Boom Pam
Puerto Rican Nights
Essay AY CD 18
****
Full Price (46 mins)
Boom Pam Puerto Rican Nights Essay AY CD 18 Full Price (46 mins) **
With no bass and no out and out lead singer, Boom Pam have a unique signature sound: just two guitars, tuba and drums. This means that the cult Tel Aviv surf mashup four piece have the luxury of being able to take on pretty much anything and have it come out sounding like they own it. Their original source of inspiration, 70s Greek Israeli guitar legend Aris San, is still present, but his trademark oriental surf sound is less central to this, their second studio outing. They obviously still enjoy crunching up the Balkan wedding-style repertoire material (“Krai Dunavsko”) that played a big role in their eponymous debut, but on Puerto Rican Nights they cast the net wider, taking in US cult guitarman Dick Dale (“The Wedge”), Spanish movie soundtracks (“Ay Carmela”) and covers of classic old Israeli songs (“Shayeret Harohvim”). Man of the moment, Balkan Beat Box frontman Tomer Yosef, swaggers in to deliver a surefire radio hit in the shape of “Ani Rotse Lazuz” (I Want To Move), which is a grinding “hands in the air” dancefloor gem. Overall it’s a quirky, loveable kind of record more than an obviously commercial one, but for a band with this much personality and humour, there’s no telling where they could go if they really put their mind to it.