Jewish Music Fridays: Except Saturday

Welcome back to Jewish Music Fridays! Kick back, relax, and enjoy the music.

This week, we're featuring a Jewish rock group from Brooklyn called Except Saturday. I first discovered these guys my first year at YU, when they won the Battle of the Bands and went on to open the annual Chanukah Concert. They had a really great sound, and a tremendously powerful vocalist, Erez Cohen, whose range and energy was very much unlike any I'd seen/heard in other Jewish bands. I really enjoyed their Shabbos-focused songs, and was particularly enthralled with "Lecha Dodi," "Mizmor Shir," and "Show Me the Way."

I had hoped for them to release an album, and they had some personal recordings of a few of their songs available on Myspace. However, their professional recording debut didn't materialize. Erez became ill with a debilitating physical ailment that knocked him out for some time, forcing the band to a halt while he could recover. Read the full story on that saga here.

To my delight, the band reappeared somewhat suddenly last year on Facebook, with news that their album was finally coming together. When I actually purchased it off of Amazon, listening to the tracks felt like an old friend reappearing after a long absence. The songs I was familiar with from their live performances were all there, and sounded much better and more developed, and the songs I had not yet had the pleasure of hearing, such as "Yedid Nefesh" as well as the title track from their much anticipated album "To New Beginnings" were great, too.

Incidentally, "To New Beginnings" includes the words "Shades of Grey," though I doubt it's even an indirect reference to this humble blog ;) You can also download this track from their website.

Check out a few of their songs below, and be sure to buy their album!

"Lecha Dodi"


"Yedid Nefesh"


"To New Beginnings"


"Everyone's Alone"


"Mizmor Shir" live (not the best quality, I know, but I had to post it since it's one of my favorite songs of theirs).

I hope this "New Beginning" is the start of a long, and fruitful career!