Ouzo Bazooka

Ouzo Bazooka

Ouzo Bazooka is a Tel Aviv group led by Uri Brauner Kinrot. Their music draws on the city’s multicultural scene and combines Mediterranean influences with classic hard rock, psychedelic rock, garage rock and surf elements. The group’s sound is also described through references to east-meets-west contrasts and an instrumental, garage-psych approach.

Background

Uri Brauner Kinrot is a singer-songwriter and the central figure in the project. He has been active in music for more than a decade and works across a wide range of scenes outside Ouzo Bazooka. He tours in North and South America, Europe and Japan, and appears at major festivals including Roskilde, Glastonbury, Fuji Rock, Exit, Womex, Olinkan in Mexico City, Reeperbahn, SXSW, Sines in Portugal and Global Fest in New York City.

Before forming Ouzo Bazooka, Kinrot plays, records and tours with several other acts, including Balkan Beat Box, Shantel, Firewater and the Macedonian-Romani brass band Kocani Orkestar. He also leads Boom Pam, a Mediterranean surf band that collaborates with Turkish psychedelic-folk singer Selda Bağcan.

Releases and activity

Ouzo Bazooka’s self-titled debut album features 13 tracks. The group also issues the single “Southern Winds”, accompanied by a music video. The album is released in Japan through Tuff Beats and in Europe via Broken Silence Distribution on vinyl.

The group tours extensively, gains local recognition and radio airplay, and supports The Pixies and The Hives in Tel Aviv.

Style

Kinrot returns to the influences that shaped him in his teens, including Cream, Link Wray and The Sonics. Those touchstones feed into Ouzo Bazooka’s garage rock revival sound, alongside psychedelic, indie and instrumental elements.