Groove is everywhere. It’s in the way you speak, the way you walk and even in the way you’re reading this text right now. Actually, groove is a great word to describe almost anything which makes you feel happy.
Every musical group has its own groove, even if not belonging to the groove genre. But it is a different story for The Apples, whose main goal is to make the audience rejoice.
Israel is a source for the groovy-funky movement, an excellent one. And these days The Apples – who plays a major role in that scene – is contributing a new release to it. You, dear foreign readers, have the opportunity to discover a whole lot of new funky music.
The Apples features a drummer, brass players, bass, two turntablists and a sound operator as an inherent part of the band. Formed in 2002, they have managed to record an album with the great Fred Wesley (James Brown & Parliament-Funkadelic), release six LPs, tour Europe infinite amount of times, be an inspiration for so many others in various musical genres, and the list goes on.
The Apples has a profound place in the history of Groove and Funk in Israel.
On their new album “Dragonz”, the group once again shows us how dynamics of life work, with new and unexpected paths they followed. The first single “Wa-isme’i” features A-WA sisters (interviewed on beehype here), who sing in Yemenite and the song resembles an old recording. But on other tracks, like “Purified” or “Dragonz”, it is very easy to hear their progression.
I have managed to speak with Erez Todres, one of the turntablists for the band and its current manager.
Tom Avitan: The groove scene in Israel has evolved since The Apples’ debut. What part of it does The Apples belong to in that progression?
Erez Todres: The Apples presented two unique elements for the Israeli groove scene. One is an unusual instruments assembly of two turntablists, no guitar, keys and mainly no leader. The other element, which is a result of the first, is a heavy groove and unique sound.
Those two elements enabled the band to introduce Groove, Funk and a musical use of record sampling to those who were not familiar with them and also to encourage the audience to use these to think, dance and smile.
How would you describe The Apples discography? Is there any meaning to chronological listening?
Progression is a core part of the band’s identity. Any chronological listener would notice right away. From the very beginning we were trying to reach new musical varieties by being open-minded to each other’s ideas and of course, the jam.
But there isn’t really a priority for chronological listening. A listener might find some of our works appealing and others not. It is really fine, there are not rules for that, only a pleasant search.
How does the new “Dragonz” album express your musical progression?
Dragonz splits in an interesting way. Four collaboration with vocalists and four typical groovy tracks. Every track has its unique musical attitude, for example the theme song which features the New-York rappers Homeboy Sandman & iLLspokinn or the Ethio-Jazz musician Abate Berihun.
The new album has a rich middle-eastern flavor through every instrument or sample. Every track has its own musical theme, differs from the rest and shows distinctive ideas.
You can stream “Dragonz” on Spotify.
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