Kultur Shock

In 1997, Kultur Shock's singer emigrated to United States. The INS
graciously allowed his residency and classified him as an "Alien of
Exceptional Abilities". As is turns out, this bizarre description
actually comes close to capturing the essence of this seemingly un-
categorizable cast of characters. "Folk music on steroids", "Gypsy new
metal", "Balkan protest funk", "heavy goofy passion"--although many
have tried to categorize it, the music is as free of borders (and
brilliantly foreign) as the musicians who created it.

Founded in Seattle in 1998 by front man Gino Yevdjevich (a Bosnian Serb
and former Yugoslavian pop star), Kultur Shock is a cultural explosion
as much as it is a musical collective. Guitarist Mario Butkovich is a
Bosnian Croat who's been playing and touring with Gypsy bands since
childhood (he refined his guitar playing while living in refugee
camps). Val Kiossovski, who plays rhythm guitar, defected from Bulgaria
in the late 80's.

Bassist Masa Kobayashi hails from Japan. Amy Denio (sax, clarinet,
accordion) is a well-known member of the avant-garde experimental
scene, while drummer Chris Stromquist brings a punk rock background and
a love for Latin beats.

Kultura-Diktatura, the band's third album and second for Kool Arrow, is
a veritable explosion of color and passion: a living, breathing
collision of ethnicities and culture, spoken and musical languages,
live-life-like-every-day's-your-last party machine and political
manifesto.

In fact, "crossover" might be the one word that sums up Kultur Shock
neatly. On Kultura-Diktatura, the band whips easily through rumba,
samba-like beats, rock, punk, heavy rock, hip-hop and dark tribal and
house beats. Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Italian, Spanish, Japanese,
and English are all fair linguistic game and sound perfectly at home
together in the Kultur Shock melting pot. What else could you expect
from a band whose supporters range from folk legend Joan Baez to new-
metalists System of a Down and who has earned rave reviews from
magazines as varied as fRoots and Metal Hammer?

Produced by former Faith No More bassist (and Kool Arrow owner) Billy
Gould and recorded primarily by Jack Endino, Kultura-Diktatura is a
natural progression from the band's first two albums. Live In Amerika,
which the band released on its own Pacific label, was full of
traditional Balkan folk songs, while FUCC the INS, released on Kool
Arrow in 2001, found the band moving into more original territory and
adding more attitude and aggression into the mix. True to the boundary-
crossing nature of the band, Kultura-Diktatura was mixed in Oslo's
Lydlab Studios with Ulf Holland (Gluecifer, Motorpsycho, AHA)
engineering.

The band plans to capitalize on the success of previous European and
West Coast tours by taking their musical revolution directly to the
people. Seattle has already capitulated, and they're coming your way
next.

www.kulturshock.com