X Marks the Spot    

Nearly three decades after producer and orchestra leader Yochi Briskman put out the first in a long line of Project X albums, the latest PROJECT X is now on the shelves in time to grow the simchah quotient in the lead up to Purim. The newest album, 17th in the series, features ELI MARCUS and ARI HILL singing 35 dance songs, including many current hits and some classics too.

Yochi Briskman’s own musical journey and the series’ trajectory are intertwined. The first album, Project X — The Ultimate Wedding Experience, which set a trend in wedding hit medleys, was also Yochi’s debut musical production. And he says people are still asking where the name “Project X” came from.

Yochi was working as a wedding drummer and band leader, and helping other producers with their albums, when he first decided to produce his own wedding album. Each album-in-progress that the studio was working on was labeled with its name, but he didn’t want everyone who came by to see his own project, so he labeled it “Project X, Top Secret.” In the end, he says, “we actually liked the name, and so the ‘X’ label stuck.”

Although the first album was instrumental only, it was followed by a string of Project X and Project Relax albums featuring many singers, including Lipa, Shloime Daskal, Areleh Samet, Baruch Levine, Simcha Leiner, and Avraham Fried on a recent volume.