TITLE: If I Had The Strength
LABEL: Six Degrees
Toronto’s Lemon Bucket Orkestra (LBO) is an 11-piece ensemble that describes itself as “guerrilla-folk party-punks imprisoned and liberated by Eastern European folklore.” This is their third album, and the first to gain international distribution; LBO has also staged a participatory multimedia theatre production about Ukraine’s Maidan revolution, and they’re toured the world several times. LBO is a high energy combo employing instruments from both the Balkan brass (sousaphone, trumpet, trombone, saxophone) and lautari (violin, accordion) traditions; in bringing these two gypsy musical idioms together in one band, they’re similar to Romania’s Mahala Rai Banda. Like Romanian stalwarts Fanfare Ciocarlia and Taraf De Haidouks, LBO is at its best at breakneck tempos: check out tracks 2 and 4 for evidence. 6 is a classic slice of jazzy Balkan brass in the manner of Macedonia’s Kocani Orkestar, and 8 brings the fiddles to the fore along with a guest appearance by Montreal-based Latino rapper Boogat. The emergence of LBO is one of the most exciting developments in the Balkan music world in recent years; this album makes me long to see one of their acclaimed live performances.
TOP TRACKS: 2 4 6 8
ALSO RECOMMENDED: 1 3 5 7 9 10
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