Welcome to a semi-regular column by JDub Records founder Aaron Bisman. Since he spends his days immersed in new Jewish music, we asked him what he listens to on his time off.

"American Boy" – Estelle
Yes, she’s another female rapper/singer from London. But this one started on her own label, got herself signed to John Legend’s label, and convinced Kanye to drop a verse on this song. (Will.I.Am produced it, but don’t hold that against her.) It’s a slick, R&B-influenced dance track about how excited she is to check out our country and our boys—perfect dance-floor fodder. Estelle may not get as much TV placement as Amy Wino, but her album just dropped, she’s touring in the states right now, and she is definitely worth your attention.

Worthy of the hype: Vampire WeekendVampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
How can I not include a VW song? This album is on constant replay in the JDub office, by all four members of the NYC staff. I’m not even sure what to say about the band that hasn’t already been said by bloggers watching their incredibly rapid ascent from hipster darlings to Saturday Night Live musical act. "Upper West Side Soweto” seems asinine, but it’s a fairly accurate description of their sound. Lyrically stuck in college, aurally stuck between Paul Simon and the Strokes, this album is catchy as hell. And in today’s rough and tumble times, it’s nice to have something that’s just so damn fun.

An Evening with Jo Amar in Old Jerusalem – Jo Amar
Early on with JDub, I accepted that my core skills were more in the business than in making the music itself, but I still love to DJ and maintain dreams of future careers in ethnomusicology and production. So to this day I still collect vinyl from stoop sales and old relatives, mostly 70s funk & soul, hip-hop, and anything Jewish.

My dad found this record in his synagogue in Scottsdale. According to the record jacket, Jo became a Cantor in Morocco at age 14 and in 1965 sold out Carnegie Hall in his first US appearance. This recording, however, is nothing traditional. It’s “the newest Oriental hits.” Often records like this completely Westernize the music with cheesy orchestral arrangements, but not this one. Jo sometimes has an organ in the mix, but it’s not overly intrusive and gives it the slightest hint of modern flavor (and psychedelia).

The joke never gets old: Flight of the Conchords"Robots (live)" – Flight of the Conchords
FoC are a comic-folk duo from New Zealand. Before their show even hit the states these guys were superstars here after a ridiculous viral build few bands are ever lucky enough to benefit from. Some comedy albums run dry after one or two listens, but we play this song in the office a few times a week, and I always, always get a kick out of it.

"Burying Luck" – Minus the Bear
This band is from Seattle, and on a great label called Suicide Squeeze. Full disclosure: The label prez DJ’d our Hanukkah bash this year as DJ Half a Shekel. She passed us their newish CD (it came out in August, but their big tour is happening now leading up to Bonnaroo), which is really a solid work of post-grunge rock. Lead singer Jake Snider’s voice reminds me, almost painfully, of Glen Phillips from Toad the Wet Sprocket. I’m not sure if that’s a complement or an insult, but that sense of the familiar took me by the hand into the album.

Previously: Purim Crunk, Yeasayer

Welcome to a new semi-regular column by JDub Records founder Aaron Bisman. Since he spends his days immersed in new Jewish music,we asked him what he listens to on his time off. The answer: More Jewish music, plus some funk and indie rock.

What I’m listening to:

Bonnaroo, here we come: The hippie hipsters of Yeasayer"Wait for the Summer" – Yeasayer
I’m not as up on music as I’d like to be—probably not up enough to qualify as a true hipster. So maybe I’m late to jump on this bandwagon, but after spotting Yeasayer on many a “Best of 2007” list, I caught the young Brooklyn ensemble live at Bowery Ballroom and became an instant fan. They remind me of many things—Talking Heads, Toubab Krewe, 70s classic rock—without sounding like any of them. They do make me think “indie” and “alternative” might be turning into new euphemisms for “jam band,” but hey, I like the 2 AM set at Bonnaroo.

"P’sach Lanu Sha’ar (Open the Gates for Us)" – The Sway Machinery
Jeremiah Lockwood is a member of Balkan Beat Box and a recipient of the Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists. This unreleased recording is part of his fellowship project, Hidden Melodies Revealed. Cantorial solos, Afro-pop horn lines, and Jeremiah’s obsession with the blues meld into a sound that’s genuinely unlike any other on the scene today—Jewish or otherwise. Jeremiah performs like a man possessed. His shows, which feature members of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Antibalas, and the Arcade Fire, are exciting and frightening all at once. How else would you want your Rosh Hashanah liturgy? I can’t wait for the full record.

"House by the Sea" – Iron & Wine
I thought Iron & Wine was a singer-songwriter, but after playing his new album, The Shepherd’s Dog, on repeat, I’m not so sure. He transcends the narrow boundaries of such genre classifications with songs like “House by the Sea," which begins with a swell of sounds that is mostly (entirely?) acoustic but could just as easily be an electronica intro to a Thievery Corporation song. A minute in, it turns into a beautifully melodic masterpiece. He doesn’t lose any of the textures but continues to build them up, keeping me interested in the story and the sound, and leaving me feeling like I want to live in this lush aesthetic.

No cough syrup necessary: Kid Cudi"Day 'N’ Nite" – Kid Cudi
This is my new jam, but I don’t know how to pronounce his name. (Cutie? Cuddy like what a cow chews?) Regardless, the newest signing to Fool’s Gold (the label from A-Trak, the turntable wiz who also happens to be Kanye’s DJ and a Polish-Canadian-Jew), turns out a slick electro backpacker banger. The half-time beat reminds me of a chopped and screwed remix, except this song is dance-floor–worthy without the two bottles of cough syrup.

"Kartzioy (Leeches)" – Sagol 59
I’ve known Sagol, the Godfather of Israeli hip hop, since 2000, when I met him performing at the now defunct Syndrome in Jerusalem. It was one of the first hip-hop shows in Israel, a low-key affair with Sha’anan Street of Hadag Nachash, a few hooting hippies, and a sax player who claimed to have been in one of Miles Davis’ bands. He’s come a long way since those days of covering NWA in Hebrew.

Sagol’s newest album, Make Room, which will be coming out on JDub later this spring, was produced by a 17-year-old prodigy named Johnny HaKattan (little Johnny). It brings his lyrical assault into a brighter, poppier palette of sounds that has challenged Sagol to update his flow and his lyrics. The first five times I heard the chorus to this song, I thought it was some African dialect; the distorted, high-pitched vocals blend together into an almost indistinguishable sound, and my Hebrew’s not that great. In reality, he’s telling the story of the constantly downtrodden—what Israelis call “a fryer.” (Basically, a sucker. If you’re Israeli, you probably live in fear of being classified as one because everyone’s trying to screw you.)

Blow Your Head – Fred Wesley & The JBs
Fred Wesley has played trombone with Parliament, with Bootsy Collins, and, most famously, in the JB’s (that would be James Brown’s band, both with and without the Godfather of Soul). I got this track on a cheesy-looking compilation from 1988 called “James Brown’s Funky People pt. 2.” Whenever I need a little pick-me-up in the office, I turn this on. It opens with a wicked synth line, and then the drums come in and you can see the Funky People getting down. I either want to dance with them or sample this in a hip hop beat (which I’m sure has already been done to death).

Guess what Fred’s newest project is? Playing with JDub’s own Socalled – you can hear him on a track from Ghettoblaster called “(These are the) Good Old Days.”