Urban Gypsy
Label: Riverboat
Rated: NONE
WorkNameSort: Urban Gypsy
I have heard quite a few different kinds of records that fit into the construct of “traditional ethnic sounds meet modern production,” but I have never heard anything like Shukar Collective’s Urban Gypsy. A collision of deeply historical-sounding Romanian music and dubby, glitchy electronics, Urban Gypsy. is a record that takes a while to wrap your head around. This is not the driving and intensely uplifting sound of a group like Taraf De Haïdouks simply “remixed” to give those rhythm tracks a little more wallop. No, this is brutal and droning percussion-based music that’s as earthy and rustic (spoons and barrels find some play as instruments) as it is emotionally powerful. The electronic elements are utilized intelligently and sympathetically, so the result is way more congruous than it should be. Unique and totally thrilling.
This article appears in Jun 1-7, 2005.