Gogol Bordello - "We Comin' Rougher (Immigraniada)" [single]

What the freak-folk-gypsy-punk amalgam? Let me preface this post by saying I'm rather surprised not one QC-er seems to have ever written a post about the gypsy punk intrigue that is otherwise known as Gogol Bordello. It's hard not to like a NYC-based outfit whose name alone is a nod to Russian literature and gentlemen's clubs, let alone a band that actually has a song called "Think Locally, Fuck Globally." Yeah, I'm sad to say there's a shortage of such creative genius in this world.

GB has a new album out, Trans-Continental Hustle, which exudes maniacal instrumentation and boasts a lot of obvious Brazilian musical influence due to the lead singer making it his new home the past few years. I heard "We Comin' Rougher (Immigraniada)" recently and kinda fell in love with its infectious punk energy that reminds me of a throwback to when Rancid used to sing a fraction of their catalog in Spanglish. I never knew why they did that, I just knew that it somehow... worked. If you like this off-the-cuff version of the song, check out the rest of Gogol Bordello's latest and greatest. It's slightly difficult to pin down the essence of their music, but if The Clash and Manu Chao had a tryst behind The Kremlin which later resulted in an illegitimate love child who dropped out of high school to busk around the world, I'm willing to bet his name would be Gogol Bordello. Or more specifically, something that rhymes with Eugene Hütz.

Oh, and here's another, albeit slightly tighter, live performance that truly showcases the accordion if you're looking for something a bit more "polished" ... relatively speaking, of course.