Heal The Split

“The Jerusalem trio are one hell of a prospect…Barrages of deafening noise, industrial hip-hop, and contorted R&B all clash throughout Heal The Split; a particularly volatile solution, the band are set to combust at a second’s notice…The main takeaway might be the devastating noise that runs throughout, but this record is lively and memorable for its dynamism and reluctance to stick to one genre or sound.” (The Quietus)

Jerusalem always had a sound. Never limited to genre, yet always challenging. Wackelkontakt are the trio that currently spearheads the Jerusalem scene, playing music that’s precise yet eclectic, cruel and abrasive even when vulnerable. From R&B to hip hop to industrial to power electronics and back to local influences, Wackelkontakt have already made a global mark with the sensory overload of their live multimedia performances and the scintillating presence of frontwoman Tomer Damsky AKA MC Slice, backed by Eyal Lally Bitton (electronics, visuals, scenography) and Marco Milevski Tomasin (drums and electronics).
Wackelkontakt’s wildly eclectic approach, bound by an impossibly consistent sound, is a direct result of the band living a minute away from The Old City’s Damascus Gate and recording in the ultra-orthodox neighbourhood of Me’a She’arim; Jerusalem is present in the music, not in the shape of touristic exotica but in a sense of conflict, paranoia and isolation.
The lyrics are equally contradictory, schizophrenic and chaotic. Emotional manipulation clashes with a desire to shake and be shaken, to allow oneself to become sucked as far as possible from self-loathing. When self-reflection arises it is bitter, ridiculous, pathetic, interweaving with philosophical texts lifted directly from the likes of Deleuze & Guatarri, Foucault, Artaud, WJT Mitchell and others. The quotes become seamless parts of the lyrical barrage, as Wackelkontakt crumble under the urge to say everything while understanding nothing, to understand everything while saying nothing.
Heal the Split is the band’s debut full-length. HtS doesn’t attempt to capture the live experience – it is an independent, studio entity. The title track, a naked, instrumental noise assault, sits between Papamummy, the hip hop opener, and Zkhut Kium, offering what could be tagged doom R&B. The title undermines the overwhelming sense that what was breached and broken can never be put back together; that megalomania and inferiority complexes are two sides of the same coin; that blinding empowerment is immediately exchanged with absolute nihilism. Wackelkontakt demand your attention, however only after you survived all trials of insistent, deliberate rituals of shooting themselves in the foot and blurring all possible traces of narrative. The result renders Wackelkontakt’s angst locally Jerusalemite and universally millennial.
For fans of: Godflesh/JK Flesh, Sneaks, Dälek, The Body, Princess Nokia, Throbbing Gristle, Gnaw Their Tongues, Ahuva Ozeri, Sarit Hadad, Pharmakon, Puce Mary, Pan Daijing (but only if you actually enjoy all of the above)

Words by Avi Pitchon

Heal the Split is out on March 1, 2020 on Magia Roja