Live show preview
December 14, 2000, Knitting Factory, New York City
These Prague rockers have been a stable unit since 1985, but it has been only over the past few years--thanks to the kind of back-breaking tours like the one that brings them to the Knitting Factory on the 14th---that they have been embraced by the indie/weirdo listening community. The brand of tightly sculpted skronk rock that Uz Jsme Doma (say ooze-may-dome-ah) proffers incorporates threads from “Ice Cream For Crow”-era Beefheart, traditional Klezmer reels, Frank Zappa and jazz rock fusion that suggests they have heard a few Mahavishnu Orchestra records. Live, the Czech quintet refines that mixture, hammering out their meticulously arranged (“We’re not done until every cymbal crash and every shriek finds its’ place” keyboardist and lead vocalist Mirek Wanek told writer Ivan Sever in 1998) tunes with the kind of second-nature confidence that only constant touring can instill. Just how road savvy is UJD, you ask? In October they played their one-thousandth gig.
The Ears, the band’s most recent release, might be their most accomplished disc, and careening tracks like “Tenky Led” (translated as “Thin Ice”), “Usi” (“Ears”) and “Stratch” (“Fear”) should be live showcases for wild-eyed saxophonist Jindra Dolanksy, whose springs-sprung blowing is a visual centerpiece. Wanek writes and sings in Czech, but when the group is raging on the live stage---marching around like soldiers, chanting in unison and occasionally harmonizing on bird-calls---the message is universal: UJD shows, like, totally rule.
Time Out New York, 2000
