Yinon Yahel feat Meital De Razon - Share The Night

This is the latest collaboration of the producer and vocalist. Meital's gorgeous vocals take center stage on this. The production starts off hard then softens for a moment, then it builds to a hard, progressive riff. The TLV Vocal is the hard version. The In Love In NY mix is much lighter and uplifting and the riff is less aggressive. An edit of this version could have potential to cross over to radio just as that other Avicii "I Could Be The One" track is doing right now.

TLV Vocal Mix
 

In Love In NY Mix


Grade: A-

Meital De Razon and Asi Tal - Le Lo Le

This is the latest single from the Israeli Dance/Pop diva. She teams up with Asi Tal for this ethnically flavored track. It has elements of traditional Middle Eastern instruments mixed with current Electro Pop. Meital's vocals are hypnotic and soaring. The song is very catchy. There is a remix by Offer Nissim with Asi Tal which picks up the tempo, plays up the ethnic elements, and totally transforms the song for the clubs while retaining the original's essence. This remix improves upon the original making a great song into an excellent song.

-Watch the beautiful music video here (YouTube)
-Purchase the original version from Meital's store

Grade A

Offer Nissim - Love Child

Yes, this is a remake of the classic by Diana Ross & The Supremes. Offer features a trio of vocalists on this including Maya Simantov, Meital De Razon, and Maya Buskila. The concept of doing a remake of this was nice in principle, but in practice is just so-so. Only a small portion of the lyrics are used (just the first verse, pre-chorus, and chorus). The vocals are decent, but all three singers are usually quite great, and consistently deliver, just not here. The production is not that different from his usual. Only the strings from the original are recreated here. The studio version lacks the passion and vocal power that was present during this live performance (YouTube) back in October.

Grade: B

Offer Nissim - Remixed

This is the first of two Offer Nissim releases that are being reviewed this week.

This collection is the latest release from the Israel-based DJ/remixer/producer.

Disc 1 contains remixes of some of Offer Nissim and Maya Simantov's earlier singles by other remixers. None of these mixes have been released previously on singles or other compilations. Some have been availabe at the digital retailers. Overall, a number of the mixes are Electro/House in style. Some of the highlights include Peter Rauhofer's mostly instrumental take on "Happy People", Ana Paula's reworking of "Love Me" with those lush strings and the Zoltan Kontes remix of "Only You."

Disc 2 contains the original versions of the last six Maya songs, including "For Your Love", "Wish You Were Here", "I'm In Love", "Happy People", "Why" and "Love Me", plus the new Epiphony track, "Out Of My Skin", the Symphony Extreme track "Remember My Name", which is based on the classic "Fame", Offer's new instrumental entitled "Bimbo" and Offer's revisit to Dana International's "Petra." Noticeably missing are the new tracks with Maya including "Hook Up" and "You'll Never Know How" and the two new covers of "I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten" and "Believe" with vocals by Hila Davidson (Symphony Extreme) and Meital De Razon (Epiphony), respectively. The new Epiphony track "Out Of My Skin" is one of his stronger works to date without Maya on vocals. Meital's vocal performance is quite good. The Symphony Extreme track "Remember My Name" is mostly instrumental, however the few vocals by Hila are decent. This one may have worked better with more vocals. The other instrumental, "Bimbo" is pretty good too. Really energetic. Some of the instrumental elements call to mind Offer's mix of "Ze She'Shomer Alay" from last year. The updated mix of Dana International's "Petra" is really good. Only some of the vocals from the original are used. The production fits extremely well.

All tracks on both CDs are full length, and totally unmixed. Physical editions of the collection are available at the Star 69 website. Digital downloads of the discs individually are available there too.

This collection is a must-have.

Grade: A