Bella’s Bartok
Hinge Northampton MA
March 27 2015
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The room was packed with Northampton’s finest- the hipsters and carnies, patchouli wafting and floor boards rattling. The darlings of Northampton’s buzz scene had set up camp and were spinning their mischievous magic.
Bella’s Bartok and their band of puckish followers had stuffed Northampton’s newest spot, Williamsburg north if you will, to the point where the door people weren’t letting more folks inside. The band is a visual and aural splashdown- full of color, handlebar mustaches, and raw sexual energy. Band members and audience members alike were losing their shirts, as the sweaty melange moshed and mashed their way through a set of music that is both fashionable and retro.
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Gypsy fusion? The house band at the Moulin Rouge? The band you imagined Salvador Dali and Lautrec might front? All seem apt comparisons. Elements of punk, gypsy jazz, avante garde, dixieland all combine into a fierce stew. 
Horns blaze next to a full string section- trombone and trumpet watch as guitars lead to mandolins lead to accordions. CRISCO commands the drum set and drives this outfit of misfits and the audience to a frenzy at a moment’s notice.
Check out the review of the Balkun Brothers and Gang of Thieves at Strange Brew in CT here.
The band easily steer into pop territory but prefers this off kilter melange that incorporates any style. But as soon as you are dizzied with the diversity of it all, they bring the music around to a more easily digestible offering, only to snatch it back into the ether as soon as you are ready to take a bite.
How do they describe it? Freak folk- well that’s about right. Muppet punk- that’s about perfect.
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Check out the review of Freekbass back in January at the Main Pub in Manchester, CT here.
Check out the review of the Balkun Brothers and Gang of Thieves at Strange Brew in CT here.
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Check out the review of Adam Ezra Group in RI February 2015 written by Tony Adams.
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