Photo credit: Mike D’Ariano (not from this show)

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MP3: Gogol Bordello – Dying After You (traditional Gypsy song) from NPR’s All Things Considered on April 29, 2006

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MP3: Man Man – Van Helsing Boombox from Six Demon Bag (2006)

Fuck if Man Man couldn’t be more awesome. Read the rest…

I was not expecting too much from the Saturday line-up, and this proved to be true. Indeed, I was not expecting too much from Virgin Festival at all, aside from a few select acts.

It would also be the first large-scale music festival since my early-to-mid teens years spent at HFStivals. Oh, how I was enamored by what I saw then, and how annoyed by most of what I saw now. Was it a function of maturation, or have things really gone that down hill since I was 14?

It would also be the first “mainstream” show I had attended in some years. I anticipated the crowd being radically different than what I was used to seeing–not really a value judgment, just an objective assumption. I also realized how much I have changed since freshman year of high school, both in regards to musical taste, and also life outlook.

Just for shit-and-giggles I dressed Saturday to blend in with the crowd. Not that I’m super fashionable in the first place, but I thought it would be nostalgic fun to don the old high school lacrosse practice singlet (get the pun? You would if you went to my high school). It turns out this was the goddamn uniform for the large portion of guys in attendance (if they were wearing shirts at all). It made me feel really old when kids asked me what year I graduated, I answered, and they looked at me like I’m old. Then they asked me to buy them beer. In all fairness I remember being 16 and thinking early twenties was old, too. Read the rest…

As I meandered over to the Which Stage to wait for Sharon Jones, I heard strains of brass-driven jazz.  Soul Rebels Brass Band weren’t in the booklet schedule, but they more than satisfied my desire for groovy funk.  They combine a hip-hop approach to performance with jazz, funk and reggae.  Obviously really talented instrumentalists and veteran jamsters, they formed some tight, impromptu sounding grooves that really energized the crowd.

Read the rest…

Aural States: So I am dying to know, you were in Kiev until you were about 15. What kind of punk did you get exposed to over there?

Eugene Hutz: Pretty much everything. The Stooges, Dead Kennedys, Joy Division, Devo, Birthday Party. We heard all the really creative artists.

AS: Was it a vibrant scene? Read the rest…