Travelling the farthest and rocking the hardest, Tel Aviv's Rockfour can best be summed up as the not-so distant cousins of the Flashing Lights. Anchored by the amazing Issar Tennenbaum on percussion and the Byrd-like quality of Baruch Ben Yitzhak's guitar playing, this four piece was a highlight of the entire explosive weekend.

How do you cope with an increasingly divided world where you could be blown to bits by a suicide bomber at any given moment? If you're Israeli rockers Rockfour, you listen to as many Beatles, Byrds and random psychedelic pop albums as you can, synthesize those elements and put out an astonishing third CD called Another Beginning.

Another Beginning is a wondrous accomplishment, echoing its numerous 60s influences and incorporating them into thirteen rock-solid tracks without descending into plagiarism or slavish imitation. Vocalist/guitarist Eli Lulai, guitarist Baruch Ben Yitzhak, bassist Marc Lazare and drummer Issar Tennenbaum do their own thing. A stellar track like "Everyone" is awash with ringing Byrds-style guitar, Revolver-era time changes, and an unfailing pop sense that makes the whole thing work. The sunny lilt of "One Fantastic Day" shows that a couple of Beach Boys records found their way onto the band s turntable as well.

The peak of their genre-smashing might be "Route 66," which opens like the best unrecorded spy movie theme of all time before spinning into something that might be more fitting for a hipper, Twilight Zone-style anthology series, with Lulai crooning "Let the horses ride," before Ben Yitzhak unleashes a brief squall to clear the air. Luali then answers, "Clear the voices in your head," and we're right back at the glorious place we started.

Topically, there's little here to acknowledge the boys violent homeland. The first track is called "Government," but it really doesn't seem political. Maybe if you're surrounded by madness, you make music to forget and escape.

The only thing more uncanny than four guys from Tel Aviv who sound like they're happily crushed under the weight of a thousand Byrds, Beach Boys and Love albums is their timing. With their homeland's landscape becoming ever more scarred with bomb-blasted storefronts and tank tracks, Another Beginning arrives on these shores with a reminder that Israel was once more famous for the most beautiful coastlines that side of Malibu. Rock Four hit the sand as if the past 35 years never happened: guitars twinkle like Christmas lights, harmonies swirl like snack-shack ice cream cones, hands get held, hearts get broken and paint-blotch films get projected onto the night sky. I don't want to saddle Rock Four with too much presumptuous political context, but there is a message to be savoured here: when life's a bitch, make it a beach.

On the rear of the digipak that houses Rockfour's Nationwide, the Tel Aviv band's sixth album (second stateside), there's a rather amateur photograph of some far-off cows grazing in a wide, open plain. The plain's location is indeterminate-- it could be in Israel, or the U.S., or any number of other places-- but what interests me more than the plain is the clouds above it. Really, I gave them no second thought until I looked at the booklet stowed within the outer casing, which uses two blown-up portions of the rear cover photo-- the thing is that when you open the booklet and view the front and back together, the two sections blend seamlessly as though they were one contiguous image, an impossibility since in the actual, full photograph, the section of the image that appears on the left is actually on the right.

Why am I ranting about this? Honestly, I have little reason beyond the fact that it just struck me that somebody took the time to doctor these two details of a single photograph and serve them up as something new, probably knowing full well that almost nobody would notice it. I suppose I also mention it because it's the sort of double-take detail that Rockfour build their music on. The album that introduced them to American audiences, 2002's Another Beginning, was loaded with left turns and deceptive juxtapositions like that, and also happens to be one of the most enjoyable tributes to 1968 I've heard in ages. Two years later, with Nationwide, they seem poised to equal and perhaps surpass that album, but run out of steam before they get the chance.

The album opens with a trio of knockout tunes spiked with 12-string jangle nicked from Roger McGuinn and honeyed harmonies. "Honey" immediately strikes a darker tone for the album with its midtempo pound and lyrics that sound innocent enough until you realize that, "You call her honey/ She gets in the car," details an encounter with a prostitute. The title track is a rambunctious landslide of bouncing rhythm and thick harmony, highlighted by a warped guitar break that sounds beamed into the middle of the song from another planet, while "Next Monroe" drapes a sad minor melody over a dramatic chord progression. The problem is that, after this impressive opening salvo, the guns are only on target about half the time.

Part of the problem is that the band has largely left behind the fun 'n' frenzy of their earlier material in an attempt to add a heavier, more serious edge to their sound, an entirely unnecessary exercise. "To the End" has a wonderfully Lennon-esque melody, but the music underneath just thrashes with no center of gravity, finally coughing up an absurdly indulgent guitar solo. "Mad Routine" finds more success with the fuzzier, more brutish take on the band's sound due to its propulsive rhythm and oozing hot glue melody, but the band muddies up "You Said" and "Crush on Subtitles" with too much distortion and rhythmic homogeneity.

So while Rockfour have bulked their sound up with roomfuls of steroidal guitar pedals, they've also sacrificed some of the character and attention to detail that they built their name on. They can still kick out a melody with the best of them, but the slight update they've attempted has a tendency to load their songs down with too much dead weight. The occasions where they get it right are sublime, but Another Beginning hits it out of the park every time and remains the best introduction to the band.

The fourth album from Israel’s best musical export finds this Tel Aviv quartet continuing to refashion pop’s past to alluring affect. There’s less of a baroque, British, Beatles-and-early-Bowie feel this time around; the Moog synths, the deadened snap of the snare drum and the clipped rhythm guitars suggest the more pronounced influence of The Cars, and the commercial success that a band like Fountains Of Wayne has had channeling that sound doesn’t seem impossible when you hear the streamlined New Wave of the title track. Yet, deeper into the album, such motivations seem less clear; songs like "Have A Good One" are harmony-filled gems that owe no particular allegiance to any era – only to great music

The Israeli quartet's previous record, A New Beginning, was a cornucopia of late sixties/early seventies psychedelia and country rock trailing more hooks than a Japanese whaler. Each song was like a scoop of Uncle $crooge's “unobtanium” ice cream from “A Cold Bargain.” In that story, a single molecule of the mysterious ice cream would balloon up to fifty gallons of the most exotic flavor. Rockfour's music is like that, sweet and dense. You'll have a ball naming the influences.

The new record, recorded in Detroit, is a big step in terms of originality without sacrificing their rock-solid sense of pop architecture. One of the few bands that can still smack you with unexpected chord structures, such as the arresting figure that introduces “Mad Routine.”

You get a sense these Israeli boys were gob-smacked themselves by America 's sheer immensity. You see it in Baruch Ben Izhak's photographs of the passing prairie. You hear it in the more expansive, space-utilizing songs and their words. “Honey,” about a failed marriage, grabs you by the lapels with an insistent beat and superb chords. Like other outsiders such as Milos Foreman (“The People Vs. Larry Flynt) or Greg Matthews (Heart of the Country,) Rockfour observes America more keenly than most Americans.

The lyrics sometimes sound as if they've been translated from Hebrew into Japanese into English, such as the confused diatribe on “Next Monroe.” But the music is compelling and often as not the weird lyrics make sense in context.

“Candlelight” is redolent of “Surf's Up.”

Guitarist Baruch's fat Fender constantly threatens to overflow its banks and finally does so on the aptly named “Fuzzy White.” The last four songs meander but still display more pop smarts than MTV.

Even in today’s environment of color-coded terror alerts, it’s hard for Americans to imagine a world where riding a public bus is a death-defying proposition. Sadly, for the members of Israeli band RockFour—guitarists Eli Lulai and Baruch Ben-Izhak, bassist Marc Lazare, and drummer Issar Tennenbaum—such is their reality.

After releasing several Hebrew language albums in the 1990’s, RockFour broke the English barrier with 2000’s Supermarket, an Israel-only release. 2001 saw the worldwide release of Another Beginning, RockFour’s second English-language CD and first for Mike McGarry’s Rainbow Quartz label. The band is a perfect fit for RQ, the undisputed king of 21st century neo-psychedelic jangle-pop. Another Beginning was a masterful amalgamation of Byrdsian jangle, Beatlesque harmonies, and hippy-trippy production.

On RockFour’s latest Rainbow Quartz release, Nationwide, they’ve pushed aside some of their less subtle Byrds references in favor of a slightly more soulful, more introspective sound. While the occasional McGuinn-ian Rickenbacker lick surfaces here and there, there’s much more of a Arthur Lee & Love or Zombies influence than was exhibited on Another Beginning. Muscular, fuzzed-up guitars rule the record, from the cautionary marriage tale “Honey” to the semi-psychedelic “Nationwide.” The trippy “Mad Routine” exhumes the spirit of the Seeds, while RockFour considers the dark, minor-keyed “Fuzzy White” “a tip to our American influences.”

Lest listeners fear that RockFour has completely abandoned power pop, the band tosses in “Candlelight,” which recalls the Beatles “Because,” or “Have a Good One,” a sly nod to ELO’s “Strange Magic.”

On balance, though, one can’t help but notice that the overall tone on Nationwide is a wee bit darker, a touch more somber than Another Beginning. Actually, given the current state of affairs in RockFour’s corner of the world, it’s quite amazing that the record is as sunny as it is. The band plans to spend 2004, in their words, “touring, writing, recording and purchasing more Rickenbackers.” Here’s to hoping it doesn’t get any more complicated than that.

Nationwide is the semi-progressive second release from Israeli quartet Rockfour on the Rainbow Quartz label. Though it sounds a little too Beatles or Moody Blues, my best friend's girl thought they cranked it up mid-CD to give you a lash of guitar which leaves you crying out "More! More!" And they don't disappoint, hitting you again on To the End and You Said which, if you had seen them at Zaphod's or SAW Gallery, would leave you craving their mind-blowing live performances. So c'mon guys, a little more of your guitar rock, please.

For its third English language release, this Israeli psychedelic juggernaut traveled to Detroit and worked with producer Jim Diamond. I presumed that this would result in a rawer recording, as Diamond is best known for his work with many of the leading lights of the Detroit garage rock scene, including The White Stripes. This made sense, since RockFour happens to be one of the most explosive live bands in the world.

My presumption was off by a mile. Diamond's production is precise as can be. In the end, I don't think his role was artistic, so much as just putting these songs in the best light. Which he did. Even when I listen to this on my P.C., the clarity of the disc and stereo separation allows all of the colors of RockFour's songs to shine brilliantly.

While the band does attempt a few new things, for the most part, RockFour stays the course. They still have some of the most dazzling harmony vocals in the business, taking inspiration from The Bee Gees, with a more haunting aspect. Instrumentally, they are second to none. Marc Lazare is a muscular bass player, who can Entwhistle as well as he can McCartney. Likewise, drummer Issar Tennebaum can play as forcefully and thrillingly as any skin pounder, yet he is capable of great subtlety and feel. Singer Eli Lulai is passionate and engaged at all times.

The star of the show, however, is Baruch Ben Izhak, a guitar hero if there every was one. Ben Izhak is outlandishly talented, a virtual encyclopedia of guitar sounds. Not since Rick Nielsen has there been a guitarist with such a facility for so many hallmarks of ‘60s rock guitar. Like Nielsen, all of this know how is grounded in a supreme appreciation for the song. Ben Izhak has flash, yet he never overwhelms the song -- he maximizes it.

RockFour is so tied to psychedelia, that it's no surprise that Ben Izhak has that sound down cold. Yet there is so much more here. On "You Said", Ben Izhak unleashes some heavy quasi-Tony Iommi fuzz, along with a burning guitar solo and some delicate jangle. This song is an ominous and attractive mix of heavy music -- in fact, it is one of the heaviest RockFour tracks ever -- contrasted by the beautiful, mournful harmony vocals. This song would make a fine, more rocking companion to Simon and Garfunkel's "Hazy Shade of Winter".

The band moves forward into the ‘80s (though it's hard to imagine them in parachute pants with feathered hair, particularly the chrome-domed Lulai) on the album's first two tracks. "Honey" finds the band paying homage to The Cars and other bands of that ilk. Oh oh, it's magic, I suppose. The song throbs along, before finally hitting a more typical RockFour chorus. Indeed, the new wavey elements are really just decoration. They serve to make RockFour a bit poppier. To the band's credit, this does not diminish their power. If anything, the sudden burst of the chorus and Ben Izhak's apeshit solo actually stand out in further relief from the smiley face groove.

The next song is the title cut, which seems to reverse the approach. The song starts off in true RockFour fashion, and then the new wave/Cars elements bubble up, including some nifty Elliot Easton-style lead parts from Ben Izhak. This song also has one of the strongest choruses on the record, which actually highlights one of the band's few weaknesses. RockFour's lyrics tend to be obscure (or maybe opaque). Since their music is so colorful, this often isn't a major problem. However, sometimes it's hard to fully grab on to the songs. No matter how attractive the music is, the songs often lack lyrical phrases that can lock the listener in. This is not a problem on "Nationwide", however.

Lyrics are beside the point on "Candlelight". It's not that the words are meaningless. It's just that the song is so simple and pretty -- a real showcase for the band's vocals. Both Ben Izhak and Lazare play with exceeding delicacy. The bridge, where Lulai sings alone, accompanied by Ben Izhak, who plays a spacey lead that Les Paul would have appreciated, is stunning. The album closer "Much More to Offer" is another spacious number that edges into shoegazer and desert rock, while retaining a bit of a Pink Floyd feel.

There are plenty of other great cuts, like the latter day Beatlesque "Moving Fast" and the intent "Mad Routine", a song that would have fit well on either of the past two albums. In all, this is the best RockFour album yet, as it has a great balance of moods and stylistic touches. It results in a terrific flow. I just wish that their music was just a little more direct lyrically. Not necessarily on every song, but I think that if they could make a bit more of a connection between the words and the dramatic music and passionate performances, things would crystallize into an incredible experience. Even with that, they are one of the best rock bands around.

… and you might ask yourself “Self, why don’t more neo-psychedelic bands come out of Israel?” Well, look no further. RockFour are here. This four-piece led by Eli Lulai hail from Tel Aviv and choose to trade in their country’s flux for a healthy dose of aural nostalgia. Nationwide is their latest effort and pays a large debt to ELO and Cheap Trick. Strong melodies, synth-soaked guitar licks and smooth production give this album a decidedly Californian sheen and allow Lulai’s songwriting to shine. Accordingly, his vocals are placed way up in the mix and fiddled with extensively. Highlights include the thrashy Byrds knockoff “To The End” and the somber “Have a Good One,” a minor-key ode to pleasant thoughts and numbers. The only real weakness is that the tracks tend to bleed into one another once Nationwide’s 52 minutes are through. But, overall, the RockFour have a faithful sound and are certainly another strong addition to the ever-prolific Rainbow Quartz canon.

Israel’s foremost garage rock combo Rockfour hasn’t given up entirely on resurrecting the spirit of Keith Moon. However, this latest full-length effort suggests the quartet is exploring a few more musical options these days, not the least of which are plucky, sentimental ballads, ’80s new wave pop à la Split Enz and the back pages of the ELO songbook. Still, the band’s forte remains its progressive and distinct brand of ’60s inspired melodic psych-rock, which, despite the aforementioned stylistic diversions, is showcased here as well. Vocalist Eli Lulai has maintained his penchant for wordy, image-packed diatribes and unconventional turns of phrases, too, though many of his words are delivered in the uncharacteristic form of mellow prose.

Rockfour, a group of Israeli rockers, clearly worship at the same altar as most of the bands on Rainbow Quartz, a shrine doused in ‘60s jangle and fuzz and adorned in paisley and Nehru. Thankfully, they’re able to adapt their love of all things Beatles, Byrds and early Floyd with modern production when needed to at least keep the proceedings from completely overdosing in retro. The lead track, "Honey," could easily be played on modern rock stations, yet still sounds like Chicago on acid. The title cut is totally in the spirit of The Move or Small Faces for this modern era (unlike, say, Fountains Of Wayne — who are this year's Freddie And The Dreamers). The fuzzed-out riffs and the spacey dreamy licks are marvelously played throughout the record.

Rating: 8.0

I can hardly imagine what it must be like to be living in Israel right now. Terrorism and conflict may have finally hit home here in the U.S., but we're not even remotely close to the numbing cycle of violence and counterviolence the people of the Levant live with every day. The geek in me just has to ask: What kind of bands form in that sort of climate? It's easy to think of angry, depressing music coming out of every practice space in the country, but I somehow doubt that's what prevails; if anything, I'd think people would be eager to escape the news of the day whenever they throw a CD on, or head out to a club.

Tel Aviv quartet RockFour sound so removed from the Negev Desert and the Wailing Wall, you'd be hard-pressed to even guess at their origins. In fact, RockFour sound incredibly like a product of late-60s Britain -- a little bit of early Pink Floyd, a lot of Beatles, a pinch of Byrds, a smidgen of The Zombies -- with the occasional exception in the form of a punishing interlude, or strange, studio-strangled breakdown. I don't need to tell you that the 60s revival game has been played to played-out, but that's probably the most remarkable thing: These four guys from Israel make it fresh again, and in the process put to shame just about any American or British throwback act you could point to.

For one thing, their English lyrics slay any neo-hippie garbage the average neo-Nuggets band tosses out, ranging from incisive questioning of institutions and social responsibility ("Government") to things as fundamental to pop music as love. And mind you, their first language isn't even English (it's Hebrew). Far more impressive, though, is RockFour's uncanny grasp of their influences, and their ability to expand on those points of reference, to the point where Another Beginning largely transcends them.

"Oranges", with its opening jangle and impeccable harmonies, is undeniably indebted to the Byrds, but it gradually morphs into something else entirely, as swelling keyboards and darting Moog overwhelm the 12-string jangle. Unpredictable twists and shifts in texture seem to lurk around every corner, from weird vocal interjections and charging codas on the title track to the startling tempo change that rips open the shifting guitar and lilting melody of "One Fantastic Day". The guitar tone in its faster interlude is incredibly dirty and sinister, and the shift back into familiar territory is nearly as disorienting.

RockFour clearly have their craft down pat (the band has four other albums out), as there's literally no filler on Another Beginning. In the end, it's probably best to ignore the relative novelty of their origins, as every one of the thirteen songs here delivers. Another Beginning is a remarkable collection that, while it treads widely-covered ground, is also sharp, inventive and most importantly, unpredictable.

Nationwide isn't too different from previous Rockfour releases, and it's still highly reminiscent of much late-'60s pop-psychedelia, usually of the British sort. That's okay — when you do retro-indebted sounds as well as Rockfour does, the many spottable influences aren't a source of annoyance, as they are for such a high percentage of bands that take their cues from a prior era. It should be said that very few groups have done Beatlesesque (late-'60s period) harmonies as well as Rockfour (particularly on parts of "Nationwide"), and it's good news that so many of them are on this disc. If you want a more obscure reference point — obscure to much of the general public, at any rate, if not the kind of hipped-in collectors predisposed to like a band such as Rockfour — it's hard to imagine that anyone who likes the S.F. Sorrow-era Pretty Things won't like this, or like the haunting track "Candlelight," in particular. Something else that distinguishes the group from others with similar grounding — and something that might find them some favor with critics and listeners who are usually dismissive of bands with these leanings — is the rather tense, probing mood of many of their arrangements and lyrics, which stand in opposition to the too-cheerful inclinations of more power-poppish outfits. In a lighter vein, "Have a Good One" recalls the late-'60s Beatles in their mellower interludes, while "Moving Fast"'s drum sound convincingly emulates the most thwacking beats of The White Album. A few more standout tunes on the order of "Candlelight" would have gotten the band over the hump to a new level, but certainly it's a satisfying record.

While the Israeli city of Tel Aviv is known for many things, rock and roll certainly isn one of them. Rock quartet RockFour may change that; they certainly have the licks to back their challenge up.

Formed in the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon, the psychedelic quartet started jamming during military service (compulsory there when you reach 18) and turned the corner to becoming a band in the early nineties. "Weve known each other since high school," explains drummer Issar Tennenbaum, "but weve been together officially since 1991 as RockFour."

The band spent their formative years singing songs in their native Hebrew and released a number of albums available only in Israel. "Our first four CDs were all in Hebrew. The first two were original songs, the third was a tribute to the Israeli rock scene of the early ’70s and the fourth one was done live with an orchestra."

The band switched languages to English for the two records that followed (2000s Supermarket and 2001s One Fantastic Day) and asked their Israeli label to support their desire to play away from home. Their first American visit saw them play the 2001 International Pop Overthrow in Los Angeles. They were tacked onto the showcase for Rainbow Quartz, a New York–based psychedelic pop label that has started to make itself a name as of late releasing albums by bands such as Philadelphias Asteroid #4, Detroits Outrageous Cherry and Austin, Texas’ Cotton Mather.

Rainbow Quartz was so impressed with the bands performance that they asked RockFour to join their label. The union was formed with the release of the compilation Another Beginning this past March.

Its a good fit for the band, as their retro sound dovetails nicely with the rest of the Rainbow Quartz roster. Theres a strong latter–day Beatles / Younger Than Yesterday-era Byrds influence on the albums 13 tracks that makes for a nice, pleasant listening experience thoughout.

"Those songs were on our first two English language CDs. It is harder to be an English language band and get shows in Israel, but we knew we wanted to try and get out and play other places. In the past two years we have been touring a lot in North America and in Spain."

In fact, the band has spent the majority of this year in North America touring — so much so, in fact, that they own their own van for touring over here.

The band has played almost every major festival, starting off with South By South West and including Torontos North By North East and, this past weekend, the Halifax Pop Explosion.

They have played with a staggering amount of different bands since March. They opened three Ohio shows for the jam–happy Dave Matthews Band earlier this summer, they have shared festival stages with the likes of Blondie and Guided By Voices and they have done intimate club shows with bands such as the Flashing Lights, whom they opened for at Chicagos Schubas recently and will again support this Friday at Hamiltons Underground.

Their activity in North America has made the band a hot ticket at home as well, as their recent tour in Israel was their biggest yet.

"Every time we go back to Israel to tour it is always bigger and bigger. In September we managed to do a twelve-show tour in big clubs. That is rare. Usually if a band has the ability to play out four or five times in a month they are very lucky.

"Touring in Israel is not really like touring over here though. You drive an hour to play a show and then you go home. You don really have the same experience of living out of the van the same way you do over here."

Of course the political situation in Israel doesn make touring any easier either.

"The turmoil can make shows difficult. You have to get ready for a show not knowing how it will be. The day before, the area you are playing in could get hit by bombing. If something happens around your show it makes for an unhappy gathering."

"Our shows are about happiness, to try and bring some relief in hard times."

Most pop music acts today are thought of in terms of what we see on MTV. When RockFour played at the Roxy on Thursday, it was hard not to think in terms of what we see on CNN.

The Tel Aviv quartet, popular in Israel since the mid-'90s and recently recording in English and reaching for an international presence, had just enough elements in its set to justify evaluating the music in light of current events.

An Israeli flag was draped over an amplifier, and such key lyrics as "We can't decide who's on our side" (in the opening "Astronauts") fit easily into the context of Middle East headlines. But there's much more to the band than that.

Drawing on the '60s folk-psychedelia of the Byrds (prominently in guitarist Baruch Ben- Izhak's Rickenbacker 12-string licks), the Beatles (a powerful closing version of the Fab Four's "Rain") and the Beach Boys (several echoes of the wistful "Pet Sounds"), RockFour could easily fit alongside Sweden's Hives and the Soundtrack of Our Lives or Detroit's the White Stripes in the current garage-rock revival--though some sappy prog-rock touches were reminiscent of numerous Eastern European bands. And the influences showed too transparently in places, though they often benefited from some imaginative twists. Whatever messages are in the music were not belabored. Singer-guitarist Eli Lulai showed no signs of any overt political mission, preferring wry understatement.

Perhaps the explosive bursts that punctuated several songs, powered by Ben-Izhak's confident playing and Issar Tennenbaum's fiery drumming, represented the real explosions and conflicts in the Middle East.

Or perhaps this is simply a strong, world-class band flexing its musical muscles.