel debut at the Barby Club in Tel Aviv on April 6.

The sprawling music of Lambchop, described by the All Music Guide as “arguably the most consistently brilliant and unique American group to emerge during the 1990s,” is shaped by Wagner’s quirky songwriting and droll delivery. Originally focusing on traditional country, the band grew to encompass soul, jazz and avant-garde noise.

Wagner will be performing solo at the Barby, and even though he’s not well known among the mainstream, there’s enough discerning Israeli indie rock fans to insure a packed audience.

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