If it's any consolation, I did enjoy reading what you wrote!

@Problematiclogic- You’ve got a good point about messageboards, I find it much more useful than a review to sample different biases from different people. I often find music by word of mouth and my friends, not by browsing reviews for what are essentially still personal opinions, just written as if they’re an authority and littered with ultimately subjective descriptions.

Plus, I did say what some of the songs sounded like, I just thought it was more informative to emphasise their context. If no one had heard of this band, I would do my best to describe their sound, but this is Gogol Bordello and a two month old album.

But yeah, why bother having reviews? Unless they’re fun to read.

I'd rather have a reviewer talking about the songs, you know "reviewing" the music. If I wanted some personal opinion on the band themselves I'd go on their messageboard or something. If the argument is that you can easily download the album and see for yourself then why bother having reviews at all? Not everyone wants to go to the effort of downloading for every single band they hear about somewhere.

American Records is a major--its part of Sony BMG.

It's not that bad of an album, but not the best that they've done.

I'd rather have a review that looks at the album as a whole than each individual song described to me in painstaking detail. If i'm that interested I'd get the album.

On the final point, blame Madonna for everything.....

"Sadly, like waking up to find a rusty caravan on your land surrounded by mangy dogs and inbred children, something isn't completely right about the situation."

I think this negates your statement about Eugene Hutz's "unintentional stereotyping".

Also, is American Recordings really a major label?

When I was 10 years old, I recall being obsessed about a Madonna video that constantly played on MuchMusic in which I thought her nipples were visible through her top.

I liked the review and agree with the score. "Underwhelming" sums it up. I definitely don't need a reivewer to walk me through each song.

I wrote the review, so I thought I’d respond to a few comments...

overdefined got it spot on- do you guys actually read these reviews to learn what an album sounds like, when you could download it and hear it just as quickly? I’m not being a dick, I’m actually curious if people still care what a reviewer thinks of something?

I was disappointed in the album, so I wanted to give some insight into why I thought the way I did and make it entertaining rather than just list information. Fair comment, maybe I should have put in a little more about the songs. I usually do.

As for Madonna, when a lot of people who didn’t know the band saw them perform with her they probably just thought ‘oh cool, weird gypsies’. That’s the risk they take as they gain a larger audience, so that’s what I used to take the piss out of the album. No higher motive or vendetta.

reviewer: you could focus on the music more, rather than being "weird" about romany people.

I like this album way better than Super Taranta

and do explain what you mean about the Madonna sillliness setting back Romani rights

I blame Madonna for most things.

I liked this review. With the ease of sampling music on the internet, talking about what an "album sounds like" is less important than placing its importance in the context of right now or in the context of a career. I'm not saying it's not important, but it's not the most important thing. Also, just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean it's a bad review.

what the hell? i thought Super Taranta was fantastic. i was also expecting this album to blow it out of the water with Rick Rubin at the helm, but it sort of just stayed the course, which is fine. it's a great album.

* playFUL MCing

I'd agree that this album is disappointing in comparison to Gypsy Punks. But then, everything this band has done is disappointing in comparison to that album. That album is something special.

A fairer comparison is something like Super Taranta. Trans-Continental Hustle is light years better in that respect. The songs aren't as exciting as they used to be--you could hear the excitement in Eugene's voice and playing, like he was finally discovering his voice and how excited he was about it. Now that he has, he's trying to figure out how to use it. Preachiness on "Break The Spell" is definitely annoying, but this album has more than enough special moments on it (and nothing nearly as embarrassing as "American Wedding") to get me excited. And happily their live shows are still great and feature a lot more of Pedro Erazo's playing MCing than the albums do.

Good review, but I could do without the exposition about Madonna and gypsies. And if this record is "not all that exhilarating," I'd blame Rick Rubin instead.

i kind of liked that song that went "we comin' rougher every time!"... i feel like i kind of like one song on each of their albums....

Horrible review. This album is hella fun, and at the very least better than Super Taranta!
4/5

I realise you have a personal vendetta against Madonna, but next time could you spend more than a paragraph talking about the music that is on the record you're reviewing? Thanks.

pretty good.

I say that about W/IFS too, but my friends refuse to see why I make the comparison.

The World/Inferno Friendship Society are so much better at everything than this band.