Customer Reviews

Super Taranta!

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Gogol Bordello hit the big time with their last album of raucous gypsy-punk, which coincided with frontman Eugene Hutz's screen debut.

And they stick to their past sound in "Super Taranta!" -- a mad, frenetic ride splattered with heavy doses of Balkan folk music. Their sound and vibe don't shift too much in this one, but their energy and wildness hasn't failed them, or their kooky blend of gypsy and Pogues-style rock'n'roll.

"If we are here not to do/what you and I wanna do?/And go for rubber, crazy with it/why the hell we are livin' here? DAH!" Eugene Hutz calls out a capella...

... just before the music lapses into a swaying, colourful Balkan melody... which goes into fast-forward about halfway through. Hutz is roaring and growning about how "there were never any good old days/they are today, they are tomorrow!/It's a stupid thing to say" as the music revs around him.

It gets even more energetic in the wild festival sound of "Wonderlust King," and the driving bass-rocker "Zina Marina." With those done, they spin off into a series of energetic Balkan rockers: accordion pop, jibbering fiddlerock, darkly gleeful punk, wailing guitar laments, and what sounds like the theme song to a gypsy James Bond movie.

It has to be admitted, Gogol Bordello hasn't really changed their sound much. Not that stops it from being fun frenetic, colourful, slightly messy and very insane, without a shred of self-consciousness. It's a Jackson Pollock of Balkan noise.

But "Super Taranta" does adjust their sound a bit -- there's a bit more gypsy in their music, and a few bits less punk, with tighter melodies than before. We get a tangle of raging, twining guitar and bass (and Eliot Ferguson's solid drums) driving the melodies along, but often they're swathed in dancey fiddle and blaring accordion. It's a pretty wild ride, all around.

And Hutz provides practically all the singing himself, in a voice that always sounds like he's about to pop a vocal cord. Raw, rough, untamed. He growls, wails, howls, and roars out his political, party-hearty lyrics: "My strange uncles from beyond/I'll meet 'em on the cosmos street/and we will drink to how we told/to never trust a plastic beat!"

"Super Taranta" is the sort of music that gets your heart racing and adrenaline shooting. A raucous, wild party album for an East European festival.

This album is a good follow up to the stellar Gogol Bordello /Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike. Where that album skews a bit more punk, this one at times moves back towards Eastern European/Balkan musical influences.

There are still big, brash, snotty punk influences, but as with GPUWS, there is real heart and humanity at the core of this album. Brass arrangements (Fanfare Ciocarlia are cited in "American Wedding"), and big-band delivery keep the music engaging but miles away from stadium songs. Another particularly nice touch, is the continuation of ideas, themes, even lines "Dub it, like tovarisch would" and self-referential lyrics that bring this album, and to a lesser extent GPUWS together.

Tracks like "Dub the Frequencies of Love" and "Tribal Connection" break from the still successful Gogol Bordello mold, trying more varied styles. Sonic washes and almost alt-rock on Dub, and softer reggae, not-quite American folk on "Tribal." This is the only area where i would find issue with this otherwise terrific album. Super Taranta! is following in the footsteps of GPUWS perhaps a little closely, trying some new styles here, though is not a tremendous difference from GPUWS. Though as i said, it's not nearly enough to mar the otherwise sparkling album Super Taranta.

Finally, for the unfamiliar, this album is a great place to start. Perhaps better than GPUWS. If you are not a particular fan of punk rock influenced music, this album moreso than GPUWS will keep you at the least tapping along to many songs. Strings, accordian, every last band member's non-stop energetic deliver, and a tendency towards the folk over the rock define this album for me.

Simply put, this is an excellent album, either for those who already enjoy Gogol Bordello (on any level) or the entirely unfamiliar.

Your savage heart will sing to this generous sound. Recklessness and frenzy of a gypsy wedding. Cynicism and melancholy of a post-soviet back alley. So real, so good. I am from Ukraine, Eugene's motherland, and I can not get enough Gogol Bordello!

"And those who didn't like The Stooges can go to F#^#ing Hell." So snaps human tornado Eugene Hutz on this kinetically most excellent of albums from Gogol Bordello. That is part of what informs Hutz and his merry band of world music crazies as they take all varieties of international sounds and infuse them with punk energy. His intense vocals turbocharge songs already careening along with a feverish pace unmatched by hardly anyone else currently making music. In much the same fashion where The Pogues took traditional sounds and infused them with electricity, Gogol Bordello invigorates Gypsy sounds (from Hutz's nomadic Ukrainian existence; he is a Chernobyl evacuee) into something new. While I dig new stuff from the likes of the Shins or Arcade Fire, they have no real sense of place, and you sure as hell can't dance to them.

Unlike "Super Taranta!" If you aren't dancing somewhere during the course of this album, something is wrong with your legs. There is such an insistence in this music, be it the growling opening of "Ultimate." ("If we are here not to do what you and I wanna do...why the hell are we even here?") There is no chance of shoe gazing while this is on. The band keeps a sense of humor about the proceedings ("American Wedding") to a smattering of politics ("Your Country"). But this is a band that would rather skip political and head straight for the party. The odd thing about that statement is that having a collective band that is multi-generational, multi-national (Ukrainian, Russian, Israeli and American who came together in NYC) and refuses to fall into any rock and roll cliches is in of itself a pretty political statement. (Especially since Hutz got good notices for his part in "Everything Is Illuminated." He could have easily dumped the fire buckets and his band-mates and started looking for parts.

That just isn't in him, thankfully. He keeps the cyclone of Gogol Bordello churning, burning and shaking up the streets. What else can I say? Along with Against Me!'s "New Wave" and Interpol's "Our Love to Admire," my CD player is getting a heck of a new music workout lately. Want a little something infectious and out of the ordinary? "Super Taranta!" is your ticket to travel the globe courtesy of Eugene Hutz and friends.

I love Gogol Bordello, but this was...not their best. I was so excited for this album and after listening to it a couple times, I felt like I had to do this review. Lately I've just been craving ecentric gypsy/klezmer/carnival rock fusions and I wanted this to add another layer to it. Their last album, Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike, was perfection. Super Taranta just did not meet that expectation.

I had two impressions while listening to this album: the first was the feeling that they were just warming up until track #12 (oh good, the album finally started), and the second was that they were doing a very bad impression of the band, Flogging Molly (in that pirate kind of way). Wha? Yeah, I guess that's what I'm trying to get to:

It felt more like drunken pirate brawl then crazy gypsy punk. It is not really like the previous album. I gotta have more gypsy, more drum, more chaos! It just seems to be slightly off here. I feel bad leaving such a low rating, but I was just so disappointed.

If you are new to Gogol Bordello, I would recommend starting with their Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike album, which got some spotlight from the movie, "Everything is Illuminated". If you're a die hard Gogol fan, I think you'll love this album as much as any other.

I just had the fortune to see these guys live at Tulsa, OK's Dfest. I was surprised to see how truly awesome they are. The day before I picked up this CD, because I figured well I'm going to see them at this festival so I should see what to expect. Man, was I surprised! From the first track to the last the album is solid. All that day I played in my car and at home. And Since I saw them on Friday night I have continued to listen to the album. I loved how at first the reminded me of Flogging Molly, but they have that sound I was wanting, the european, gyspy type. I mean listening to it on my way to the show downtown, as I past by the downtown building and apartments that have long been there I got the fill of being in Europe. Yeah I know that's hard to believe being in Oklahoma, but that's how the music made me feel.
As for the show purely amazing stuff. Such energy and excitement. They said they were maybe returning in October and you better believe I will be there. Also looked up stuff about this band opened my eyes too. For example I didn't know the lead singer was in the movie that Madonna directed and they're music and Eugene (the singer) was in the Elijah Wood film Everything is Illuminated. I've been wanting to see that movie now I have a even more reason to see it.

Very creative and original music. A curious fusion between rock and traditional Russian gypsey music.
It can appeal to people of all ages who are open minded.
Hutz's creative energy is infective.

As the Pogues once fused Irish folk with punk rock, so Gogol Bordello do the same with fiery Balkan gipsy music.
Although a formidable live presence, the New York band have been hit and miss on record.
Super Taranta! is a step forward. Roaring choruses are interspersed with manic violins, dub interludes and raucous polemics growled by luxuriantly moustachioed frontman Eugene Hutz.
"Gogol Bordello"'s red-blooded passion is refreshing, and they finally have another batch of boisterous singalongs to match it.
This 'gypsy punk' cacophony is all those times rolled into one.
Party on, dudes !

This is a really good album from gogol bordello. The Russian violinist is extremely talented, and the music is melodic. The album is very energetic and crazy.

Even if you have other albums with the same songs on them, don't pass this one up. The versions of the songs on this record are the best I've heard! Plus there are a few songs on there that aren't on other albums. If this is not part of your GB collection, you're missing out. I, obviously, HIGHLY recommend it. Enjoy!