Gogol Bordello @ 9:30 Club
New music is often created through the collision of hitherto disparate styles. Immigrating to the U.S. from Ukraine in the 1990s, Eugene Hutz (pictured), the driving force behind Gogol Bordello, grew up on his native music but also caught the tail end of the American hardcore scene, most notably D.C. legends Bad Brains and Fugazi. Hutz does not recognize any disparities between the two. "I see the punk and hardcore scene as an anthropological study. It’s very tribal as is gypsy and reggae. If you’ve lived and travelled you start to connect the dots."
Describing the music of his roots, Hutz says,"Gypsy music is basically any ethnic music that is played by Gypsies of that country, in Romania they play Romanian music and in Turkey they play Turkish music. In those countries the meaning of music is completely different. It’s a means of survival or serious emotional therapy. We put an extreme twist on what makes it Gypsy music." On Wednesday, this clash of influences and impassioned approach to music were on display at 9:30 Club as Hutz led his band through a blistering set of their unique brand of gypsy punk before a frenzied sold out crowd.
Hutz describes the band's latest and most excellent release, Super Taranta!, as a "panoramic" and "advanced" recording where "a lot of fantasies came together." The album successfully combines all of the band's influences and presents a strong immigrant's aesthetic to which anyone connected with such a community can relate. The lyrical content ranges from political diatribe to a foreigner's travails in navigating through American culture.
Image from Gogol Bordello's MySpace page
Gogol Bordello is the latest of many bands nowadays who seem to subscribe to the philosophy that bigger is better. Arcade Fire, Polyphonic Spree, and our own Le Loup all have more than half a dozen musicians. This type of lineup allows for unusual instrumentation as well as enough band members to maintain a high level of energy throughout a concert. Although energy is never in short supply when the manic Hutz is on stage, every colorfully dressed band member threw themselves into the performance, which made for an impressive sight. The spectacle could have become cartoonish, but the earnestness of the band prevented that from happening.
The band's basic instrumentation featured Hutz on acoustic guitar and vocals with the rhythm section of guitarist Oren Kaplan, bassist Tommy Gobena, and muscular drummer Eliot Ferguson. Added to this punk outfit were the 53-year old accordianist Yuri Lemeshev, Ecuadorian MC Pedro Erazo, and background vocalists Pamela Jintana Racine and Elizabeth Sun. While Gwen Stefani might have her Harajuku girls, they are no match for Racine and Sun, who brought a fire to the stage and banged on everything from washboards to marching cymbals. Finally, we will never forget violinist Sergey Ryabtsev, a sexagenarian (we think) who is equal parts pirate, court jester, and rockstar. It is doubtful such a motley crew could have assembled anywhere outside of New York.
The band stormed into the show with "Ultimate," the opening track off the new album. The new recording was well-represented over the course of the night with aggressive performances of "Wonderlust King," the Italian folk influenced "Harem in Tuscany," and the scathing "Forces of Victory." Reggae and dancehall were the order of the day in songs such as "Immigrant Punk." Hutz broke down the fourth wall the moment he walked on stage, but any remnants were obliterated during white hot renditions of "Start Wearing Purple," "Not a Crime," and "Think Locally Fuck Globally." In reality, the setlist was not important because the energy of the band and the quality of the performance had the crowd jumping up and down from the word go. The sweaty atmosphere of the show recalled, to those of us who are old enough, the good ole' days when 9:30 Club was just a dank hole in the ground on F Street, and that is quite a feat.