Artists
Artist Profile
The Wailing Wall
- Contact
Hospital Blossoms (Full Album) Free Download:
High Quality (128 kbps, 38.1 MB)
Better Quality (192 kbps, 57.5 MB)
Booking - Jacob Harris @ JDub Records
Label - Aaron Bisman @ JDub RecordsPress - Emily Goldsher @ JDub Records
- Links
The Wailing Wall is 23 year old songwriter Jesse Rifkin. Born in Los Angeles, Rifkin was raised in Annapolis, MD and now resides in New York City. Hospital Blossoms is The Wailing Wall's first full-length LP, and his first release for JDub Records.
THE WAILING WALL MAKES LISTS:
Important things The Wailing Wall References on Hospital Blossoms: Psalm 137, "Meditations on the Ways of Impermanence" by Gyalwa Kalzang Gyatso (The 7th Dalai Lama), Hugh Hefner's relationship with Sandy and Mandy Bentley, The Thirteen Petalled Rose by Adin Steinsaltz, the self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc, assorted Grateful Dead bootlegs, Sound and Sentiment by Steven Feld, "The Sorrowing Soul Between Doubt and Faith" by Elihu Vedder, Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor, Estelle Getty's performance as Sophia Petrillo on The Golden Girls, the life and work of Daniel Johnston, the final episode of The Sopranos, The Experience of No Self by Bernadette Roberts
Records The Wailing Wall was listening to while making Hospital Blossoms: Bob Dylan's Desire, Leonard Cohen's New Skin for the Old Ceremony, The Olivia Tremor Control's Black Foliage, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band's Horses in the Sky, The Microphones' Mount Eerie, Smog's Red Apple Falls, Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's I See A Darkness and Castanets' Cathedral.
Instruments The Wailing Wall plays: guitar, banjo, accordion, mandolin, melodica, harmonium, chord organ, upright piano, toy piano, grand piano, electric keyboard, electric bass, fretless bass, glockenspiel, xylophone, drums, cajon, darbouka, tambura, tambourine, shakers, singing saw, sitar, baglama, trumpet, fugelhorn, jaw harp, viola, cello, tingshaws, finger cymbals, harmonica, recorder, Brazilian wood flute, pan pipes, hand claps, knee slaps and gamelan.
People that have played with The Wailing Wall: Jason Anderson (K Records), Adrian Orange (Thanksgiving), Matt Elkin (The So So Glos), Chris Roush, Ben Apatoff, Luke Bace, Ben Bernstein, Kevin Buckelew, Guy Capecelatro III, Dylan Clark, Jamie Cook, Tim Cronin, Meghan Crotty, Vincent Del Signore, Emily Eder, Chris Faroe, Maia Friedman, Holly Fulton, Matt Gordon, Sei Harris, Joey Lawton, Alixandra Macmillan-Fiedel, Zach Mazzola, Ethan Meyer, Natalie Mirsky, Taylor Pavlik, Alex Rubin, Rebecca Seatle, Nate Smith, Patrick Southern, Giancarlo Sutton, Tom Tierney, Jen Vafidis, Willa VanNostrand, Colin White, Stuart Wilson, Trevor Wilson and Michelle Yu.
Some locations where The Wailing Wall has performed: The Bread Bin in Philadelphia, Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn, The Teahaus at Sarah Lawrence College, Rugroom in New Paltz, Spark Art Space in Syracuse, Silent Barn in Brooklyn, The Wooly Moon's House in Crownsville, Galapagos in Brooklyn, The Terrace F. Club at Princeton, Arcadia Coffee in Old Greenwich, The Hourglass Cafe at Brown University, The Mary Low Coffeehouse at Colby College, SoWa Artist's Guild & Studio in Boston, Piano's in NYC, Phil's House in Minneapolis, Bill's Blues in Evanston, Mick's Music & Bar in Omaha, Vaudeville Mews in Des Moines, The Focal Point in St. Louis, TT The Bear's in Cambridge, WMUC Radio at University of Maryland, The Annapolis Rec Center, Eastport Democratic Club in Annapolis, Cafe Zog in Providence, The Monkey House in Winooski, Dean Carriage Barn at Bennington College, Chris Faroe's House in Clifton, Buchner Hall at Goucher College, Charm City Art Space in Baltimore, Montague Book Mill in Montague, The Tinder Box in Brattleboro, Ello Gallery in Portsmouth, WFMU in Jersey City, Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn, Eclectic House at Wesleyan University, Radio Bean in Burlington, WSCA in Portsmouth, Slainte in Portland, SMOG at Bard College, SXSW 2009, a vegetarian restaurant in Baltimore, a vegan pizzeria on the Lower East Side and a children's street fair in Rhode Island.
PRESS:
"The Wailing Wall's sound could be described as Bob Dylan meets the reggae-punk band Bad Brains" The Forward
"As raw and organic as the recycled cardboard cases in which they're packaged. Using computers, four-track machines, and strange recording locations (like an isolated boathouse in Stone Lake, WI) Rifkin's greatest strengths lie within sensationalist lyrics and superb instrumentation - think a mini-Mangum." I Guess I'm Floating
"The Wailing Wall's Jesse Rifkin's voice is very unique, he's also an expert songwriter. That he surrounds himself with equally amazing [musicians] makes a release like Hospital Blossom one of the most amazing folk releases this year." - Fensepost.com, #9 on Best of '08
"Named one of the 'Best of '06'" - Team Love Records
"Jesse and his ever-fluid band of gypsy devils threw one of the best head-lining shows I've seen in 2007 last time they did a show with us." - Sleep When Dead NYC
"Downright sincere and honest." Razorcake
Latest_news
The Wailing Wall Has 2 Brooklyn Shows This Week!
Our dear friend The Wailing Wall has 2 shows in Brooklyn this week, one tonight and one on Thursday. Check ‘em out:
TONIGHT (2/8) @ Death By Audio
8PM / ALL AGES
The Wailing Wall (full band), Horse’s Mouth, Your Nature, Blastoff!
Thursday (2/11) @ Bar Matchless
7PM/ FREE
Vol. 1 Brooklyn & Gigantic Present: Greatest Three-Minute Rock N’ Roll Story Ever
20+ Readers (including Aaron Hartman of Girls in Trouble) with a special set by The Wailing Wall
The Wailing Wall Goes Country for Hanukkah
Jesse from The Wailing Wall recorded this cover of “Remember Me (When The Candle Lights Are Gleaming)” for Hanukkah. (Get it? Candles and Hanukkah) The song has also been recorded by Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan among others.
The Wailing Wall on “Phoning It In”
The Wailing Wall Live on Phoning It In -
On Monday evening, I had the pleasure of appearing on the legendary radio show Phoning It In on KDVS, hosted by Nadav Carmel. Since 2005, Nadav has had such esteemed musicians as Devendra Banhart, The Mountain Goats, The Wrens, WHY?, and Daniel Johnston play their music live over the telephone. Rather than being an impediment, the lo-fi sound of the phone connection often enhances the performances, adding a special sense of intimacy that would likely be absent from an in-studio appearance. Indeed, many of musicians have utilized the phone line as an instrument in and of itself in their performances - I’m a big fan of The Blow’s appearance, where Khaela Maricich sang unaccompanied fragments of new songs she was working on, and the completely improvised set by Daniel Higgs from Lungfish. For my appearance, I opted to play six songs on the harmonium - three new, two old, and one cover of a song from a David Lynch movie.
Nadav had this to say about it:
“Jesse Rifkin phones it in from Annapolis, MD. Jesse is a ‘Jewish’ musician (on a ‘Jewish’ record label), in the same sense Leonard Cohen is a ‘Jewish’ musicians, a ‘Jewish’ poet. That is, Jesse’s explorations into language and song, emotion, pop culture, life and death are informed by many things, and one of them happens to be the faith of his birth. And while there’s plenty of Cohen in the Wailing Wall (and even some cantorial music, I think), he’s also been influenced plenty by the modern crop of DIY troubadours- many of whom he’s shared the stage with- Tiger Saw, Thanksgiving, Castanets. It’s a moving blend, and that it recalls a Mangum or a Meloy is an asset to this end rather than a weight. Even over the phone, accompanied only by harmonium, Jesse’s songs are never less than electric.”
Happy Hanukkah from The Wailing Wall - On Saw!
Sure you’ve heard “Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah” before, but have you ever heard it played on the saw? Jesse from The Wailing Wall brings a new twist to this traditional tune.
This week all purchases from the JDub store come with a free download of The Wailing Wall’s debut LP.
Concerning Good Times And “Non-Amoral Surveillance” At The Silent Barn
As many of you New Yorkers (hopefully) know, The Silent Barn in Ridgewood, Queens is one of our great treasures - a DIY, all-ages venue that has been home to some of the best indie rock shows the city has seen in the last few years (they also house a zine library, and have had numerous art shows). Perhaps you’ve even been to one of our shows there, like, for example, the Hospital Blossoms release show we played in June alongside Jason Anderson, Mountain Man, and Alex Bleeker and the Freaks.
What you probably didn’t know was that they recorded the whole thing. As it turns out, the nice folks who live and work at the Barn have microphones set up all over the building (in the show spaces, yes, but also in the hallways and even by the front door), and have recorded a handful of shows by having all of these microphones set at equal levels, going straight to cassette. The end result is less of a “live recording” in the traditional sense and more a documentary of the overall experience of the show (see G. Lucas Crane’s eloquent discussion of this “non-amoral surveillance” here).
And now, they’ve kindly posted a number of these recordings for your listening pleasure right here, including a good portion of our set from the release show! You’ll have to listen to a bit of Mountain Man to get to it, but that is totally ok because they are awesome (WW starts about a third of the way through the recording).
Now, I will be honest, I wouldn’t really recommend listening to this stuff unless you have a pretty high tolerance for dissonance, ambient noise, and extremely lo-fi recording technology, but if you do, this right here is a goldmine. On our recording, you’ll find one of the best WW lineups of recent memory (Jason Anderson on piano, Ted Gordon on bass, Dylan Clark on drums, and myself on electric guitar) blazing through one Hospital Blossoms favorite, a couple new tunes, and a sweet Tom Petty cover. You’d be wise to listen to Jason and Bleeker’s sets as well. If you close your eyes and use your imagination, it would almost be like you were at this awesome show in the flesh.
Of course, it might also help if you had a couple beers and danced until you were really, really sweaty.
Photos
-
-
Wailing Wall 7
Freak-folk rockers The Wailing Wall are a rotating cadre of talented musicians and friends, with Jesse Rifkin as the bran child behind the project.
2008
-
Feb 11
-
Feb 20
-
Feb 22
-
Mar 4
-
Mar 8
Artist Music
Latest News
The Wailing Wall Has 2 Brooklyn Shows This Week!
Our dear friend The Wailing Wall has 2 shows in Brooklyn this week, one tonight and one on Thursday. Check ‘em out:
TONIGHT (2/8) @ Death By Audio
8PM / ALL AGES
The Wailing Wall (full band), Horse’s Mouth, Your Nature, Blastoff!
Thursday (2/11) @ Bar Matchless
7PM/ FREE
Vol. 1 Brooklyn & Gigantic Present: Greatest Three-Minute Rock N’ Roll Story [...]
The Jewnas Brothers
Thanks to Heeb for tipping me off to The Moshiach Times Band, a group of teenybopper hunks out of Miami. Look at that skinny jean/Tzitzit combo!