Di Niggunim & The Barons of Tang, a hot mess and a wild ride

This past Tuesday I bopped over Detroit to the anarchist art collective Trumbleplex to see San Diego based "anarcho-klezmer punk collective" Di Niggunim. I had a blast. Trumbleplex is my kind of place. Not a club. Not a bar. A place where happenings happen. Lots of independent minded folks with a lot of great energy. I spent a good chunk of the evening looking longingly at the mosh pit wishing I had left my camera in the car and could jump in.

The opening band, Detroit Party Marching Band, (not a Jewish band. duh.) was a riot. I don't mean they were funny. The gang of them (there at least 12. I lost count) were hooting and squawking in full marching band gear and marching band instruments and sounding like they were about to take to the streets. Shake something up. Burn burn something down. Riot. whew.

Di Niggunim, sadly, was a hot mess. They'd had gear stolen in Chicago. Their drummer had been sentenced (just that day) to three years in prison for "stuff." Their clarinet player couldn't make the tour and the guitar player'd gone home. The bass player was borrowed. The singer was sick. Life on the road folks. That said, they gave it their all and played the best they could and a fine time was had by all.

Here they are, sounding an awful lot better than they did Tuesday...

Fascist Degradation - Di Nigunim

I love these guys. They've got a lot of heart and I proudly threw some extra cash into the hat that got passed and added their sticker to the back of the Teruah-mobile before I went home.

The big surprise of the night was The Barons of Tang, from Melbourne, Australia. BoT is a "gypsy deathcore" band. Klezmer influenced, but really a melange of music styles. They were tight and talented and reminded me of Gogol Bordello or an early Pouges. Maybe not as good on the vocals, maybe not as strong on the songwriting, but they could get there. They'll be hitting Toronto's Ashkenaz tonight (Thursday). I didn't love them enough to drive to Toronto from here...but I thought about it the whole drive home.

Dogs of Rotterdam by Barons of Tang

hat tip to my buddy Noah for tipping me off to the show and to Youtube users commander and UndergrowthMagazine for the videos.