1. They believe we exist     3:43
2. Die for us                     5:25
3. It Is                           23:53
4. Piece of cake                4:05
5. Flirting with hope           1:41
6. Five to dusk                 3:12
7. Candy Rehab               1:36
8. All of the above            1:28

 Here's another release that I completely forgot to mention even though I had knowledge of it for a very long time. I met Yuval Aviguy, founding member of Teliof, a few years ago. He was experimenting with home recordings, composing a lot of interesting stuff and playing all the instruments on his own (except for the ones programmed, of course). The only problem was that he didn't really like the sound of his own voice (even though he has a very healthy, bass voice), and he was looking for a singer. I recorded vocals for one of his songs, and later on he would produce a song I wrote called She's Got Grace.

 Time passed and Yuval started recording a real studio album, which eventually gave birth to the band, Teliof. At some point, he sent me an instrumental recording and asked if I could write some lyrics for it. We both agreed that the nature of the music indicated this should be a happy song about a murderous tyrant. I based the lyrics loosely on Genesis's The Knife and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum's The Creature. Here is the final result:

Die for Us - by Teliof

We bow down to your grace and glory
We are bound by the fear you incite
We are all in love with your lies and
We wish you an eternal life

Will you give your life
For the sacred cause of it all?
Words are not enough
Will you die for life?

Praise your thoughtfulness
We are yours to
Sell or buy
We're nothing at all

Last night a nomad arrived in our town
Claiming that he knew the truth
He told us we all have been taken for fools
But we had our ears shut

We tore at his flesh and we hung him up high
Set him on fire at dawn
Your honor must never be doubted in any way
Your honor is all we have

I'm a simple honest man
There is nothing that I can do
Listen to my people say:"We love you"
All I do is for you
It's time to say a prayer
"You are our god"

Master has told us of monsters outside
Monsters that wish to do harm
He took all our children
So we could sleep safe at night
He is divine and just

Our houses are crumbling we have nothing left
It's all a part of the plan!
One day he'll return And bring back all the glory
We must believe its right!

I'm a simple human being
Just as weak as the next guy
It was never my plan, No!
"We all love you"
I didn't want to lead at all
It was always, their own choice!

We are proud to serve as your army
We will shed our morals for you

"All are sleeping"- I must escape, must get out of this town
This self made detention I have to break and be gone
"All he wanted" - Peace for my people and freedom for me
Now there's no salvation - Now there Is no horizon to seek

Hear hear! Wake up!
Our Master is gone – Was he taken from us?
Our cruel foes will pay for this!
Fight them we must. We’ll crush them to dust.
Ready the troops Bury our youth!
"We are willing to give you our youth"

We will hunt down those who have taken him
We will skin their children alive
We will not return to our home until
It's all right not to think for ourselves

Will you give your life
for the sacred cause of it all?
Words are not enough Will you die - for us?
Say, Will you die for us?

Most of the tracks on Is it? are instrumental. There are two other songs with actual words on the album, but they're not nearly as long as this one, as it contains lyrics almost all throughout its 5:25 run. I particulary like the song called Piece of Cake, where Yuval talks about how much he sucks as writing lyrics. I thought it was very amusing. 

Throughout the years, I've heard bits and pieces of Teliof's music, but never listened to the album as a whole. When I attended the launch concert last week, it threw me off a bit. There was so much information, it made me feel a bit intimidated and it was really hard to follow. But after listening to the album and attending a second concert this week at the Third Ear in Raanana, I can say that I sort of get what's on there now. Either way, Teilof's Is It? is a great accomplishment, a wonderfully crafted, well played and arranged musical masterpiece. Definitely one of the most impressive Israeli albums ever to be released, progressive rock or otherwise. It is a true combination between rock and classical music, and it frequently sends me off wondering "how the hell does he come up with this stuff?"