Description
Mischief Brew’s debut LP, long out-of-print, has been given a new coat of paint: Fistolo Records has re-released the album on 180 gram vinyl, completely remastered from the original tapes by Carl Saff. “Smash The Windows” is a carnival-punk whirligig, a menagerie of the bizarre combining anarcho-punk with Eastern-European folk, Django-esque swing, Beat-era jazz, Celtic balladry, and straight-up anthemic rebel music that somehow pulls off a mix of The Pogues, Utah Phillips, Chumbawamba, Morphine, Subhumans, Motherhead Bug, Tom Waits, and some kind of dusty fairground organ that you smashed a bottle of whiskey against. Recorded in Brooklyn at Vibromonk Studios in 2004 by Danny Shatzky and Tamir Muskat (Firewater, Gogol Bordello), this is more of a musical soundtrack, with characters and settings, than a traditional punk record. It also features a slew of guest appearances by members of Balkan Beat Box, World/Inferno Friendship Society, Leftover Crack, The Citywide Specials, and more. A stubborn record to classify upon its initial release, it has since cemented itself as one of the most influential DIY anarcho-folk-punk albums of the mid-2000s and beyond.
1. The Reinvention Of The Printing Press / 2. Citizens Drive / 3. Lightning Knock The Power Out / 4. Nomads Revolt / 5. The Lowly Carpenter / 6. Ten Thousand Fleas / 7. Swing Against The Nazis / 8. From The Rooftops / 9. The Gypsy, The Punk, And The Fool (A Tale) / 10. Roll Me Through The Gates Of Hell / 11. Ain’t It The Life? / 12. A Liquor Never Brewed (with Guignol) / 13. Departure Arrival / 14. Bag Of Pepper (digital bonus track – outtake) / 15. The Lowly Carpenter (acoustic mix – outtake)
