Duckmandu, LIVE! (Live Friday 055)

Duckmandu is quite possibly one of the few punk-rock accordian players to sprout up since Polkacide in the ’80’s. But to say that also demeans the value of what he does, and who he is. As a founding member and arranger of the Punk Rock Orchestra (an orchestral group that does arrangements of punk songs), a member of the Romanian folk ensemble Fishtank Ensemble, and a modern composer in and of his own right, Aaron Seeman (Duckmandu’s alter ego) is anything but a campy Laurence Welk type, or a stereotypical punk artist either. That’s why listening to his album, Fresh Duck For Rotting Accordianists, is so amazing: a note-for-note rendition of the entire first Dead Kennedys album, even with Jello’s trademark warble. While it might seem like a gimmick, one listen draws you into the complex songs the Kennedys wrote, and how easily Duckmandu can churn them out.