J.U.F.

So, do you know who Gogol Bordello is? I mean...the shit's crazy. It's like traditional Balkan music mixed with dancebeats and punk-disco and dub. It's fucking weird. Well, J.U.F. is an extension of Gogol Bordello. Really, it's Eugene Hutz doing more DJ based dancebeats with help from his bandmates from Gogol Bordello and co-produced by Tamir Muskat (hence the name). To tell you the truth, this shit is wacky. Wacky and good. And wacky.

If you don't know what Balkan music generally sounds like, I'll try to describe it. Ever seen an old gypsy movie? Maybe just a werewolf movie with a gypsy in it. Anyway: think gypsy. Accordian, saxophone, viola/violin. Now J.U.F. takes that and throws it on top of dance/dub/dancehall beats with multiple vocal contributions, like Hutz's heavy drawling growl or "Israeli ingénue Victoria Hanna." Either way, this shit rules. It's like a freakout foreign club in my head.

My favorite track is definitely "Balkanization of Amerikanization." This track has wild alto sax lines, heavy dub beats, and some funky bari-sax backgrounds. It's also one of the tracks that features the dueling Hutz/Hanna vocals. Am I in Egypt? Bulgaria? Jamaica? Nope, Chicago! But J.U.F. gives me the musical portal for reaching these places in my imagination. Like fucking Reading Rainbow. But with gypsys.

Anyway, I think it's definitely worth a listen. Hutz is a madman, working his mystical mojo all around. If anything, it'll broaden your horizons.