Gogol Bordello - Voi-La Intruder 320cbr (Big Papi) 2002 Eastern torrent

Gogol Bordello is hot right now, with their raucous, wild gypsy punk music and rousing concerts. But they started off a bit more low-key with their debut, "Voi-La Intruder," which relies more heavily on the gypsy part of their music than the punk-rocker aspect. Still, it's a dancey, wild album with their current persona creeping up under the table...

It kicks off with a traditional-sounding klezmer tune that slowly turns into a dancier klezmer tune, with frontman Eugene Hutz sounding as dignified as he can. At the start, that is. When he starts with the chorus ("My DARLIN'/DARLIN'/my sacred darlin'!"), he starts soundng like his usual wild self.

The traditional East-Euro-folk sound continues throughout the album, with the frenetic patchwork "Voi-La Intruder," the urgent tight-paced "Greencard Husband," and their biggest hit to date: "Start Wearing Purple," a schizophrenic little delight. It sounds a bit different from the version on their most recent album "Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike."

They even dabble in acoustic balladry, with the plaintive "Mussolini Vs. Stalin," which ends with a mournful chorus of voices that all sound like Hutz. But as folky as this is, we start to see the punk elements that make up half their music right now -- there are hints of it in the snarly lyrics about women impregnated by "Unvisible Zedd," and the wild electric guitar of "Letter to Castro."

Basically this album -- which reportedly had a different lineup -- relies heavily on Eastern European folk and pop, rather than the wild punk sound they have now. More gypsy than punk, more folk than rock -- and surprisingly it isn't any less appealing from a musical standpoint.

Call it klezmer with a twist. Gogol Bordello packs it up with thuddy percussion, accordions, and some very restrained electric guitar. In songs like "Letter to Mother," it sounds like it's aching to explode into a rock song, but instead it sticks to being spirited traditional music. You can see how gypsy punk grew out of this sound.

Eugene Hutz does both vocal styles here. He does the raucous punk howls about half the time, as he wails bizarre lyrics like "Start wearin' purple/wearin purple... all your sanity and wits/they will all vanish/I promise/it's just a matter of time." But he has a very pleasant singing voice as well, as shown in the grand finale, the folky "Against the Nature."

Gogol Bordello sounded quite different when they debuted with "Voi-La Intruder," but there are hints of what they would become. An interesting and pleasant album.