Meanwhile in Europe...
It’s been far too long since we’ve had a proper look at what’s happening musically here in Europe. This edition of the Friday Ripple focuses on music produced closer to home.
Album reviews, Europe, summer 2011:
Rotfront – Visa Free [Essay Recordings]
The Berlin-based purveyors of pan-Eastern European party mania are back with a second album. Like their debut Emigrantske Ragammuffin (Friday Ripple album of the year 2009), Visa Free is a high energy fusion of ska, Balkanbeat and klezmer. Rotfront is led by Ukraine’s Yuriy Gurzhy (a.k.a. Russendisko Sound System) and Hungary’s Simon Wahorn, and their lyrics present a darkly humorous take on life in Berlin from the perspective of the city’s gastarbeiter class. The album delivers several huge hits, most notably the title track ,Vodka & Garlic, and the celebratory Gay, Gypsy and Jew, which features a small army of guest vocalists including the Czech Republic’s Gipsy.cz and Hungary’s Irie Maffia. However (and here comes the traditional second album backlash): Visa Free is solid, but overall it’s not as strong as Emigrantske Ragamuffin. While the latter was hit after hit after hit, there are a few fillers on here – like the quirky Berlin-themed cover of the Beastie Boys’ No Sleep Till Brooklyn, which drags the record in more of a novelty direction than might strictly be considered necessary. Nevertheless, there’s more than enough great stuff on here to make Visa Free well worth seeking out.
Shtetl Superstars – A Day in the Life [Skycap Records] release date TBC
Rotfront’s Yuriy Gurzhy has been very busy indeed this summer, with an album by another of his projects coming out in autumn. You may recognise the name Shtetl Superstars from the groundbreaking 2006 compilation of modern Jewish music curated by Gurzhy and Lemez Lovas from UK klezmer band Oi-Va-Voi. A Day in the Life sees Gurzhy, Lovas and neo-soul vocalist Maiya James launching their own highly infectious take on contemporary klezmer, on a concept album about old-school Ukrainian shtetl Jews hustling their way through modern Europe. Comparisons with Rotfront are inevitable here: the two bands share both a principal songwriter and a darkly humorous approach to immigration-related topics. The arrangements are at the opposite ends of the spectrum, though: Shtetl Superstars use a stripped-down mix of traditional instruments and vintage electronics, in contrast to Rotfront’s packed-stage party maximalism. It fits the tone of the album perfectly, although several songs do raise the question, “Did this one start out as a Rotfront track?” Chief among them is Schengen Visa Wedding - a hilarious new anthem for modern Europe, which I’m predicting will be very, very well known by the end of this year.
Gipsy.cz – Desperado
With their third album, Prague’s Romano Hip Hop crew are getting back on form. Last seen in a painfully clichéd 2009 Eurovision Song contest entry, many had given up on the group as having lost their edge. The majority of Desperado sees the band focusing once again on the core of what made their music so exciting in the first place: the interplay between Radoslav “Gipsy” Banga’s frenetic drum loops and Vojta Lavička’s violin work. Banga’s productions skills are often overshadowed by his public image as a rapper/performer/media personality, but what this album reminds us is that he makes beats like no-one else. Frequent time changes and non-4:4 rhythms are generally alien to hip hop; Banga’s assemblages of acoustic drum samples make it work, and it’s one of the most unusual drum sounds to emerge in the past decade. That said, the entirely uncharacteristic mariachi-reggae title track is a brave choice for a comeback single - not least because it invites comparisons with Slovenia’s Magnifico, a man who has long since cornered the Mexican-as-metaphor market in Central Europe. Desperado the song is a lot of fun, but it’s clearly aimed at a far more mainstream audience than Desperado the album.
More summer releases from Europe:
If you haven’t got the debut album by Dekadent Fabrik yet, don’t miss the return of the old school Czech underground in trip hop-jazz form – and check out the Friday Ripple interview. Meanwhile in Austria, Czech émigré Stani Vana’s Roma electro group !DelaDap have a new album dropping late September.
As for completely new artists, watch out for Greece’s AUditors DOmination. Occupying broadly similar ground to Austria’s Parov Stelar but with a Mediterranean klezmer edge, so far they’ve dropped only a handful of tracks on Soundcloud, and one incredible video. There’s an album in the works; this has the potential to be something very interesting indeed.
Meanwhile in the European export market, UK hiplife/hip hop producer Richy Pitch continues to break down musical boundaries. Last year he was bringing the sound of Ghanaian hiplife to Europe with some of Accra’s biggest MCs; this year he’s taking sounds in the other direction - Richy Pitch’s dubstep remix of Ghanaian soul star Yasmeen’s new single Paddy is available now in all good record shops in Ghana. If that’s too far to travel, you can also hear it on Radio Wave’s Friday Ripple.
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As usual, there’s a fresh 2-hour mix featuring all the music reviewed here, plus lots more, over on the Radio Wave Jukebox streaming archive – Select Friday Ripple from the programme menu, and click the show marked 02.09.2011. The full playlist looks like this:
Rotfront - Vodka & Garlic [Germany/Ukraine/Hungary] (Essay Recordings)
Rotfront - Visa Free [Germany/Ukraine/Hungary] (Essay Recordings)
Rotfront – Sigaretta [Germany/Ukraine/Hungary] (Essay Recordings)
Rotfront - Gay, Gypsy & Jew [Germany/Ukraine/Hungary] (Essay Recordings)
Rotfront - Village Superstar [Germany/Ukraine/Hungary] (Essay Recordings)
Shtetl Superstars - Schengen Visa Wedding [Ukraine/UK] (Skycap Records)
Shtetl Superstars - Dont Misunderstand Me [Ukraine/UK] (Skycap Records)
Shtetl Superstars - The Girl From Birobidzhan [Ukraine/UK] (Skycap Records)
Shtetl Superstars - Um Bye Bye [Ukraine/UK] (Skycap Records)
Gipsy.Cz - Aha! [Czech Republic] (Indies Scope Records)
Gipsy.Cz Ft. Medard Konopik – Desperado [Czech Republic] (Indies Scope Records)
Gipsy.Cz - Cernej Gadzo [Czech Republic] (Indies Scope Records)
Gipsy.Cz - More Let's Go [Czech Republic] (Indies Scope Records)
Rotfront – Remmidemmi [Germany/Ukraine/Hungary] (Essay Recordings)
Gipsy.cz - Multin [Czech Republic] (Indies Scope Records)
AUditors DOmination – Rempeto [Greece] (self released)
Yasmeen - Paddy (Richy Pitch Remix) [Ghana/UK] (BBE)
Richy Pitch - We're Taking Over Feat. Samini & DJ Black [Ghana/UK] (BBE)
Shantel - Disko Partizani [Germany] (Essay Recordings)
Parov Stelar - Charleston Butterfly feat. Gabriella Hnninen [Austria] (Etage Noir Recordings)
Arat Kilo feat. Socalled - Babur Part 1 [France/Canada] (Only Music)
Terry Hall & Mushtaq - Ten Eleven [UK] (Astralwerks)
Palov & Mishkin - Et De Clarinete [Greece] (Cast a Blast)
DelaDap - Kaj so Dzivipen [Austria/Czech Republic] (Chat Chapeau)
Caravan Palace – Dragons [France] (Cafe de la Danse/Wagram)
Dekadent Fabrik – Orgasm [Czech Republic] (Black Point Records)
Alec Kopyt - Tramvay [Ukraine] (Trikont)
