The Gogol Bordello live experience is a knock down drag out party where all matter of mayhem, on stage and off, is the order of the day. Singer Eugene Hutz also holds down a more restrained but no less fun DJ gig. Here he lets his music-obsessed self stretch beyond the Ukraine, gypsy and punk roots of his band into all manner of musics, ranging from Algerian rai to Jamaican dub to Indian bhangra to sampling and electronics. This same approach is applied to J.U.F. (which stands for "Jewish-Ukrainian Friendship"): everything is fair game for Hutz, keyboardist Tamir Muskat, saxophonist Ori Kaplan and guitarist Oren Kaplan (both also of Gogol Bordello), with a few guests helping as well. Never dragging as the beat scientists mix and match styles and ideas, the seamless 12-track album goes from song to song without pause. It's perfectly suited for a night in the bars hanging with friends, but it's also fun multi-culti listening at home too. --Tad Hendrickson
