Raw and red-eyed drinking songs, strange nautical voyages, tearful country ballads, gypsy cabaret punk, all delivered here in bristling accordion-fueled glory, with some sparse, intimate guitar strum. Your favorite psychedelic folk-pop meander, Balkan wedding marches, bassoon-driven gnome-rock strangled in strange noises? most likely recorded beside a bonfire. This is "hobo rock" for fans of Tom Waits, the Ukrainians, Captain Beefheart, and Neutral Milk Hotel.

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With four albums and three EPs to their credit, the Ukrainians certainly have enough material to warrant this best-of collection. And it's good to see that they've weighted it in favor of their original and traditional material, rather than the covers of the Smiths and the Sex Pistols that, wonderful as they are, act as a lovely diversion from the meat of what the band's about. That said, the disc opens with a new track, another cover, this time of the Tornadoes' "Telstar," which feels a lit...   [ read more ]

CD $11.38

It's not that the Ukrainians do anything radically different on this album, just that they've refined their sound even more. Vocalist and violin player Len Liggins still sounds like Morrissey without the whine in overdrive, and the band can kick up an almighty racket. There's still also a wicked sense of humor, and a good choice in covers. This time it's "Dirty Revolution," a version of the oldie "Children of the Revolution," that forms an apt postscript to the Ukraine's own Orange Revolutio...   [ read more ]

CD $11.38