First and foremost, I’m going to disregard the fact that Eugene Hutz, Gogol Bordello’s frontman, not only joined Madonna on stage at Live Earth but will star in an upcoming short film directed by the kabbalahist queen herself. This is an album review after all, but it is interesting all of the buzz this band is generating. For an album as mediocre as this, I am appalled that Rolling Stone gave it four stars, edging out the new Thurston Moore and Animal Collective albums. But it does seem that RS likes what’s hot as the new M.I.A. album managed to get four and a half stars, more stars than any Radiohead album including O.K. Computer.
Enough about my distaste for the mainstream. Gogol does, however, possess all of the qualities for temporary mainstream success. They bridge the gap between a style of foreign folk that is unheard of in the homes of suburban America with a style of American music that every disgruntled teen can relate to: punk. It’s the same damn thing except with a “gypsy” flavor, and when you wipe the novelty away, you’re left with the music.
Gogol’s latest, Super Taranta!, isn’t much different from their other albums. Cut in a studio live with minimal overdubs, the album is fourteen tracks of raw, gypsy power. Unfortunately, in spite of having two guitarists, a bassist, a violinist, an accordion player, a drummer, an MC and two girls (one of which who is dating Elijah Wood, oddly enough) who kind of run around and scream, the album doesn’t reach the potential that an band with so much range of instrumentation should reach. After you’ve heard the first track, that’s about it. It doesn’t get any better or different than that. The band also tries to jam and extend a lot of the songs on the album. But this is punk. There’s a reason punk songs don’t extend beyond the two to three minute range. It just gets incredibly repetitive which is how the Gogol jams end up.
Now after all that bashing, this wasn’t to say that Gogol is completely worthless. Having seen the band live, I can say that they put on an incredible, incredible live show. An album just isn’t their medium. Besides, gypsy music wasn’t put on albums. It was played around the caravan in a gross display of drunken debauchery, and that is how Gogol’s music should be experienced.
As far as Super Taranta! is concerned, should you buy it? Eh, perhaps. Should you see Gogol live. The answer is undoubtedly yes. As far as the band is concerned, hopefully they won’t let the sudden rise to mainstream go to their heads. Unless they buckle down and write some great music or keep thrashing live across the country, they’ll probably end up as that band who played with Madonna in front of the entire world. And who really wants that?
