Gogol Bordello produces a sound best described as a juxtaposition of Eastern European folk music and modern punk. The band is fronted by Eugene Hutz, a Ukrainian who came to New York after being evacuated from Chernobyl because of the nuclear reactor disaster. The rest of the band is formed by a myriad of diaspora who provide a welcome new sound to the punk genre. Many of Gogol Bordello’s songs begin with guitar work that will be familiar to American punk fans, but soon explode into raucous melodies strongly flavored by the band’s heritage. The song “Not A Crime,” from a recent album “Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike,” begins with strong power chords on the guitar, then the melody is carried away by frantic fiddle-work suspended by an accordion.
Hutz’s broken English belies the sharp wit with which he examines life. The lyrics are full of rib jabs that may initially incite laughter, but eventually provoke closer thought. A song from the same album “Super Taranta,” called, “American Wedding,” provides a humorous examination of an American wedding reception. After listing what he expects to find at the reception, including vodka, marinated herring, and musicians “that gots the taste,” Hutz depicts the kind of party my experience has lead me to expect. Instead of the party “going 24 hours,” he says that “its one in the morning/DJ’s packin’ up the chords/everybody’s full of cake/staring at the floor./Proper couples start to mumble./Yep! They gotta go.” He is disappointed to hear that “people gotta get up early/and she’s got a boyfriend,” eventually lamenting that “this whole fucking thing/is one huge disappointment.” Hutz continues to lampoon the American idea of a wedding reception, ultimately saying that he “understand[s] the cultures/of a different kind/but here, word celebration/just doesn’t come to mind.”
This is not to say, however, that a listener should hear “American Wedding” and infer that the band depends on jests directed toward Western culture. Gogol Bordello is also quite capable of raising issues that may even prompt a listener to evaluate his or her own life. In “Wonderlust King,” from “Super Taranta,” Hutz claims that one is not “fully grown” until he has “gone beyond the hills,” and “crossed the seven seas.” Challenging listeners to fully experience life not by traveling “from screen to screen,” but says that he instead “traveled the world/looking for understanding/of the times that we live in/Hunting and gathering first hand information/challenging definition of sin.” Throughout the song he continues to question common pursuits of the general public. Finally deciding that he is satisfied with the probing, though meager, life he has chosen, saying: “Presidents/and billionaires/and generals/[will] never know/what [he has] owned.”
Though the band is able to raise these issues they never feel as though they are forced upon the listener. Most of their songs are short; usually between two and four minutes, and songs are never allowed to drag in order to make some protracted point. The varied cultures of the band members produce a variety of music that prevents albums from beginning to sound stale by the end. Gogol Bordello is definitely a band that should be given a chance, especially by those who have been waiting for something new in punk rock.