Steve Lieberman: “2nd King of Jewish Punk #31/69: The Last of the Great punk Rock Bass-Heroes”
The music market desperately wants artists placed in a box. Steve Lieberman (better known as The Gangsta Rabbi) doesn’t even want to be in the market, never mind in a box. All this time I’m desperately trying to find a genre-name that will appropriately fit what Steve does. It’s is not hyperbole to say that all of his 31 albums are masterpieces of intelligent, witty, satirical, cynical, inspiring, bleak, humorous punk rock for those who seek the maximum amount of freedom through knowledge, self-expression, discourse, and human solidarity and aim to throw off the chains of authoritarianism, economic inequality, religious idiocy, and ideological dogmatism in favor of a future in which humanity may find peace…and anyone who can hold a stringed electric instrument in their hands is allowed to play as fucking loud as they want to!
If you agree with the above, Steve Lieberman’s music is essential. This is as loud and raucous as it gets! And I’ve found a name for it “Anarcho-Punk” – something I borrowed from the eighties. Though to be honest, Steve’s latest album “2nd King of Jewish Punk #31/69: The Last of the Great punk Rock Bass-Heroes”, is his most carefully produced recording to date. But it still is as loud as hell, thankfully!
The reason for this album’s greatness, beyond the loudness is simple: it is fast, aggressive and really, really catchy. Looking from a strictly objective point of view this is all that you would want in a punk record. There are 16 songs so of course some of them are not really all that great, but almost every single one of them is memorable.
And if you can’t remember the music, you will remember the song titles – “LITTLE KOSHER GIRL”, “BASSETT HOUND PULL-TOY”, “A DOVE FLIES OVER BAGHDAD” and “PUPPY IN A CUP” are just some of them. Steve Lieberman sings, plays guitar, bass, trombones, flutes, mangal vadya, melodica, beatmachines, and double bass drums, so expect plenty of mayhem, and even some melody sprinkled here and there.
This is the kind of artist that hardcore punk rock was built on; this is the kind of frantic, explosive rock music where a set can hold any amount of tracks and a barrage of bloody lips in the mosh pit. Steve Lieberman is punk royalty, albeit brooding and destructive royalty.
The production is raw and dirty, adding to the energetic atmosphere of the performances, which are truly amazing. This is an artist at his best, as terminal leukemia sufferer Steve Lieberman croons powerfully in that trademark possessed punk rock style of his, accompanied by a noticeably frantic set of instruments playing the shit out of every song!
Steve Lieberman aka The Gangsta Rabbi is not a artist for the weak stomach. The guitar tones sound like they’re literally exploding from the speakers, so untamed they make virtually all the early heavy metal axemeisters sound tea-party polite, tone-wise.
This is high energy material, great to listen to during intense mountain bike rides up a grueling hill. If you are unfamiliar with the old-school Hardcore Punk genre and want to experiment, “2nd King of Jewish Punk #31/69: The Last of the Great punk Rock Bass-Heroes” is a must for that trial collection. So slip this into your player, just press play, strap on your boots, pop your knuckles, and have a badass time!
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