Customer Reviews

Gogol Bordello Vs Tamir Muskat

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Expect nothing normal when Gogol Bordello's Eugene Hutz does a global DJing gig at the Mehanata, with members of Balkan Beat Box. Instead, expect "Gogol Bordello Vs. Tamir Muskrat," where musical styles dance together and then smash into one enormous reggae-Indian-gypsy-punk-disco-vinylscratching mess. It sounds like the soundtrack to a gypsy action movie, except it's much more fun.

It opens with Eugene Hutz shouting, "The bride's side of the family relatives, come on down through the parking lot, directly through the garden to the house of the groom's family..." Then a rattling klezmer-rock tune kicks in, interspersed with happy cries from the audience. "East Wish Of The Bride" kicks itself into a dancey little tune, with an Arabic twist and lots of dancey, sinuous melodies. Let the party start.

From there on, the unholy musicians veer to the hip-hop side of things with the horn-filled rap song "Gypsy Side of Town," before switching styles to fuzz-punk and accordion pop, to name just a few. It's hard to pinpoint all the styles that these mad musicians cram into these songs -- there are shreds of reggae, rap, Rai, and always a gypsy fiddler on acid.

The fun peaks with "Bassar (Balkan Express Train Robbery)," a sort of Eastern-European version of a James Bond theme. From there on, they switch smoothly to the sensual beats of "Onto Transmigration," some insane horn-punk, and even a stately little traditional march.... which in context appears to be making fun of itself. From there on, they ended the album on a strong note, with a trio of raucous rock tunes that show them in their colourful glory.

If this is an example of what Gogol Bordello and the Balkan Beat Boxers can do, then they should team up more often. This entire collection of songs is colourful, madcap and gloriously energetic. Even better, the talented instrumentation is so thick and tight that it's impossible to decipher on first listen -- it's not a performance, it's a friendly assault.

Tamir Muskrat and Ori Kaplan (a former member) bring an extra dimension to the basic folk-punk, adding their Eastern European dance-folk rhythms to Gogol Bordello's gypsy-punk... plus a dash of the Middle-East, and whatever else Hutz throws into the pot. The music is often saturated in punky drums and buzzing guitar, but then the fiddles, accordions, klezmer, splashes of electronic beats, and an occasional flute.

Eugene Hutz contributes pretty much all the vocals for this album, and his raw, unrestrained howl is perfectly suited for the music -- he yowls, he snarls, he raps, he drawls, he whistles, and even starts calling out in Ukrainian. He occasionally gets swamped by Muskrat's music -- not something you'll often hear -- but always comes back out with a roar.

"Gogol Bordello vs. Tamir Muskrat" is a glorious mishmash of styles, instruments and songs -- and man is it ever fun. Exploding with energy and raucous good times, this is definitely worth checking out.

Comparing Gogol Bordello and JUF is like comparing apples and oranges. I have seen Gogol live more times than I have fingers and toes to count on. When I bought JUF I did not expect to hear anything remotely resembling a Gogol album. This is a dancehall album. You like it or you don't, but just remember it is a side project. It does not make any sense to compare it to other Gogol albums.

Listen before you buy.

Gypsy violin, dancehall beats, horns somewhere between Jazz Jamaica and Klezmer, transylvanian-intoned singer. Wry lyrics. Simply a blast. Bought this blind and I love it.

I couldn't be more in love with this CD. I've never heard anything like it before. It's a mix of so many different kinds of music threw into a blender and it came out tasting absolutely mouthwatering and delicious. I couldn't of made a better purchase if I had spent a grand on something. This CD is genius, I would be ecstatic at the least if they made another CD like this. While I love Gogol's other music, I love my electronic too.

It's not Gogol Bordello's usual sound so just know that before you purchase it. If you've ever seen them live, you know Gogol's crazy energy. Now just mix that with electronic and a bunch of other types of music like, Arabic, Indian, Jamaican dub and a gypsy fiddle and here you go...

If you love Gogol Bordello, you'll enjoy this recording. It has all of their raucous swagger, just framed with a house/electronic esthetic. No, it's not "Starbucks" music. Roma, Russian, Yiddish, Spanish strains with Hutz's mischievous growls give a lot of life to what is really a party recording. One can thoroughly love the authentic forms that they draw from yet still enjoy this wild, corrupted music.

If you are ever feeling a bit blue, Gogol Bordello is the answer. Describing it in detail is probably impossible, but listening will explain all.

If you like high energy music, this CD is an absolute must buy. I've seen Gogol Bordello twice in New Orleans and the energy level at the show is absolutely off the chart. This CD mixes Gogol Bordello madness with a bunch of a bunch of other musical styles. Buy it now.

Good quality of the cd, and got what I paid for. Music is good and the delivery time of the product was fast,however for the kind of product is ok to get standar shiping.

Well, that review title pretty much says it but perhaps I'd better explain myself a bit further. After reading several promising-sounding reviews/ interviews, I saw Gogol Bordello live a few weeks back and was totally blown away by the level of musicianship; the wild energy level and that look of complete madness in Eugene's eyes as he's delivering the lyrics. AND I might add that I had no prior knowledge of any sort of gypsy music whatsoever, so they were/ still are a blast of fresh air to boot. So naturally I bought copies of the two CDs they had on sale at the show (Mutli Contra Culti Vs. Irony and this one). MCCVI is totally amazing and ALMOST lives up to the live show BUT... [and here it comes] after no more than three and a half songs the J.U.F. record made me want to cry. And why is that, you might reasonably ask? Well, for all his ranting in interviews and/ or the GB website about yuppified Starbucks "world music", Mr. Eugene Hutz has gone and made himself precisely that: an electronified yuppie "world music" record. I respect the multi-culturalism at work here (I have a huge amount of respect for dj\rupture and his ilk) and the songs themselves are really good but I just cannot stand the way Gogol/ Tamir chose to represent them. I even liked some of them at the show, precisely because they were presented the live-band way and not this Fruityloops-nightmare fashion. And while I'll give him/ them points for referencing D.A.F. with the album title (Jewish Ukrainische Freundschaft instead of Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft), I'd give this record ZERO stars if I could. By all means treat yourself to seeing them live and be sure to get Voi-la Intruder and Multi Contra Culti Vs. Irony, but AVOID this one.

I saw Gogol Bordello on the Vans Warped tour and was really impressed. They had a great live show so I rushed off and bought this CD. When I first got it I was completly disapointed to hear this blend of disco-hip-hop-gypsy music. I wanted the more punk influenced music they had at their live show. But after a while this CD grew on me and I don't completly hate it.