Artist of the Week: Gogol Bordello
I first heard about Gogol Bordello from a fellow DJ, Kathy, who used to do the Americana show Skip Pop Scratch. She told me one day, "There is this band you might like, we have one of thier CDs here. Give it a listen. And if you ever get the chance, you MUST see them live." I picked up their album MultikontraCulti vs. Irony and was hooked with the first song "When a Trickster Starts a Poking". I've seen them live three times and each show is amazing. I did see the movie "Everything is Illuminated" and Eugene does a great acting job, plus the band makes a cameo. They came to 1190 and did a in-studio session back in April. It was great meeting them and hearing brand new music from them.
"Gogol Bordello is led by their charismatic singer, Ukrainian immigrant Eugene Hütz (DJ Hütz), who plays the role of a translator in the movie version of Everything is Illuminated. The band formed in 1996, when Hütz moved to New York City.
Their first single was released in 1999, and several full-length albums have followed since then, as well as a European tour. According to the New York Times, "Gogol Bordello has become an underground phenomenon in New York with its brand of contrarian globalism.
Their sound is raucous, sweaty, tuneful and recklessly vibrant, like the punk and Gypsy music that inspired them. Iggy Pop meets Kafka. A weird blend of the Dead Kennedys, Flogging Molly, and the Decemberists (only the instrumental sound can be related to the Decemberists.)" In an interview with NPR, Hütz cites Jimi Hendrix and Parliament-Funkadelic as among the band's musical influences, and Nikolai Gogol, the band's namesake, as an ideological influence. Their song "My Strange Uncles From Abroad" is representative of their folksy Eastern European sound. The band also had a song, "Occurrence on the Border", on the 4th Punk Rock Strike compilation.
Some of the band members also take part in a side project entitled J.U.F. (Jewish-Ukranian Freundschaft), whose sound is similar to that of Gogol Bordello. They have more recenty been announced as one of the many bands playing at the Reading and Leeds music festivals in the UK. 'Start wearing purple' being the song that has pioneered their UK success." - From Wilkpedia
Links:
Gogol Bordello's Offical Website
Music and videos of Gogol Bordello on Myspace.com
posted by Steppie @ 12:17 PM
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