According to Robert Anton Wilson's "Everything Is Under Control", the Elders Of Zion are the non existent authors of the "Protocol Of The Elders Of Zion" (a paper that is widely quoted to provide proof for a world Jewish conspiracy, according that according to RAW has been proven to be a forgery). According to the bio, the Elders are 'a hard-drive based cut and paste quartet split between Seattle and San Francisco featuring Punk Planet editor and former Christal Methodist crank Joel Schalit, 'post' guitarist and Asphodel Records recording engineer Vance Galloway, occasional key person Phyllis Stein, and pansy Division/El Vez drummer Luis Illades. Mixing equal parts of hip-hop, dub, drone rock and noise, the Elder's debut recording, "Dawn Refuses To Rise", seamlessly fuses progressive politics with a beautifully consistent exploration of genres'. According to us, this record is combining the depth of a protest record, with some of the hardest drums, and most interesting sounds, that are only a little shy to the left of what universally could be accepted to be way out hip hop.

As on this record, the different influences actually do merge, making the new total something that is equal to the specifications of its original elements. And as said, often enough, the agonized beats are coupled with leftish sampled speaking, that give this electronics a voice. The most obvious is "What's Your Badge Number", where a protester is positioning himself in front of a commissioner, demanding the badge number of one police officer, due to having been unrightfully hit. There's a lot of anti-capitalism rhetoric to be found on other cuts too, like on "Disco Communiste", where we are taught about Maoists principles of effective revolutionary organization. "Protcol" is coupling hectic drums with a speech by Mario Savio at UC Berkley. But on the more dub and calmer side, there's "Hymn For A New October War", or "Jerusalem Calling", where on the latter we are listening to Israeli children fighting over toys and counting backwards.

It's the purely, or majorly instrumental tracks that are containing the most angst, desperation, pain and determination. Be it on the urging "Dawn Refuses To Rise", that's opening the album, and that's fusing live drums, with crying sound effects, that are like sirens of the lost souls. Also "Future Avant-Garde Society" is clinging on to piercing sounds, like icicles that dig into the surface they are growing on. Slower in the progress, but with the altered guitar chiming, "#1 In Gaza This Week", is pure struggling, while "All That's Solid Melts Into Air (Slight Return)" offers the first glimpse of a happy resolution, a cure for the burned skin that buckles under the pressure of the bandages. And "Like A Fish Out Of Water" is incredible capturing the image of this animal being dropped on the floor, while all effort is not enough to open the gill with the needed liquid oxygen. Finally there's "They Hovered Like Halos", that is ending the album, but without a happy end, without the strength of lying to us about everything being alright, getting alright. Life is 'good enough', and that's always not very good at all.

But this album is more than good, this album is very exciting, and offers one convincing reason why you may also look to left and to the right of your regular music universe, as that offers an echelon of brilliant sounds, that is dependent on and demanding emotion.