Once called the "Most Unpleasant Band in London", Szeki Kurva, an
Anglo-
Hungarian turbofolk band, has been kicked out of nearly every live venue in
London. Szeki Kurva combines Hungarian
folk music with
technoindustrial and
punk elements (hence "turbofolk"), together with a lot of
sampling. Their lead
singer,
Ludas Matyi, sounds like
Pinky from the popular
cartoon Pinky and the Brain on lots and lots of
meth. This is good, because he has to keep up with the rest of the band, and Szeki Kurva is one of the fastest, weirdest, funniest and most
bloodthirsty bands I've ever heard. Many of their
lyrics are amusing and ironic commentary on the problems which besiege
Eastern Europe late in the 20th and early in the 21st centuries; bloodthirsty
politics and
nihilistic youth figuring prominently. One of the best tracks (track 6,
The Balkan Express (LittleGoatsForever Mix)) on their second album,
The Fearless Vampire Killers, starts off with a sample from
Addams Family Values: "And for all these reasons, I have decided to scalp you... and burn your village to the ground." Strangely, frighteningly, that phrase embodies the music of Szeki Kurva. Fast, exotic, mad and maddening, this is the sort of music you want to listen to on the way to a
large, debauched party.
Szeki Kurva has recently been renamed The Fighting Cocks, and has signed on with the RCA label, so hopefully they'll be getting wider attention in the future. Their albums to date are:
The name of the band is derived from two sources: "Szeki", which is a town in Hungary, and "Kurva", meaning bitch or whore... so, "bitch from Szeki".