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Choban
Choban: Elektrik
by Glenn Astarita
Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist Jordan Shapiro extends the reach of Balkan music with a gentrified twist, hinting at a New York City downtown aura amid the indigenous fundamentals that coalesce into a variegated offering. With straight-four backbeats, streaming violins, harmonious vocal chants and dreamy electronics maneuvers, the album presents a nouveau spin on traditional southeastern European folk.Beratche from Prespa" is an Albanian dance, treated with Shapiro's psychedelic guitar parts, concocted on grunge-rock and gravelly keyboards-based intonations. With linear progressions, the ...
read moreChoban Elektrik Releases Self-Titled Debut
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FlipswitchPR, LLC
If a prog rock power trio had ever sprung up in the mountains of Albania, it would have sounded like Brooklyn’s Choban Elektrik (“Electric Shepherds”). Using the vintage grit and funk of Hammond organs and Fender Rhodes to open up new facets of Albanian, Macedonian, Greek, and Armenian tunes, the band makes this unlikely pairing feel organic and obvious, thanks to their intense focus and anything-goes approach. “We never set out to do this,” explains masterful keyboard player and arranger ...
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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson