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On this album, the Zydepunks play big, barnstorming dance songs—massive, stomping, thumping, sweaty things with a piratical accordion played by a woman in a miniskirt and black stockings who is known in the publicity as Eve: no surname. If the musicians were performing this music live, then the floorboards would be shaking under the feet of the dancers, every ant in the room would be shooting out of its crevice or crack and running for safer ground. Beverages would fly.
Finisterre hits a good balance between keeping the music boisterous and genuine-sounding, and leaving it clear enough to be intelligible. In that room with its shaking floorboards, the pure amount of sound pouring down on you, around you, up from the floor, might dissolve everything in a slamming roar, but with Finisterre you can focus your mind on each instrument and hear a precision there that submerges itself in the whole. Listen to the fiddle in “When My Ship Sails Away”. It picks out each note with the exactness of an embroidery needle stabbing through canvas. At the end of “One More Chance”, it corkscrews itself neatly into a squeak.
The group formed in New Orleans in 2003 and has been based there ever since. Finisterre is its fourth album after 2004’s 9th Ward Ramblers, 2005’s ...And the Streets Will Flow with Whiskey, and last year’s Exile Waltz. Hurricane Katrina disrupted the lineup slightly, but the music doesn’t seem to have suffered. The musicians draw on several different folk traditions for their sound: klezmer here, Cajun there, Irish or English somewhere else. There’s zydeco too, obviously. The easiest thing to compare them to would be the Pogues, but Pogues with a strong New Orleans flavour and a singer who sounds raspy but not drunk. They have that same folk-for-the-hell-of-it vibe. Pub folk. They even sing about whiskey.
01. Papirossen in Gan Eden
02. Angel Whiskey
03. Blood Song
04. Por la Orilla del mar
05. Dear Molly
06. When My Ship Sails Away
07. One More Chance
08. Cuando crecerán los flores
09. Song For Mike
10. Long Story Short
11. La vie est courte et cruelle
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
"Like Gogol Bordello and Flogging Molly, New Orleans quintet the Zydepunks draw from two divergent genres -- folk and punk -- to create music that pushes traditional boundaries without abandoning its roots. The group, known for its manic interpretations of European and Louisiana folk music and a multilingual repertoire (the group performs in English, German, French, Spanish, Yiddish, and Portuguese), formed in 2004, quickly gained a devoted following, and released its first album, 9th Ward Ramblers. The Zydepunks looked forward to more successes in 2005, but soon after releasing their second album, ...And the Streets Will Flow with Whiskey, disaster struck when Hurricane Katrina roared ashore. While the bandmembers were safe and three returned to homes that were still intact, their city was laid to waste. Despite the considerable setbacks, the group reunited for a performance at the New Orleans Voodoo Music Festival. In August 2007, they released their third album, Exile Waltz; a fourth release was scheduled for 2008."
1 Boudreaux Crosses the Danube
2 Big Man Walking in the Rain
3 Josette
4 Valse de Balfa
5 Andropov/Polka Félix
6 La Maraichine
7 Valse de creve de faim
8 Odessa Bulgar
9 Ma Tisére
10 Larideaux a six temps
11 Valse d'exil
12 Zydeco Cha Cha
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
"Innovators, renegades, survivors - within a few years, the Zydepunks have grown from underground heroes into one of New Orleans' most talked about bands. Yiddish riddles, Irish ballads, Cajun punk, and original songs in Spanish and German are a small demonstration of why they astound new audiences. Wild folk dances fronted by accordion and fiddle and backed by relentless drums and bass are a testament to the high-energy folk-punk dance craze that is a Zydepunks show.
The Zydepunks began in 2004 and quickly took the New Orleans music scene by storm with their speedy and amped-up versions of European and Louisiana folk music. Vocal stylings in six languages (German, French, Spanish, Yiddish, English, Portuguese) immediately set the band apart. Their own original work has given the band a more cohesive feel while staying true to their sound.
Sadly, no story about any contemporary New Orleans band is complete without mentioning the hurricane season of 2005. What was looking to be a breakout year for five young musicians coming off a national tour turned into a matter of pure survival. Three founding members ended up returning to New Orleans to houses that were miraculously untouched but a city that was forever mangled. With their lineup and future in doubt, the band managed to reunite for a performance at the New Orleans Voodoo Music Festival. A memorable nighttime show at the legendary Café Brazil gave notice that the old New Orleans might come back after all."
"Everyone jumped for joy to the speed-core melange of klezmer tornadoes, Balkan dances, Celtic reels and bayou-squeezbox war"
"World music never sounded like so much frantic, frenetic and sweat-soaked fun."
"The Zydepunks are one of New Orleans' most rousing live performers... they surprise with sublime accordion-fiddle fueled playing."
01. Madeleine
02. Satan/Dance you Fukr
03. Lowlands of Baghdad
04. A Fistful of Oysters
05. Bwamba's Rambles
06. Eve's
07. Tumbalalaika
08. Reel & Jig Set
09. Con ti se va mi corazon
10. Romanian Hora & Bulgar
11. Johnny Can't Dance
12. Die Schwimmbadpiraten
13. Mabel's Got the Blues
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
