Featured review by:
UG Team, on july 10, 2007
4 of 5 people found this review helpful
Sound: Super Taranta sounds weird and wonderful. It is truly the sound of a Gogol Bordello album. The music has progressed since Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike, while maintaining the Gogol Bordello sound, constituting primarily of minor keys, accordions, violins and fiddles. Wait, then there's Eugene Hutz's guitar. The production has captured the band's raw intensity and deep emotion behind the music, in that it's raw, loud and live. The opening track, Ultimate is probably the ultimate example of the band's sound with the opening ten seconds silent, but for Eugene's accented vocal line. After a cry, the band comes in intensely, the accordion, guitar and fiddle in full form, the headphones bursting with the volume they generate.
However, what is most impressive is the fact that Gogol Bordello can mix it up. These guys are accomplished musicians in varying the pace of the Gypsy Punk they play, eventually ending up in double time in the first song. The pseudo-sophisticated Tribal Connection, is refreshing and quite frankly, hilarious. Gogol Bordello’s members are deviating from the simpler tunes that made them famous on Gypsy Punks and it truly has paid off. One might expect a band like this to sound thin, but Gogol Bordello, perhaps aided by the quality production sound full, and can hold their own up against most bands in terms of heaviness. Supertheory of Supereverything makes use of an eerie lead line that fully compliments the lyrical subject, which shall be discussed later. What is most endearing about Gogol Bordello is the band’s ability to sound like a straight up Rock 'n' Roll band despite their Gypsy, Eastern Folk sound. Of course, this makes for an acquired taste, but the sheer passion of the musicians in question on tracks such as Dub the Frequencies of Love could grow on almost anybody. Overall, one cannot fault Gogol Bordello’s efforts on Super Taranta. The sound is a natural progression for the band, rawer but somehow more accomplished than Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike. // 9
Lyrics and Singing: ‘If we are here not to do, what you and I wanna do, and go forever crazy with it, why the Hell we are even here,’ Ultimate. The opening track is reflective, moody and intense. Eugene’s lyrics may read as cliched, but in context, they tell a beautiful story of a Ukrainian immigrant’s life. Expressive, intelligent while providing biting social commentary, Eugene’s lyrics could only be sung to the sound of Gogol Bordello. Eugene’s exaggerated Eastern accent has made him an icon for many, and of course, it is this that perfectly matches songs such as Supertheory of Supereverything, and My Strange Uncles from Abroad, with the former dealing with incest and the latter dealing with some strange family ties. Of course, a lot of the lyrical subjects chronicle an immigrant’s experiences, but other topics that Eugene discusses are excessive American Nationalism, Atheism and criticism of the Bible. Hutz is an intelligent individual and his views should not be disregarded due to the genial way in which they are delivered. Lyrically, this album is passionate and should be listened to as a biting social commentary of the times, since migration is one of the topics dominating current affairs worldwide. // 9
Impression: Overall Impression: This album is all about establishing intentions and breaking borders. From the chaos and the speed to the album name, Super Taranta captures Gogol Bordello in their element. It is derived from an alleged epidemic of tarantula attacks on young women in the Italian village of Taranto. The only cure was to dance to songs of a frantic nature in which only those women experiencing the most ecstatic, intensive dance of their lives would be cured of the spiders’ bite. Gogol Bordello is the 21st century’s music to cure even the most terminal of diseases. It will take a truly unique effort to dislodge Super Taranta as the album of 2007, even if it doesn’t sell as well as the efforts of other, more mainstream bands. // 10
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