GOGOL BORDELLO/JUF: Classic or Dud?

I always thought it would be cool to catch Eugene Hutz DJing somewhere, but since I don't live in NY, that's probably out of the question. Where's the bootleg CD-R DJ mixes?!

also--my stylus review:
http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=3479

and addendum
reading reviews about MIA, thinking about googol bordello--i wonder, the sections on chechneya, i cant read them, im monolingual, i depend on translations, which means i cannot tell if he is in favour or not, and also, i think something that i implied in my review but didnt say directly, was that pluralism, interzone, poco, etc does not mean that it is peaceful, or w/o conflict, or utopia--one of the things that needs to be remembered about WSB's view of it all (and the theoritical baggage of the letterists/situtationists etc) is that none of this is nice or polite or done with permission, and the radical chic of the whole enterprise needs to be

simon reyonalds calls it ghetto house in his review of the MIA and maybe b/c of where i am living now, or family history or something in how european they are or the length of their presence in america makes it more acceptable, less the favela or reggaetron (though gb incorprates both of those) then kleezmer or something already kitschified by the boho borgies...he is dragging himself out of that though, but to what?

the album is great, like MIA's album is great, but perhaps great b/c of its ambguity ?

And, finally, I give you:
"His theme is the constant question: how do you fit in as part of the creative class when desperation replaces hipness?"

eh I just don't see that as being central to the band or the album, more like your need for a rhetorical question at a certain point of the review.

The new album is killer. I can't get off of it.

saw a bit of them on Glastonbury TV coverage - looked kinda fun.

Seeing them for the first time in Boston tomorrow night. Anyone catch their tour?

Looks like Dub Trio is opening again, cool.

Absolute fuckin' mayhem.

Describes them well. Their show during Bumbershoot last month just got more and more and more energetic, frenetic, and raucous as the night spun out. Great fun

Yes, they were amazing last night. Crazy bunch of motherfuckers — the intensity never let up.
One woman in the band reminded me of the dancer in "Gumnaam," the 1965 Bollywood film featured in a clip on the "Ghost World" DVD.

ahhhhhh i'm seeing them tonight and i can't wait!! i saw them in NYC five years ago, having never even heard of them before, and was totally blown away. absolutely insane. yesssss.

</overexcited and caffeinated>

I'm conflicted ... I finally went to one of the Hutz-Djed things. He somehow managed to be the worst DJ I've ever seen (switching from CD to CD, playing Gogol Bordello CDs almost the whole way through, and, by the end of the night, actually fast-forwarding through tracks to get to parts he liked), yet the crowd energy was great and everyone had a fucking blast.

do i wanna go see gogol bordello on the 8th? little help please...

Yes you do.

Oh yes, you do. They're insane.

I recently came across xgau's high praise for this band (e.g., http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=13807). I recall seeing them on a festival stage circa 2009 and thinking they were nuts. Listening to Gypsy Punks now for the first time, and I'm having a very hard time taking this seriously. It sounds like Borat fronting the Clash?

Someone help me. C or D?

Here's what I wrote about it when it came out:

In the mid-1980s, two artists on the outskirts of pop provided inspiration for a whole legion of subsequent bands. Tom Waits, melding Kurt Weill and Captain Beefheart with his beatnik persona, uncovered ways to make acoustic and undistorted instruments as abrasive as any other noisemakers. And Shane McGowan, a tagalong from the original London punk scene, showed that the sloppy passion of 1977 could revitalize Celtic folk.

In their wake, there has been a steady flow of folk-dash-punk approaches to various traditions. These almost never work. Part of the problem is that most folk genres are built on a path of apprenticeship and mastery. Instruments like the violin and accordion are resistant to amateurism. Also, many of these musical forms get their propulsion from the off beat, and reducing their lilt to a 4/4 backbeat is like dropping a cannonball on a soufflé. These artists also underestimate Waits and McGowan; as two of the most literary of lyricists, their writing consistently carries songs through cornball musical ideas.

So what to make of Gogol Bordello? If they were merely overblown, like the unlistenable Irish-punk of tour mates Flogging Molly, there wouldn't be much to say. But their chosen formula, Eastern European music dragged through Rock, occasionally works. Gypsy music has always adapted and invigorated local styles, and only stands a few steps removed from rock. It's in the Polka that fed Texas Swing, in Django Reinhardt's popularization of the electric guitar, and in the Yiddish theatre that lead to Tin Pan Alley. And all those streamed into Rock. Fifteen years ago, the Les Negress Vertes did a convincing job of playing "gypsy punk." So at least one band has been successful in this territory, which is more than can be said for ska-punk.

And Gogol Bordello has come up with some bright lyrics. Their last record included this on the jacket:

And in this kind of town / The music is just background for dining
And in this kind of town / The dining is just background for biting

But the second line didn't make it into the recorded version. Instead there are some grunts to make way for the next round of vamping. And therein lies Gogol Bordello's problem. There are hints that leader Eugene Hutz has some depth, but his Iggy-with-a-moustache posturing deflates the promise. On Gypsy Punks, "Think Globally, Fuck Locally" launches with strumming that recalls Elvis' eccentric guitar bashing at the start of "Blue Moon of Kentucky." Halfway through there's a great percussion break hammered out on a paint bucket. But between all that, there's yet another fiddle rave-up and variations on the moronic catchphrase of the title.

Hutz keeps declaring his credentials as a provocateur and a desperate immigrant; one is inclined to disbelieve him on both counts. The lyrics here talk repeatedly of what the band is (gypsies…who play punk!) and what sort of revolution it's gonna bring. They never get around to constructing a complete song; the musical juxtapositions are just as rhetorical. One could defend the Gogols as essentially a party band. But the grand proclamations and attempts at anthems deflate that theory. Hutz want to midwife some sort of mongrel genre, but can't get beyond his mission statement.

Their previous work was dragged down by glossy world music production. Here they get the Steve Albini treatment, and it's a step backwards. Everything is sharp and mechanical and precise. Once again, the sound doesn't match the earthy ambitions. Strangely, the most convincing parts are the reggae and dub excursions. They don't fit the agenda, and they certainly don't fit Albini's safety zone, and they're kinda cool in their ridiculousness. But then reggae is one of those traditions that hit the off beat, and the accordion is a good stand-in for Agustus Pablo's melodica.

There is nothing inherently wrong with being a faker; certainly Waits and McGowan engage in a certain amount of fakery. The Gypsy cabarets that tour Slavic communities are series of schtick, just like old American vaudeville. Posing isn't the problem. I suspect the cabaret artists working under Sovietism slipped in coded political commentary in ways that were far more inspirational. I suspect that Hutz views himself as fitting into rock like Andre Codrescu fits into NPR; dropping exquisite corpses of East European fatalism on the nicey-nice world of whitebread multiculturalism. But he comes across more like one of the wild and crazy Czech buffoons of the old Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd routine. He's looking for a quick three-way with some fine looking musical styles. It's an offer easy to refuse.

otm, great piece, bendy.

i love balkan brass, punk, eastern folk sounds, etc, but always found their schtick very lame and corny, one of those bands that sounds way better on paper than on record. not surprised xgau rides for them, they seem to check a lot of his boxes. every time i hear them i always expect to hear a smug NPR host break in: "a rock band with... accordions?? meet some self-described 'gypsy punks', right after this break!"

i picked up the J.U.F. (GB vs Tamir Muskat as per the beginning of the thread) album on cd a few months ago which combines the band with DJ cuts and dub.
cant listen to the album all way through, but love the odd track dropped into a beer-n-wine session.

Love it, bendy!

So at least one band has been successful in this territory, which is more than can be said for ska-punk.

http://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/mobile/000/025/090/tumblr_inline_p1brmcd9Dk1rr08jv_500.jpg

I assumed this bump was about the band being added to the #metoo list, which would not surprise me one iota

This was one of the most fun live shows I ever saw (it ended when the venue cut the power on them, because the crowd surfing devolved into them passing the stage monitors around in the audience). but I've never even considered listening to their studio output.

The live reputation is what drew me to explore this band, but never did see a show. Did see a Roma touring troupe in 1993 at in a high school auditorium in a neighborhood with a lot of Russian immigrants and it was amazing.