High Words, The Remix
Hold onto your seats everyone as the Jewish Monkeys are about to officially drop album number two tomorrow! That's right, "High Words" is just around the bend and you can already stream/download the masterpiece in full via Bandcamp. Yes, word on the streets rings true as the mischievous bunch is back with a Yiddish vengeance that is very much contagious.
Among the latest mishpoche to have caught the proverbial Fever is Ukrainian-born/Berlin-based all-rounder* Yuriy Gurzhy, known to make a living as a prolific musician, DJ, producer and radio broadcaster, who also delivered a wicked set at the Jewish Monkeys' Berlin show last March. Most recently Yuriy recorded and performed with Daniel Kahn and Marina Frenk as The Disorientalists in his latest production "Who Was Essad Bey?".
Which brings us to DJ UCE, alias Uros Petkovic, a Serbian multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer equally based in Berlin, with an eclectic musical repertoire as well as a claim to fame on the Balkan and E-Swing music scene with projects including ShazaLaKazoo, the BalkanBeats Soundsystem and Jazzotron.
Both Yuriy and UCE have now taken on the title track of the Jewish Monkeys' forthcoming album and added a little spice of their own, best described by Yuriy himself: "In October 2016 I spent an unforgettable week in Tel Aviv. Daily swims, delicious food, visiting old friends, meeting new friends, buying vintage records, discovering new music, speaking English and Russian... When I first heard the Jewish Monkeys' new record I was instantly reminded of these amazing times. And so it was a true honour and a lot of fun for us to be able to remix the title track. Right off the bat, we knew what we wanted to do with 'High Words'. There was no doubt about it. Uce programmed the beat and I brought my ancient Casiotone MT-100 as well as my guitar to the studio that same day... The original is still easily recognisable in our work. We didn't want to move too far away because we actually liked it the way it was, but we did try to contribute another dimension."
We just love that added bounce. How about you? Have a listen in the player above or head over to Yuriy's SoundCloud page.
*Alongside German-Jewish writer Wladimir Kaminir Yuriy Gurzhy established the now legendary "Russendisko" club events, hosted the "Russendisko Klub" radio show on Berlin's Radio MultiKulti (2000-2006), released his 2006 "Shtetl Superstars" compilation of funky Jewish sounds from around the world and followed that up with his 2010 "Revolution Disco" release of modern revolutionary anthems. Yuriy also released three albums with his band RotFront, co-founded the Shtetl Superstars and collaborated with the likes of Shantel, Alec Kopyt, Amsterdam Klezmer Band, 17 Hippies, Perkalaba, Zhadan & Sobaki, MaMa Diaspora, Russkaja and many more. In 2016 he launched a new monthly event series in Berlin entitles "Born in UA", dedicated to Ukrainian music in all its variety and released his "Borsh Division - Duture Sound of Ukraine" compilation via Trikont.
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