Search - Kultur Shock :: Fucc The I.N.S.

FUCC the I.N.S. is produced by Billy Gould and co-produced by Gino and Val and released on Billy Gould's Kool Arrow Records. The group's unique musical vision and fearless mix of vernacular, world, and rock elements adds up to a deeply rooted sense of cultural history that feeds off dislocation. The scope of expression and exuberance Kultur Shock embraces bring the crossroads of its influences to a new territory altogether. It's as if a Balkan Harry Smith or Alan Lomax brought the traditional gypsy music of the Balkans to tango with a reved-up rock band for a headlong rush into the unknown that pays tribute to tradition while carving out its own sound. The carnivalesque party atmosphere of the bands live shows is astounding. The bands interaction with the audience is an electric exchange with a feral edge. Gino is a born entertainer/instigator and natural raconteur whose energy level seems unstoppable. He leads the rag-tag group through its high voltage set, improvising and radiating with conviction and joy. The horn section swings and burbles, the rhythm section locks in, then turns to accenting before thundering back into view, and the guitars tangle and squall. Its a beautiful racket that turns to folk elements and then bursts into rock. Its world music but without the stultifying gentility. "Were the Gipsy Kings but evil," jokes Gino. The truth is Kultur Shock makes music that is anything but evil-sounding; they turn the hardships of their homelands and the dysphoria of immigrant experience into a glorious body of song that celebrates as it dissents.