New York Noise

"New York Noise's invigorating discussion of the limits, unevenness, and incoherencies of culture offers a seminal contribution to the fields of ethnomusicology, musicology, cultural studies, American studies, and Jewish studies."

~Project MUSE

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"New York Noise will certainly be the standard text for fans and scholars of the RJC moment as well as an important reference for those interested in the downtown scene and contemporary Jewish musical practices."

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~Journal of the Society for American Music

"A welcome addition to the literature on contemporary Jewish identity politics."

~Jewish Book World

"The book is detailed, well documented, and a fascinating analysis of a musical milieu that was less visible than the neo-klezmer movement . . . Just as valuable as the text is the availability of supplemental audio and video through a free account at ethnomultimedia.org . . . An outstanding study of a fascinating slice of New York culture."

~Library Journal

"Barzel provides plenty of sociohistorical contextualization to root her wider discussion of the role of Jewishly identified music in the downtown scene in New York City in the 1990s. Moreover, her inclusion of audio clips available on the publisher's website provides a soundtrack for critical listening, which is both practical and necessary. The book is expertly detailed in its musicological analysis."

~H-Judaic

"Recommended."

~Choice

"Questions of identity and musical originality are broached and compellingly entwined in Barzel's study, which is highly informative and refreshingly free of the dryness or excessive earnestness that can sometimes blight an account of a 'movement' of this kind."

~Jazzwise

"New York Noise fills an important void in the study of contemporary Jewish music and provides an array of insights into a unique efflorescence of Jewish culture that is sure to stimulate fans and scholars alike."

~AJS Review

"New York Noise only scratches the surface of potential research in this area, but Barzel adroitly tackles the larger questions of Jewish identity that Radical Jewish Culture wrestles with. Essential for Jewish libraries."

~AJL Reviews

"This book is appropriate for all academic collections and for the well informed and curious lay reader who is prepared for a very heavy read. It might easily serve as a textbook for a course on the subject. This book is highly recommended."

~AJL Reviews

"As the first book to tackle RJC in a closely studied manner, Barzel has provided an excellent foundation for future studies, as well as a very high bar by which they will be judged."

~Musaica Judaica

"Tamar Barzel's book treats the phenomenon that came to be known as Radical New Jewish Music in all its complexity. She approaches her subject with the chops to understand the music, the background needed to grasp the musicians' intent, and the guts to unpack its contradictions. This book is a great document of the music, and analysis of the people and forces that created it, providing insight into a key moment in the intersecting histories of NYC Downtown, Jazz, Avantgarde, and Jewish musics."

~Marc Ribot, guitarist and composer/improviser

"This highly anticipated book places readers at the scene as a transgressive, border-crossing musical movement that continues to inspire worldwide is bearing its first fruit. Tamar Barzel's brilliant scholarship deploys an acute ethnographic eye and ear to offer new perspectives on the complex relation among experimentalism, spirituality, sound, culture, and the artistic journey of discovery."

~George E. Lewis, author of A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music

"Tamar Barzel admirably and creatively portrays a musical community constantly forging new paths for understanding Judaism and its relationship to personal musical creativity."

~Judah M. Cohen, author of The Making of a Reform Jewish Cantor: Musical Authority, Cultural Investment (IUP, 2009)