Little known outside of Israel, Avi Belleli is the lead writer, vocalist and bass player of the band Tractor's Revenge, a gold-record rock band. Belleli has strong compositional skills, and "Strawberry Cream and Gunpowder" was written for a dance work by Yasmeen Goder, which has been performed in Israel, Japan, Europe and New York. The piece works equally well on it's own, as it supports the opressive wartime environments both in the Middle East and in the global war on terror. The piece owes much to the early industrial music scene, in ominous environments sometimes provoked by nothing more than Belleli's solo playing, processed and disrupted by statics, confrontational electronics and terrified vocalizations. If this sounds chaotic it's not - the pace is mysterious and slowly unfolding, while the punctuations are jarring and effective. Bleak but beautiful, as disruptive as real life - an excellent example of art reflecting the world that surrounds it.

This album has been reviewed on our magazine:


The Squid's Ear!