The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMusicAlbum reviews

Gogol Bordello – Pura Vida Conspiracy

Gogol Bordello – Pura Vida Conspiracy | Album review
1 August 2013
Annie Robinson
Avatar
Annie Robinson
1 August 2013

With their sixth studio album, Gogol Bordello offer up another helping of genre-spanning, raucous and revolutionary anthems for our enjoyment. Pura Vida Conspiracy is a wholly unique and jubilant record that would fit comfortably on anyone’s summer playlist. Despite their relative maturity as artists, the band’s sound is as surprising, fresh and diverse as ever.

For over a decade, the globe-trotting gypsy punk band’s extensive touring schedule has proven their traveller credentials, and like its predecessors Pura Vida Conspiracy is perfectly suited to entertain and delight festival crowds the world over. The music’s attempts to reclaim how the term “gypsy” is applied results in the wonderful cross-cultural pollination of influences. Traditional Latin American and Russian sounds coexist joyously as the album creates an audio celebration of multiculturalism.

The activism entrenched in the band’s output is immediately apparent and triumphant album opener We Rise Again is unflinchingly revolutionary. The track proclaims in pointedly deliberate broken English: “Borders are scars on face of this planet”. This is continued across the album, notably in My Gypsy Autopilot and Lost Innocent World which both make for powerful listening. Particular standout songs include Dig Deep Enough and Hieroglyph but the track list is overflowing with certain crowd-pleasers.

The chaos and frenzy of the album is allowed a small break with the more reserved I Just Realized, but the driving anarchic spirit is never diminished. It is however tinged with a small amount of irony after the band’s corporate alliance with Coca-Cola; last year they released the song Let’s Get Crazy as part of an advertising campaign for the mammoth corporation. Despite this, the album and its message are unwaveringly earnest and socially significant.

Pura Vida Conspiracy may not sound like anything else in your music collection, but in this case that’s to the credit of the group. While the peculiarity of this niche genre may be initially puzzling, it’s well worth stepping out of your comfort zone for. Take a leaf out of Gogol Bordello’s book by giving their exhilarating and innovative sound a go, and try to experience some diaspora of your own.

★★★★★

Annie Robinson

Pura Vida Conspiracy is released on 23rd July 2013. For further information or to order the album visit Gogol Bordello’s website here.

Watch the trailer for Pura Vida Conspiracy here:

Related Itemsreview

More in Album reviews

Hello Cosmos – Dream Harder

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

Jeremiah Fraites – Piano Piano

★★★★★
Catherine Sedgwick
Read More

Lonely the Brave – The Hope List

★★★★★
Emma-Jane Betts
Read More

Sleaford Mods – Spare Ribs

★★★★★
Mark Worgan
Read More

You Me at Six – Suckapunch

★★★★★
Mark Worgan
Read More

Pearl Charles – Magic Mirror

★★★★★
Mae Trumata
Read More

Passenger – Songs for the Drunk and Broken Hearted

★★★★★
Georgie Cowan-Turner
Read More

Taylor Swift – Evermore

★★★★★
Bev Lung
Read More

Yungblud – Weird!

★★★★★
Regan Harle
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Female filmmakers lead nominees for the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards
    Cinema
  • Jeremiah Fraites – Piano Piano
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Persian Lessons
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Lonely the Brave – The Hope List
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • 23 Walks
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Live Lab at The Yard Theatre: An interview with associate director Cheryl Gallagher
    Theatre
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks
    Theatre
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • WandaVision: Marvel’s charming sitcom proves an astounding success
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Queen’s Gambit: A chess story that’s not about the moves but the motives
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Undercover at Morpheus Show Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Vuvuvultures at Rough Trade East | Live review
What Maisie Knew | Movie review