Balkan Beat Box - Mexico City

Tenochtitlan, Winter 1980. Photograph by Jyothi Subbarao.

Mexico City by Balkan Beat Box.

Serbo-Croatian gypsy and wedding music is one of Mayur's favorites, although he's never had the chance to sample the article in its natural habitat; Kate, on the other hand, was lucky enough to trawl around the former Yugoslavia listening to all kinds of great stuff in all kinds of interesting places.

Balkan Beat Box, on the other hand, evokes places a bit removed from Eastern Europe. Started by Ori Kaplan (fmr Gogol Bordello) and Tamir Muskat (fmr Firewater), BBB is a mishmash of Eastern European, Latin, Israeli, Spanish, North African, industrial, techno and umpteen other styles. However, in the best tradition of its wedding-band antecedents, BBB is a hoot to listen to. Also apparently to party with; we're still regretting missing out on the vodka-soaked after-party of a couple weeks ago.

This song is one of the less cacophonic on their latest album, Nu Med, and in our opinion is that beautiful part of the mishmash where all component elements merge perfectly. Between the Robert Johnson-like guitar hook (we were sure it was a sample for weeks) to the Talib Kweli-like spoken-word refrain, to the Spanish trumpet, it's a mess of elements that really shouldn't work together, and are assembled without a deep soundbed to blend them (it's piece 1 plus piece 2 plus piece 3, etc. with no linking sound effect or unifying instrumental), but somehow, it all comes together, perhaps even as much as the next tune...