Dana Does London

Yet another reason why Dana needs a proper international website - how could I not know she was flying into London for some high profile cruddy PAs on the Eurovision circuit? Miming to the tolerably average Ding Dong, Dana is soon persuaded to sing Diva acapella before being to grossed out by a bunch of gays whose best days were back in the late 80s that she has to run off stage straight away and demand some hand sanitizer. I'm still humming along to Ding Dong, but I am sure in about a year I'll have gotten over my grief about her recent semi-final loss - I haven't felt this disappointed for a pop star since I heard the bonus tracks on Dannii's Hits & Beyond (belief).

Always A Diva

Above: "Close he door please!" Also, very interesting to hear that she only came back because it was Germany or the UK hosting the competition.

Well I have been truly saddened that Dana didn't make it through to the final - we never got to see the dress she had planned. Her performance was relatively understated, but her catwalk strut towards the final stages of Ding Dong was nothing short of life-defining and awesome. In truth, the song did not have the strange and exotic appeal of her 1998 victory anthem Diva: music, or Eurovision at least, had caught up with her sound and Miss International came back with a competent disco song, with plaintive rejoice and a sweet music video, but she has produced better songs in all 3 of her last albums (her biggest native hit to date was as recent as 2007 with the swanky Kylie Fever era sounding Love Boy), and sadly Ding Dong just wasn't anything exceptional despite the fact that it grew on me like a teenager with acne.



If the drama of that catwalk strut could have been sustained throughout perhaps she just might have caught people's imaginations more. Dana was the highest Eurovision worldwide Twitter trender throughout all of the contest (including the final), so the dance diva legend most certainly had the opportunity to use the platform with more aplomb, but overall I am happy to have seen her on a worldwide stage once again - I just hope she can do it again some time. Anyway, here are some youtube clips that are in turns: hilarious, glamorous (she needed another Glamorous to come back with, no?), maddening and wordlessly amazing!


Above: apart from the annoying presenter, I just love Dana strutting around the red carptet and acting like a fabulous hot mess to get as many pictures taken as possible.

Above: "Do I need to introduce these people, my totally straight friends?... Okay, it was nice rehersal because I like myself... Darling, I know the question.... Can I say something un-PC?... Because they are not straight!"

Dana International - Ding Dong music video!

The song Ding Dong has become something of a grower. It's certainly no Love Boy, and while her last album, the critically acclaimed Hakol Ze Letova from 2007, displayed a vicacious and emphatic vigour that suggested her next move would be equally as bold and daring, this new song is efficiently glamorous and sweet if nothing else. I'm in a real panic that Eurovision is happening whilst I have to cram for exams, so I won't be posting anything substantial for another week and a half. I'll also be starting a new blog, and shall provide more details in due course. Dana will perform on the second Eurovision 2011 semi final tomorrow evening to compete for a place on Saturday's final, so stay tuned for another update with my verdict, and please vote for her! Oh, and the video is stunningly impressive - presumably Dana upped the budget by selling some of her gown on ebay, which explains why she's sitting on those suitcases.

Dana International is BACK on the Eurovision stage!

Yes, that is right, a tranny is singing a song called Ding Dong. You couldn't make it up. Sadly it's not a patch on some of her work from her last album Hakol Ze Letova, released back in 2007, and she'll need to think of a better strategy than look-at-my-dress-for-3-minutes if she wants to finish in the top three quarters of the scoreboard. I'll still be voting for her, but I would have expected better given her well-remembered triumph in 1998. Perhaps I am sounding harsh: it does at least grow on you, and the gal did write it all by herself.

This is my current favourite song from her last album:

Dana's Almost-International Smash

Forgetting it was not 1997, Dana International really spiced things up on Romania's televised 2004 Eurovision selection broadcast, performing the intoxicating English-language Summer legs-to-the-ceiling anthem Matadoras - a scintilating salsa serving spiked with cock-teasing lyrics that Sam Fox, Sabrina, Tatjana, or even Alexia, and whoever else has had hits that went down a storm in 90s Ibiza, would all kill to jiggle their jugs to: 'from here to Argentina, we step into the arena / the boys are waiting for us, we are Matadorus' is just masterful!

The groin-gagging would-be holiday anthem was in fact due for release as part of an international contract with Sony, but was aborted when the deal fell through and the fervent fan favourite remains unreleased to this day: only the live version is available. Its transfixing refrain 'ooh ahh, oh la la' is the language of love and also transsexual for 'follow me home.' Dana's career will forever be skidmarked for most people by Diva, but this bar-hopping bopper was intended to be part of a project with the kind of coherent scope that was not quite ready when the singer delivered a ropey cover of Woman In Love as the follow-up to her Eurovision success - her Hebrew material rarely translates well, so to hear a song that was deliberately aimed for mainland European success fertilizes a unique engagement with its audience.

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Dana International - Tampa E.P

Released in 1995, Dana International's third release was a stopgap project called the Tampa E.P, which was comprised of various remixes and two new recordings, including one with the guy who later wrote her Eurovision winner Diva. An enchanting set, the singer is on exuberant form milking her fans as she bides time until her next studio album a year later.

01. Ani Rotza Li-Chyot (I Want To Live)
A speedy trance skimmer that boasts the singer's most skillfully female vocals. The melodic structure is spread wider than Dana on the operating table, but posseses her otherworldly passion and has a sensual wail to make it worthwhile. Extinguishing synths set the tone for the tranny's unmistakable eccentricity to get fully erect elewhere.

02. Mi She-Lo Roked - Omed (The One Who Doesn't Dance - Stands)
Featuring Diva-writer Svika Pick, anyone expecting something equally as epic shall be disappointed. The male vocals do not work, which is a shame as I love the primitive piano keys and glossy production varnish.

03. Flash Gordon

Theatrical cajun house-trance scorcher that is similar in elemental aesthetic to Billie Ray Martin's Your Loving Arms, but much more volcanic and nowhere near as melancholic and elegant. A scrappy chorus doesn't hold back any punches, this was my 'getting ready' anthem back in 2004. One of her most direct-sounding anthems, rather like Diva.

04. Layla Tov, Eropa (Good Evening, Europe) (Club Remix)
This was Dana's first attempt at Eurovision glory, which she eventually performed when Israel hosted the event in 1999 following her victory the previous year. The heavy weight and mindless pace would never have fortuned the singer a Eurovision victory, but the grandiose vulgarity is still rewarding in a deliberately ironic manner.

05. Danna International (International Remix)

May I have your attention please,
All passengers in flight number 606,
Please go to gate number 42

A teetering disco suspence is created and Dana soon does her air hostess duties as a Morroder bassline glides through the air (sound familiar, Kylie?). The moment one realizes the similarities it is fucking shocking. Dana's wild sexuality is as bonkers as ever, and the ethnic strings and shrieks would never have found a take off the way Kylie's blatant rip-off did, but does Kylie have the guts to sing 'I'm eating pussy'? No, she does not.

Ladies and gentlemen, attention please,
5 minutes before landing,
No kiss kiss,
No Miss Miss,
and no business allowed

06. Qu'est-Ce Que C'est? (The Ti.Pi.Cal Remix)
Dana literally sounds like a cock on this one - crowing invented French like a cockerell that is. The remix is far too sparse for my taste, but as a dub it has got as much juice as you can ask for with Ms. International's wanton wailing igniting the most fire.

07. Betula (Ethnic Virgin Remix)

This remix is not quite as much fun as the piano-trodden original version, but Dana still sings a verse of Suzanne Vega just to get the musical purists off her back for a second. The sweltering strings are a lighter and less rampant climate for what is probably the most unassuming melodic ascention in her whole highly cluttered catalogue. Overwhelmingly sumptuous, the groove is glorious and one actually experiences the careful sensation that Dana is hypnotizing them. The flustered rap is coy and convincing.

Dana International Incarnate: A Brief Guide

Trance-tranny Dana International is an unlikely Queen of trance (see explanations as to why it is her secret - hodi - ingredient below), with dabbles in Rn'B here and there, who probably has a new album coming out this year, the follow-up to 2007's Hakol Ze Letova. She's Israel's transsexual sweetheart, judging on their own 'Idol' variation and here are some of her highlights of which I think are perhaps most easy to penetrate for beginners:

She has it in her chilly dancefloor ballads (the arctic pathos howling through Hakol Ze Letova, Lola is Mylene Farmer meets Chicane, and the dreamy frostbitten Tachlom is stoic melancholy captured at its most vulnerable);

She adds glow-stick, Hi-NRG sirens (the sharp vitriol of Nitzachti rivals 90s Dead or Alive, the scorching Mifrats Ha Ahava is not a million miles from Celebration's dancefloor exhaustion, she gets camp cramp on the Sex & The City literate Glamorous, which sounds extracted from the same vein as Diva, and piano-tremoring Tagid Li Mi is just superb);

Below: French-language single Lola's video was her most expensive operation since you-know-what.

and froths it up into pop (the Eiffel 65-ish Ata Ha-DJ Shelí, the dreamy treacle of Sipur Ahavtem Shel Chas Ve-Chalilaand, and her biggest radio hit ever Love Boy).

The piano-driven Betula is another favourite and shapeshifts into Suzanne Vega, whilst the glitzy anthem Flash Gordon is another beguiling strand of her accentric charm.

She sometimes played it wrong: covering Stevie Wonder's Free threw away her Eurovision spot when Isreal played host following her 1998 victory, she played it straight covering Woman In Love (her version of Yes Sir, I Can Boogie is better), and the Sony deal collapsed under ambiguous circumstances).

Above: Dana gives it the 'ethnic virgin' on the set of her Secret Hodi video shoot.

The scorned vitriol of the single At Muchana is a better version of Rihanna's Shut Up & Drive, and Eifo Halev? is another Chicane (Stoned In Love) dancefloor pounder. She even channels RuPaul on Cinque Milla ('is this my turn - you want me to sing now?') quoting Annie Lennox - for many this is her signature song (Geri Halliwell paid tribute to Dana's banana riding in her own video to Ride It, and Love Never Loved Me was the best song Ms. International never recorded).

Above: Cher and La Toya Jackson clearly two of Dana's biggest style icons as she double-checks for something.

Her best albums (for me) are 2001's Yoter VeYoter (listen for influences of Madonna's Music album and the Spice Girls' Forever I kid you not), and 2007's Hakol Ze Letova, which I think is her masterpeice.

Dana International - I Feel Love

In the 6-12 months before we finally get a new album from her, what better time to get cracking onto showcasing Dana International's unreleased material of which there is many many gems than now? One of which is a cover of the Donna Summer flop I Feel Love. Whilst Summer did at least try to make this become one of disco's most recogniseable anthems, it is not until Israel's most recogniseable tranny gives it a go that the song finally sounds as if it might become vaguely iconic. Dana's timid ethnic version was so superior the Diva singer felt more guilt about it than the night she chose to tell her parents her penis was in a London rubbish bin, so much so that it was decided not to release it until Donna Summer dies of natural causes of rumoured internal-homophobia. However, Diva Incarnate says 'hell no' to that.

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Dana International - More Is More

Dana International's 6th studio album Yoter VeYoter (More and More) continued the singers evolution into not just a woman but a woman who releases music. Her first entirely-Hebrew album, it's not completely impenetrable for those curious simply to seek out more where Diva came from. Although it will hardly snag her new fans, released in 2001, there is much on offer here and Dana's asthetic remains a glittering prize for fans of ethnic Hi-NRG.

Tongue-tripping smash-opener and second single, the imprisoned danefloor siren Nitzachti (I Won) is the albums biggest throat-ripper using the singer's signiture sting from her intensely waspish vocals and declematory Hi-NRG motivation. With her darkly feminine aura, it's a lethal dancefloor noir dosage of highly flared-up electronic sounds. Her vocals might be as flat as her chest, but you'd never care dancing to this. Nothing less than righteous

The swanky rn'b wind up Let Me Live is perkier than such a stale set up might suggest. At one with the vocoder, her vocals are laced with baratone promise - the perfect vehicle for her freaky-glamour persona.

More and More is a testing cheeseball, rnb fused with strings - having no idea what she is crowing on about, it's more than passable and gentle. Dannii would love the glossy 1000 Days of Love (pictured above) - a simmering house chill-out, slapping on sunscreen and just enough bass to give you a semi. Chic. The stripped resources of No Reason is a slightly word-drunk sounding pledge for optionless funk.

The intensely sun-kissed house skimmer You Mess All Up is perfect Hed Kandi fodder - she ought to slip into her English tongue more and rent tricks like these out to such compliation homes. An exquisitely uninterested vocal slurs in gogrgeous fusion with the lush disco strings, slushy beats and languid bass line. A static beat kicks in after 3 minutes.

Above: the single cover for Let Me Live - can you get more phallic?

The pulsating tempo of Ata Ha-DJ Shelí (You're My DJ) is the standout track that could appeal to her Eurovision tourists seeking an easy dance cut. Trancey and with its upright pop melody is not dissarmingly dissimilar to Dana's most recent monster hit Love Boy. Her cheesey embouchure more engaging, euphoric and unthinkingly plaintive than ever.

Pinching her beats from the Spice Girls' Holler, He Makes Me Feel Good would have been a killer Forever track. Beyond the world-beat disco, the chorus is subtle and yum. A yearning guitar line (3:40) is to die for.

The enigmaticand and evocative lead single A Song is an exotic juxtaposition of acoustic guitar and glinting electronica not dissimilar to Madonna's Music album only it is something Dana has always done anyway, perfuming her unique vocal presence.

On The Road To Freedom is a teetering dance cut, throbbing with mystery and determined impulse to cater to her international fans. With thwarted guitars that casually promise Kylie's Shocked, this is far too slow to top the older Minoguwe but as ever Dana engages with pensive moods that are all her own perfection. Her soukus demolition doesn't errupt but there's definately a panic.

Another snaky, nimble and spaced out rnb scattering, Turning Pink has low budget traces of delicate sythns and a pleasant ennui. Sadly not a Cher cover, After All (pictured above) is a stunning glistening ballad that could be ABBA getting their folk on. Moving on a lazy river of sound, it seduces you from the outset.

The solid Until The End of Time grooves with the album's classiest sample. Thriving on a sleazy sequencer, slapping bass, tanssexual flamboyance and a goth-disgust that demands authority, Dana triggers sensations there could never be any translation for.

Sometimes more of a mood piece than a collection of commercial hooks, More & More peaks on her trademark unflinching Hi-NRG as well as the de-layering languid strolls through Hebrew rnb, of which syntheisize Middle Eastern musical strains into her audio-glamour that's as one of a kind as her original nose. For outsiders, this might not convert, but it's fragile moments of naked experience are gripping ripples not to be sneered at. Always a diva, Dana invests in emotions that are luminous, graceful and always glamorous.

Dana International - Cinque Milla

The only tanny to get me hard, Dana 'danger muff' International's legendary anthem Cinque Milla makes Lady Gaga seem like Mandy Moore by comparison. Geri Halliwell famously paid tribute to the iconic banana rape scene in her own Ride It video and subsequently recorded the best song Dana never recorded, Love Never Loved Me, whilst Dana herself was kept busy becoming Israel's alternative to Dannii Minogue recording trance songs and becoming a judge on the country's equivalent to the X-Factor.

The high-impact track is taken from her third album Maganuna.

Diva International

Blog name change, much? Dana International's cameo on Beautiful People is now up on youtube. She looks fantastic, which is a relief considering her new boobs were looking a bit iffy back in 2007. I don't watch this show (and from the clip, its characters seem horrendously stale), but her Mr Magoo and 'when I was a little boy in Israel' lines are miles better than any sketch Madonna has done in the last 15 years that's for sure.

Dannii Minogue's episode is set to air 11 December (4 days after The 1995 Sessions is released!).

Dana & Dannii Double-Up For BBC Drama

BBC2 drama Beautiful People shocked the gay community and the world when singing sisters Dannii and Kylie went forehead to forehead on their duet The Winner Takes It All, which admittedly sounds like a reasonable reward from Jay-Z but eventually turned out to be just a cover of the ABBA song.

Above: he might be ridiculous, but I really wouldn't mind giving Michael Lucas backstage access.

Not that it has stopped Dannii coming back for more, as both she and the Israel superstar Dana International have recorded their scenes (not together sadly) for the TV show set to air soon. The Eurovision sensation pays homage to her 1998 victory in the sequence, and lord knows what Dannii has been reeled in for. It is noted in this months Attitude magazine that Dana arrived in the country believing the show was a big deal here, announcing shyly 'I'm here to star in The Beautiful People' to the nearest homeless person. One might hope that the soundtrack shall feature a new song from her and not just Diva.

חלוםםםםםםם דניאל לוי מעלה אדומים

Dana's 2002 landmark album Ha'chalom Ha'efshari (the possible dream) was a tranquil affair. The misty and atmospheric settings set in place songs of a more pensive nature.



The heavenly cloud-navigating trance of Tachlóm (dream on) was written by Ehud Manor who died a year later. Obviously when Dana scoffed 'you'll never top that' he misheard the provocative tranny and threw himself in front of a bus. The dreamy speed-ballad is an early indication of what the singer would achieve on the similarly arctic lovesong Hakol Ze Letova - the crashing trance waves settle, a song built on aquatic chord progressions. Dana's sincere aching chips away at iceberg hearts: a gorgeous, touching, dreamy song.

Tagid Li Mi is a pounding dance throb with simmering beats and Dana's unmistakable phlegm-spitting delivery - the front rows at her concerts must be soaking before she even gets to a bloody chorus. Once again, Dana drifts into different dimensions beyond comparison to her peers whomever they might even be (Gina G and Dannii Minogue perhaps?).

Makat Hom (I La Dirla Da Da) is the token dance track to utilize traditional influences. These are never my favourite on her album's but this one is sweetly-sung and Michael Flatley would shoot his load if she gave him this for one of his shows.

Superman is an English-language, thick-and-fast sex anthem with a slight RnB influence - it's basically a trite ongoing lyrical repetition of needing a superman, but it's not dissimilar from one of her best English tracks Glamorous.

The manic Ha'chalo is yet more frantic traditional folklore beats, and one of fans of this ilk only - if this was Eurovision you would be praying for male torso's to make this worth paying attention to. Can't fault the cow for trying though.

The electronic spritz of Sipur Katzar is a beguiling nod to Lil' Suzy, with gorgeous melancholic verses dripping refreshingly and an illuminating chorus. It captures a sense of innosense and heart-warming nocturnal excesses. One of the highlights in fact.

Dana yelps and grimaces on the stripped-back Yhey'e Tov, she almost raps but gives singing one more shot. Midnight piano keys ripple moonlight eariness but this is average despite its qualifications.

Rak Lo Hayom could be Love Inc if they wrote in Hebrew, but the dreamy formula of this album has either won or failed to impress by now and this is not a standout to insist much perseverance otherwise. The verses almost sound like the bridges on ABBA's far chirpier disco tred If It Wasn't For The Nights.

The second English-language track Gotta Move On is by far the best and one of Dana's best full stop. The vocoder makes her sound almost human for a change, the curdling vocals synge into one's conciousness and posses an undeniably dreamlike, intoxicating quality. The slithering refreain 'just a little reaction' is uncharacteristically affectionate - I always interpret Dana tracks as songs of great angst, but sang to herself. It samples Samantha Mumba's Body II Body and makes David Bowie's attempt more desperate than Madonna window shopping chocolate babies in the bronx.

Below: the classic Tachlóm single cover - Dana was too busy fleeing from terrorists trying to gun her down to be present for the photoshoot.

The frosted opener Ad Hayom is speckled with drum n' bass, driven by spying piano keys, acoustic guitar and furnaced by misty synths. Dana's whispering groans are amongst her most seductive and romantic. Like all her best material, it is tinged with sadness and aloof survival instincts.

The acoustic version of I Won is a surprisingly effective candlelight version of one of the singer's finest lazerbeam hi-nrg weaponry - the original is one of my personal favourites. The steady piano keys flicker as she sings carefully, and for once such a set up does not bore me to tears.

Ha'chalom Ha'efshari is mostly an ambient and sedate album with arctic and secluded atmospheres swirling around the singer's expressive emotions. The album's highlight Tachlom is in good company and the set remains one of her classiest even if the serene sheen might not be what Diva fans are expecting.

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Unfinished Business

The mouth-watering trance of Dana International's standalone TV show theme single Mifrats Ha'ahava (The Love Bay) was Diva Incarnate song of 2008 - the sharp attack is nothing new, but this was a flared-up return to her fearless 90s rave signature sound.

Currently a judge on Kochav Nolad (Irael's version of American Idol), she also starred in her own reality show - Dana has never been more in demand and a hotly anticipated new album is still expected to drop this year. I like the signs that it would not be out of the question for her to compete in a show such as Strictly Come Dancing, as there is more for this incredible diva still to concquer, but her absences merely fuel the mistique. A return to the UK surely cannot be out of the question - her native popularity has once again soared and it might be time once again to make use of that ambitious surname.

Above: a clip taken from her reality show - just look at the fun non-Hebrew speaking gays are missing out on!
The jist of it:

Both: they both say please to meet you.
Guy: I came to treat you with some presents.
Dana: you're such a sweetie.
Guy: prepare to recieve your divine gift!
Dana (to camera): where did you find this "thing"? You looked in many closets?
Dana to the guy: you're so stunning.
Guy: thank you, i know.
Dana: you probably "do it" to many girls.
Guy: true, also to boys.
Dana (to camera): this guy is very very concentrate in himself and not aware of anything alse.
Guy: are u concentrating on me?
Dana: I am, I am.
Guy: I like the way you looked.
Dana: did u now?
Dana (to camera): this person is mentaly ill, get him out of here.

Dana's Frostbite Fever

Transexual dance terrorist Dana International may well sing as if she is gagging on one or two of her famous rent boy back-up dancers, but is perfectly capable of taking the simple genre of tranny-pop to heights unseen since Tyra Banks measured her forehead against a double-decker bus. File this one under 'magnificent' as her breathtaking 2007 opus Hakol Ze Letova was a sedate avalanche of arctic rave ballads, hectic hebrew whore anthems, cock-hungry seizures and stoic Hi-NRG palpatations. Her hauntingly strained bee-stung vocals are sung with more appetite than a swarm of locusts and yet usurp her beguiling genital-reassignment pathos and transcend the language barrier with tenderly orchestrated consideration.

The Eurovision winner's emotional insignia is earned through the oracular arctic dance balladry of her exquisitely stark title track alone, which melts into a flood of yearning desolate melancholy. Mournful and vividly determined, damned Dana fights to deliever her finest attempt at singing yet. As she grapples under the usurping misty synths, it was her strongest single since Lola, which is included here as a bonus video. Translating as 'it is all for the best', it is a song of tormented regret if ever there was one.

The gentle nudging of Yom Hule is an equally discreet dancefloor suicide note: who knew she was the new transgender Nick Cave? Her bittersweet narratives creep through the language barrier and haunt you with their lingering 5 o'clock shadows.

The frog-leaping instrumentation of Bereshit is an eccentric nod towards her rampant eurotrash past, and it is hard not to smile when a melody German beer-drinkers might chant is being led by an anorexic tranny who makes Pete Burns look low maintenance.

Above: the last-minute video shot for Love Boy meant over-cocky Dana was left toiling to recruit rentboys who weren't busy.

The exhuberant and skittery flamenco flutter Lo Ma'amina is a pining adventure: Dana sounds fearful and anxious as she awaits an invitation to one of Dannii's famous lesbian sling parties.

Above: Dana forgivingly gives Dannii the finger for copying her lego-style lesbo bob.

When the dust settles onto the yodelling Yalla Yalla, it is possible fellow Eurovision entry Javine could have recorded this whilst drunk and gangbanging MC Harvey, his asian mates and the rest of So Solid Crew just to show Alesha what she has been missing. Helena Papirozou would also be proud to call this 'unreleased' or stick it on an unnoficial myspace profile.

The Bollywood hip-thrusting Seret Hodi was single number 4, with svelte stabbing synths alerting attention to the dancefloor for an abrupt deviation from her usual svelte and stabbing pace.



The sleek and slinky sexdrive of Loveboy became Dana's biggest native hit since Diva and really ought to have been played on UK dance music channel Flaunt for her innovative use of topless rent boy back-up dancers alone. It is an adroit dance number not unlike Kylie's Fever sessions or a trashy H & Clair b-side, and her skimpy vocals are well-equiped to rival the likes of RuPaul or even Geri Halliwell. 'Hey daddy!' is coy as ever - this woman just does not do discreet.



The stroppy frothing-at-all-orifices grind At Muchana really shows Rihanna how it is done best - it leaves Beat Me Up & Drive for dust. Growling Dana spits her deadliest vocals, purging her bile to her decade-long critics. I cannot get enough of her carnal grogging, it really is such a visceral performance. A vitriolic triumph - her glamour disgusted and repelled by anything that isn't in awe of her trannylicious storylines. Her trademark wasp-like sting inflicts the histrionic agony she excells at.

The siren 'tranny in the building' alarm Eyfo Ha'lev (Where Is My Heart) wins points as the strongest album track: it is a rampantly melancholic and layered disco assault and gets a harder pounding than a blonde cheerleader in Iraq. Her foreign androgynous mystique shatters and grimaces under the S.O.S energy which betrays her impossible glamour. Shimmering guitars and full-throttle synths fight for the cause.

The sparse and sped up septic epileptic eurocheese of Ata Memagnet Oti is another derranged standout, with needle-like eye-jabbing precision and the best la la la's since Alexia, making the Italian nugget's anthem sound like a meditative ballad. Dana goes into throbbing robotic meltdown, plus it amusingly sounds like she is singing 'taliban' during the spurting chorus.

Below: a promo shot for the French-language single Lola.

The clogged-pore piano-poised ballad Yom Acher is her token slow number and is soggier than a tampon stuck on a cake left out in the rain. I am sure if I could speak Hebrew I would commit suicide under the weight of Dana's pathos, but as an English-speaker I am free from harm and safely understand what clicking 'delete' entails.

She does not let discerning Western gays off that easy though as the album closer Horbot is another crusty-snot acoustic ballad a whore might sing whilst travelling from village to village on a malnourished donkey.

The Danny Tuval & Zigo Remix remix of Hakol Ze Letova is another frost-bite dance ballad that snaps your fingers off just by listening to it, giving us some indication as to how Dana made her transition back in the day. It fully exploits the origina's chilly serenity, but soon simmers into a Middle-Eastern gay stomper - this track is so magnificent in its aloof turmoil and unrelenting emotional narcissism as it shudders in some sort of aesthetic disgust towards her daily tribulations.

Similarly, the Love Boy remix is the dancefloor winner here - it gives the original track a stunami trance engine missing from the swanky and kitsch original.

Throughout the torrid affair, her live-wire vocals splinter like barbed wire set on fire - her limitations are irrelevant when she transcends them with a molten iciness that, combined with a rampant addiction to arctic rave soundscapes, is her unique occupation. Her authorative release could nourish a desert or freeze over africa depending on the melody prompting her solemn yearnings or uplifting bravado one way or the other.

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