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A much-needed corrective to the pious yiddle-diddling of 90 percent of klezmer bands, New York's Golem invest the form with a raucous abandon. Or better, they re-invest klezmer with its original Eastern European fire, getting at the wooly roots of Jewish party music while acknowledging their hipster milieu. Vocalists Aaron Diskin and Annette Ezekiel declaim in big-voiced Yiddish and English, lassoing influences that range from X and Patti Smith to Brecht and Gypsy song. Fans of Gogol Bordello and Golem labelmates Balkan Beat Box will instantly recognize the woozy, theatrical chaos at play here, but Golem are far more acculturated -- they're more about smashing glasses than smashing the state. As the alter ego of an in-demand wedding band, they show a real commitment to recovering traditional songs from Hungary, Ukraine, and beyond, even as they deliver them with modern élan also known as punk rock. For example, the two-minute spazz-out "The Rent" Dire Gelt could have been penned by Williamsburg squatters circa 2005 or Lower East Side peddlers circa 1905. As reverent as the band may be, their wild attack can be as coronary-inducing as grandma's chicken liver. But never mind the bubbes, this is Golem!
Condition:NEW. Punched upc
TRACK LISTINGS
Disc 1
1 Ushti Baba (5:37)
2 Mazel (3:09)
3 Bublichki (3:58)
4 Klezmerke (6:53)
5 Warsaw Is Khelm (3:45)
6 School of Dance (3:37)
7 Charlatan-Ka (4:11)
8 The Rent (2:06)
9 Mazurka (3:24)
10 Golem Hora (6:29)
11 Stick It! (4:23)
12 Czardas (1:56)
13 Le Mariage (3:35)
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