Customer Reviews
A mixed bag 
2008-07-01
This is my first DeVotchKa cd, and at first I was extremely impressed. These are impeccable musicians with a lot of creativity, and they successfully combine many different styles of music. The only problem is the vocals.
Their lead singer sticks to one style of crooning, and after a while it gets very grating. In the future they would be better served by adding more variation to the vocals. I would love to hear them work with some guest vocalists, or maybe add another full time, female vocalist to the band.
Overall I recommend this cd, although the vocals are very limited and prevent the band from reaching their full potential.
Simply brillaint 
2008-06-12
This album is unlike anything I've ever heard.It's just so different then anything else out there that it just reels me in.Beautiful.
Epitome of eclectic rock 2008-05-27
Although I'd seen the movie, "Little Miss Sunshine", I hadn't been so overwhelmed by the soundtrack to rush out and buy it. But then KFOG played one track on "new releases Thursday", mentioned that an accordianist was in the band, and prompted my investigation.
So I bought the CD, played it a couple of times then got lucky: Devotchka was coming to the Fillmore. INCREDIBLE show. Not sure why there were two hefty, leotard-wearing women tossing flowers into the audience before the band came on stage, but the music eliminated that odd vision.
A lead singer with the crooning vocal style (and this IS a compliment) of a lounge singer; a (female: bonus points for the PC) upright bass player, a solid-rocking drummer and a fiddler. The bassist set her instrument aside and donned a tuba; the fiddler alternated between his accordian and bringing two other violinists on stage. And the drummer played a trumpet, and the leotards returned to perform aerial acrobatics on dangling ribbons, as an accompionment to one song.
So this sounds like a concert review? The CD, though it only has one live track, replicates the sound of one of the five most awesome concerts I've ever seen, it just bowls me over every time I play it. basically rock music with a gypsy-folk balladeer veneer. Hard to compare it to anything else but zydeco or tejana fans will be overjoyed; as will any fan of well-executed, inovative alternative rock.
Wonderful 2008-05-19
It's a beautifully lush and layered album that draws from a number of classic styles. It takes you to another place and time... I can't help but imagine myself riding on horseback across the countryside or watching belly dancers perform in an opium-filled speakeasy!
If you've liked their other albums or the soundtrack to "Little Miss Sunshine," this album is a must-have.
Alright! Devotch"ka 2008-05-05
I love Devotch'ka. And, this is Devotch'ka at it's best. Some kind of Eastern European hill billy rock and roll, Gypsys on drugs, freaked out Sousaphone players, recovering madmen writing music for Sunday parks. I love it. I love Devotch'ka and I love this album. You betcha!
Another amazing CD!!! 2008-04-19
This four piece multi-instrumental outfit fuses Gypsy, Greek, Slavic, and Mariachi influences with American punk and folk roots. In 2006, they scored "Little Miss Sunshine", garnering four Academy Award nominations, and earned a Grammy nod for Best Soundtrack. Their stage set up is fortified by sousaphone, accordion, piano, violin, bouzouki, upright bass, percussion, trumpet, drums and Theremin. They've toured with similar maverick acts such as Calexico and Flogging Molly. The live experience includes trumpeters appearing out of the crowd, the band climbing offstage and playing in the center of the audience, and trapeze aerialists suspended from theater ceilings. This is the ANTI debut. RIYL: Arcade Fire, Calexico, Neko Case, David Byrne, and Flogging Molly.
Almost excellent! 
2008-04-11
Devotchka pudo tomar la decisión de hacer la segunda parte de How it ends, el cual es por mucho, su mejor disco, o bien, optar por avanzar en la creación y maduración de su sonido, ocurriendo esto último, lo cual garantiza la clase de artistas que son.
Las primeras veces que lo escuché no me impactó como ocurrió con el How..., pero al dejarlo tocar mientras trabajo o manejo, me he dado cuenta del casi excelente disco.
Las mejores canciones son Undone, Blessing in disguise, The clockwise witness y comrade Z. Es destacar la nueva versión de Head Honcho, la cual le favorece. He de aceptar que me hubiera gustado oír algo más "mariachozo" en alguna canción ( mmhh....we're leaving...mhhh)
La tipografía es la mejor que han usado, el booklet está excelente y vaya, ¡es la primera vez que le insertan esto a un cd de la banda!
Excelente 2008-03-28
Very beautiful - especially the fantastic singing, wonderful mariachi brass, fabulous bass, and gorgeous strings and drums. Oh! I guess that would be everything.
Solo tù y yo, that's what I want the most 2008-03-23
DeVotchKa has always done the gypsyish-rock sound, and in their last album "How It Ends" they added a poignant string section.
Well, they do one better in "A Mad and Faithful Telling," a gloriously energetic, sepia-toned ride that juggles rock, pop, Eastern European dance, and a tinge of that heartbreaking orchestral music. As it makes you laugh and breaks your heart, DeVotchKa turns out their most balanced, polished album to date.
"I'm concentrated on the wrong side of the law/From the creator/of this beautiful strip mall/A decimator of the cinder block world," Nick Urata wails over tight, nimble violins and a bouncy, raucous tune.
But it has its sadder moments -- a stretch of lamenting cries and bolero-flavoured music, followed by a greed-inspired reflection ("All the world is for the taking/Just forget the hearts you're breaking/Is this love that you are making/or is it a deal?"). Then they break out the mariachi horns for the stately, swirling "Along The Way," and the xylophone and sweeping violins for the bittersweetly exquisite "Clockwork Witness."
Those songs set the tone for the rest of the album -- rough-edged gypsy-rockers, energetic fiddle dance, haunting Romany ballads, confusingly swirly rockers, and Spanish-flavoured laments. There's even a pure rock tune near the end, a slightly schizoid little song ("Beautifully mutilated, insanely antiquated/I will admit I almost always underestimate it...")
Even if their music wasn't so much fun, DeVotchKa would still stick out a mile -- they used to play burlesque clubs, their name is a Russsian word for "woman," and the members' musical backgrounds... well, it would take too much time to recount. Suffice to say, DeVotchKa's latest does a brilliant balancing act with ballads, rockers and dancey traditional music, sometimes all in one song.
In fact, if there's a flaw with this album, it's that the best songs are so brilliant that the others seem merely good by comparison. As a whole, "A Mad And Faithful Telling" sounds like a journey through Europe with a bunch of rock'n'roll gypsies, looking at the sights and soaking up the old cultures.
Instead of sticking to one style, they juggle and intertwine three or four. We get some guitar (both punky and Spanishy acoustic), solid drums and some piano as the core -- and around that, they spin a cloud of shifting trumpets, accordion, bouzouki, tinkly theremin and upright bass. And there's a web of violins -- nimble, scraping like fiddles, or smoothly sweeping in an epic arc.
Urata has one of those great warbling voices often found in Eastern European music. And the lyrics match his yowly vocals -- laments about greed, confusing love songs, and even a prayer where he announces that "you know I never hurt no one/What I have stolen won't be missed" and warns that "If you must take me/I can not go peacefully/I left someone waiting for me..."
"A Mad and Faithful Telling" is mad, but remains faithful to no style. Ballads, mariachi-flavoured dance and gypsy rock'n'roll are all woven into this amazing little album... and it ends up being their best.
Amazing 2008-03-22
A Mad and Faithful Telling is an incredible piece of work. Simply beautiful and stirring music. Didn't know much about Devotchka before seeing them at a Red Rocks festival last year where they stole the show. Have since bought all their CD's and in my opinion, this one's the best. The Clockwise Witness, Undone and Blessing in Disguise are all great songs, but Transliterator is outstanding rising in emotion throughout.
