Levi Mordechai (Before and After Ani Maamin)

We are all about Levi Mordechai right now and thought it would be interesting to post their “Ani Maamin” song as a before and after. The Before version has Dugans on guitar with Mordechai singing and after is when Diwon came into lay down drums, synths and production with Dugans.

And now for some background info: In the late sixties, Israel experienced a music revolution that has never been repeated….it lasted almost ten years. Artists like Yitzchak Klepter, Shalom Chanoch, The Churchills, Arik Einstein, and Miki Gabrielov, became the musical force of the whole nation – young and old alike. They captured the feeling and identity of the whole nation in their musical expression. They sang and performed songs that expressed feelings and thoughts with which all Israelis identified. The music was not superficial in any way; instead, it was sincere, sensitive, emotional, and thought-provoking.

Levi Mordechai recaptures that same magic found in their music. Drawing influence from bands like Sigur Ros, YACHT and Radiohead, this group of three musicians put guitars back into the spotlight, while blending live electronics with a retro feel. Their music expresses the soul of Israel with a kaleidoscopic wall of guitars ritually blended with urban Brooklyn rhythms. The music, narrated in Hebrew, is uniquely culminated by the convergence of these three vastly diverse musicians.

The group came together as Dugans, the innovative and multifaceted guitarist/composer from Austin, Texas met Mordechai Friedman, his neighbor from down the street in Crown Heights. Friedman, South African classic rock performer and songwriter, who worked the Israeli club and disco circuit in the 70’s, had never actually recorded an album in his life, and decided that at 55, it was finally time. Along came Diwon, the American-Israeli DJ/Producer extraordinaire behind the Shemspeed label, who also happened to live down the street. He got wind of the tracks, that at the time were just guitar and vocals. Diwon, always sensitive to, and looking out for new waves, heard something unique and beautiful in the demos and immediately wanted to take them on as a project and take the sound to the next level. After he laid down synths and drums, the project started to sound exactly how Dugans had pictured it from the start. Levi Mordechai bridges poetry, World music, electronics, and rock in a way that has not been heard before.

Full album, produced by Dugans & Diwon of Dreams in Static, coming soon!

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