A thing that’s hardly called underground right now. More and more people in the states, Europe and even former USSR discover this awesome band. Gogol Bordello is a spectacular mix of east European folk and gypsy music based on punk style-drums, with vocals sung in at least three different languages.

The main power of this band is Eugene Hutz, a guy from Ukraine who immigrated to Europe in early 90^th. After landing in NY it took him ten years to make a band that was called an international phenomenon and became storming the charts very fast. Musically they present everything from something similar to Russian drinking songs to really interesting stuff like Italian tarantellas and some Balkan folk stuff.

But the main weapon of this brew is playing live. On stage Hutz is a piece of wild energy that many modern bands are missing. People who attend GB shows don’t get a glimpse of some far away lands with interesting traditions; they get it in full, right there.

Murder by Death combines two very important things. First the atmosphere and second the intelligence. The style can be described as indie-folk-rock. But really they mix together some of the finest indie-rock with folk stuff similar to east European folk and pirate ballads and also adding some parts of country and jazz. The cello makes these elements mix together as a spectacular brew. Everything is connected but every next song gives you a completely new experience of what is called music. One album can begin with some pirate ship atmosphere and end as a relaxing jazz evening.

The earlier works are also interesting but still nothing can be compared to this album. As a single line I can describe them as: “Reinventing the music with a cello”.