Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2010

American Recordings/Sony Music Japan International

So, have New York Lower East Side party machine Gogol Bordello toned it down for their major label debut under the aegis of legendary production guru Rick Rubin? In a word, nyet. Not that anyone would imagine for a moment that frontman Eugene Hütz and his polyglot band would constrain their rumbustious brew of Eastern European folk music with ska and punk—or that Rubin would even ask. What the producer’s expert hand does impart is a cleanness and sharpness that previous albums lacked; each guitar, accordion and violin solo now stands out against the chugging, arm-swinging rhythms like never before. Growling above this background, Hütz declaims that immigrants are taking over, the revolution has just begun, and that his Romanian, samba-dancer girlfriend is rocking his world. There is a month-long gap in the band’s tour schedule from mid-July on—plenty of time for GB to bring down the house yet again at Fuji Rock or Summer Sonic.