Asaf Avidan and the Mojos

October 9, 2009 11:59 PM

He was born in Israel, spent four years in Jamaica, studied cinema and worked as a voice actor. Now, at 29, he sings like Janis Joplin and is the first Israeli musician to sign a four-record label with Sony Columbia. Ladies and gentelmen, presenting Asaf Avidan[youtube].

His site is still under construction, but you can check his music out on myspace or last.fm.

posted by alona (23 comments total)

But has he ever won the Eurovision Song Contest?
posted by Artw at 12:01 AM on October 10

Ladies and gentelmen, presenting Asad Avidan[youtube].

Surely gentileman, no?
posted by johnny novak at 12:11 AM on October 10 [2 favorites]

With these Youtube videos you gotta target the specific video and not the playlist because I wasn't paying attention and now I've got to listen to Kanye West being a robot, which is cool and all, but I'm not really into robots any more than I'm into guys who sound like Janis Joplin even though they spent four years in Jamaica.
posted by twoleftfeet at 12:13 AM on October 10

But has he ever won the Eurovision Song Contest?

He sounds like he's got the balls for it.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:58 AM on October 10

Whooaaa... dude sings just like Janis! Faaaaaar out!

Actually, I don't dislike his singing voice as much as I expected I would. That video is really embarrassing, though. Why do bands still make videos like that? Cringeworthy.

I think it'll be sort of interesting to see if something so retro/bluesy can become, you know, BIG.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:12 AM on October 10

That video is really embarrassing, though. Why do bands still make videos like that? Cringeworthy.

Huh. I didn't find the video to be spectacular, but certainly didn't get embarrassed or cringeworthy out of it. What parts of the video made you feel that way?
posted by lazaruslong at 1:54 AM on October 10

This could be the beer talking, but I thought he sounded more like Jack White than Janis Joplin.
posted by nowonmai at 1:58 AM on October 10 [1 favorite]

What parts of the video made you feel that way?

Ah, hell, I'm just old, I guess... I always thought having some sexy model shots interwoven with shots of a band playing in the studio or whatever were really corny. But, yeah, there's a million videos like that. Like I say, I'm just old.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 2:10 AM on October 10

Metafilter: I'm just old.
posted by twoleftfeet at 2:38 AM on October 10

While I hated the retro nature of the band (early 70's blues rock wasn't my thing even in the early 70's), I actually really liked the video. I liked the unapologetic jewishness of the whole thing. It started off lame, but gradually got better and better.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:08 AM on October 10 [1 favorite]

It started off lame, but gradually got better...

Dammit, I shoulda watched the whole thing.

Seriously.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:13 AM on October 10

I always thought having some sexy model shots interwoven with shots of a band playing in the studio or whatever were really corny.

Sexy model shots will always trump the sight of some pimply faced musician lip-synching in my book. But, hey, I like this guy and his band, and wonder over the fact that if you wait long enough in popular music, just about everything comes back in strange combinations. Now that we've got a skinny Jewish boy who sings like Janis Joplin, I await the appearance of the Chilean teenage girl who sings like Joe Cocker, or the fat Korean guy who sings like Karen Carpenter. I myself do a passable Carol Channing.
posted by Faze at 4:22 AM on October 10

...just about everything comes back in strange combinations. Now that we've got a skinny Jewish boy who sings like Janis Joplin...

Who, of course, was trying to sing like Bessie Smith. Now, as far as I know, Bessie Smith wasn't trying to sing like anybody.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:32 AM on October 10

Rollicking. Thanks.
posted by philfromhavelock at 5:35 AM on October 10

Bessie Smith learned learned by drinking.
posted by twoleftfeet at 5:38 AM on October 10

learned to sing.

Geez. I'm not even drunk.
posted by twoleftfeet at 5:40 AM on October 10

Great voice but generic, boring, derivative music. He'll fit right in on Sony!

I appreciate the post, though, as I've never heard of him. 25 years from now after Haliburton-Sony's spit him out and he realizes he's wasted his best days he'll wind up in a cabin o' reflection with a shitty guitar and a tin can and he'll write songs/music that do his voice justice. Some 12 year old who lives in nana's basement surrounded by his great grandad's vinyl will put it out on hologram or whatever the shit we're listening to then and the 1000 or so people what hear it will cry great tears of joy.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 5:52 AM on October 10 [5 favorites]

I like him better than the Filipino guy who sounds like Steve Perry.
posted by box at 6:20 AM on October 10 [1 favorite]

Not as much as the Israeli funk band that plays Rage Against the Machine covers, though.
posted by box at 6:25 AM on October 10

he has a pedigree similar to Kutiman...
posted by progosk at 9:10 AM on October 10

I'm old, and I thought the video was charming, nothing horribly original, but what is these days?

He sounds (to my ears) more like someone straining to sound like Robert Plant than he sounds like Janis Joplin -- who herself sounded like Bessie Smith, Odetta, and Billie Holiday, lest we forget.
posted by blucevalo at 9:14 AM on October 10

Sony Blue.
posted by 3.2.3 at 10:48 AM on October 10

Surely you mean Sony haKachol.
posted by felix betachat at 11:46 AM on October 10