Gogol Bordello 'Pura Vida Conspiracy' Review Roundup: Critics Can't Get Enough Of Gypsy Punks
Well, this is...surprising. The hard-charging, relentlessly touring, insanely LOUD gypsy punkers in Gogol Bordello have put out a new album called Pura Vida Conspiracy. And critics of all stripes seem to enjoy it.
Gypsy folk punk may be too idiosyncratic to ever be mainstream. That said, if there ever was a Gogol Bordello album that deserves to launch them onto American radio waves, it's Pura Vida Conspiracy.
Alternative Press:
The result is Gogol Bordello's best album in their 14-year career.
With their ever-expanding arsenal of masterfully crafted musical traditions, they prove once more to refuse to be anything less than what they are: one of the most explorative and inexhaustibly creative bands on the planet.
NME:
They expound spiritual philosophies ("I am a hieroglyph of love!"), grasp the rural jig-folk baton from Mumford & Sons and, post-Beirut, remind everyone it's supposed to be fun.
Of course, this can't go on forever. This Toy Story 3 needs its Armond White, someone had to rain on the parade.
"Pure Vida," though, overwhelms as often as it inspires. Like a boisterous, long-winded guest taking over a dinner party...The more one communicates with all-cap enthusiasm, THE LESS PALATABLE the message can become. (Unless you're Andrew W.K.)