The Wailing Wall

Bio:

"There's an undeniable poetry to Rifkin's words...What's more impressive than Rifkin's introspective voyage, however, is the confident way he flits from tabla and sitar vibes on 'Bones Become Rainbows' to the austere guy-with-guitar of 'For C.M.R.' (where he manages to out-nasal Dylan), or from the sunny folk-rock of 'Dandelion' to the harmonium bliss of 'Fear No Apple, Fear No Flood.' These songs flow together with convincing inspiration." - Joshua Klein, Pitchfork

"Rifkin is an undeniably talented songwriter...he can be simple and direct or grand and atmospheric, with elements crashing together around his uniquely pitched voice. [The Low Hanging Fruit] is...solid in creativty and a genuine need to be absorbed and understood. There will be more to the Wailing Wall story, you can just feel it. This record is just too much of a leap forward for there not to be." - E.N. May, Consequence of Sound

"Indie-folk done right...[The Low Hanging Fruit is] a strange-sounding record that makes ample use of sitar and plenty of instruments you won’t have a shot at identifying. The most powerful of them all, though, is Rifkin’s voice, which stands up better than most to the all too common Jeff Magnum and Will Oldham comparisons. The energy level is generally high, the melodies are among the best you’ll hear all year, and the tone is pensive, questioning and slyly romantic...It’s music as celebration, as the reason for and answer to everything." - Mike Conklin, The L Magazine


Discography:
- S/T EP (6 songs, self-released CD-R 2006, now available as a free download)
- "For My Baby Brother"/"Nails and Wood" 7" single (2 songs, yellow vinyl, limited edition, self-released 2007)
- Hospital Blossoms full-length LP (10 songs, self-released CD-R in 2008, remastered and reissued as a free download by JDub Records in 2009)
- Hospital Blossoms Bonus EP (4 songs, outtakes and demos, free download 2008)
-Hospital Blossoms: The Book (18 pages, illustrated and annotated companion to the album of the same name; self-released 2009, currently out of print and unlikely to return)
- The Low Hanging Fruit (NEW FULL LENGTH ALBUM, 10 tracks, produced by Tim Fite, released on CD and as a download by JDub Records in 2010)


Booking, or just to say hi - rifkin.jesse@gmail.com
Press - Kip Kouri - kip@tellallyourfriendspr.com
Label - Aaron Bisman - aaron@jdubrecords.org

Thanks for listening!
love,
The Wailing Wall

Member Since:

July 10, 2005

Members:

Jesse Rifkin all the time. Friends often.

For shows in 2010, the band will be some combination of Jason Anderson, Ben Bernstein, Gabriel Birnbaum, Tim Cronin, Ted Gordon, Chris Roush, Ben Seretan, Alana Skyring, Ian Staub, Andrew St. Aubin, and Trevor Wilson. Others as well, here and there.

On The Low Hanging Fruit (2010):
Rob Badenoch - engineering/mixing
Ben Bernstein – pipe organ
Amy Bush – trashcan, singing
Tim Fite – production/engineering/mixing, electric guitar, xylophone, mandolin, synths, shakers, bells, singing, and probably all sorts of other things he did when I wasn’t looking
Pepi Ginsberg – singing
Ted Gordon – bass, ukulele, viola, trashcan, singing
Joey Lawton – trashcan, singing
Justin Riddle – tambourines, shakers
Jesse Rifkin – singing, steel and nylon string acoustic guitars, electric guitar, harmonium, plucked and bowed banjos, accordion, melodica, singing saw, bass drum, xylophone, electronic tabla programming, finger cymbals, shakers, tambourines, bells
Chris Roush – drum kit, trashcan, singing
Dan Saks – electric guitar
Ian Staub – trumpet
Colin White – sitar
Trevor Wilson – upright and grand pianos

On Hospital Blossoms (2008):
Luke Bace – bass, sound effects
Holly Fulton – viola, grand piano
Alixandra Macmillan-Feidel – vocals
Natalie Mirsky – accordion, vocals
Taylor Pavlik – trumpet
Jesse Rifkin – production/engineering, vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, banjo, harmonica, harmonium, accordion, electric piano, glockenspiel, violin scratches, drums, shakers, tambourine, wood block, field recording of gamelan musicians
Chris Roush – production/engineering/mixing, drums, cajon, darbouka, bass synth, shakers, vocals, sound effects, field recording of a thunderstorm outside the boathouse

Influences:

Smog, Led Zeppelin

Sounds Like:

somewhere, somehow, somebody must've kicked you around some.
tell me why you wanna lay there and revel in your abandon?

Record Label:

JDub Records