With the tag "world music" applying to everything in an easy catch-all umbrella category, it's hard to disseminate between a quality exercise in the fusion of cultures and a bargain-bin, second-rate throwaway imitation. Beyond some sort of run-of-the-mill world music act, Balkan Beat Box's eponymous debut fuses Arabic, Hassidic, and other traditional music with hip-hop beats without sounding generic and obvious. The opening number, "Cha Cha," is easily a standout among this session with its dubbed-out beats and blend of tension and release. The haunting Middle East-inspired guitar playing on "Adir Adirim" is another highlight. But like Fela Kuti, Sun Ra, and other large ensembles, the energy from this group stems from its vibrant and high-energy live performances, where songs are stretched and twisted every which way and the improvisation runs high. Sometimes albums are only documents that attempt to capture the essence of the performances and the results fall flat, doing the groups a slight disservice by misrepresenting what they're all about. Thankfully this is not the case here.
I really feel like I missed the boat on this one. This album came out in 2005 and they have a new one that came out yesterday. Balkan Beat Box has gotten a ton of press with many large publications. I'm at a loss as to how I missed this. Balkan Beat Box was formed in Brooklyn by Israeli born founders Ori Kaplan (Gogol Bordello) and Tamir Muskat (Firewater, Big Lazy). The group has a revolv...
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The U.S. Navy knows me really well. So well, in fact, that they just sent me a truly unbelievable offer. I can get 5 FREE MUSIC DOWNLOADS just for filling out a simple form at navy.com/action. But that's not all- in order to receive these downloads, I have to be willing to be called by a Navy recruiter "to verify my information". Thank goodness they also let me know that it is okay "to feel...
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Sept. 7th at the Empty Bottle is Golem and Balkan Beat Box. Looks like it's going to be a hell of a fun show. Kinda so-so on the available clips from the Golem website. Sounds good, but seems like the novelty might wear off quickly on a long set. Balkan is our main focus for going, and is rumored to put on a great live show. We missed them earlier in the year, so I'm doing backflips that they'r...
More >
I really feel like I missed the boat on this one. This album came out in 2005 and they have a new one that came out yesterday. Balkan Beat Box has gotten a ton of press with many large publications. I'm at a loss as to how I missed this. Balkan Beat Box was formed in Brooklyn by Israeli born founders Ori Kaplan (Gogol Bordello) and Tamir Muskat (Firewater, Big Lazy). The group has a revolv...
More >
The U.S. Navy knows me really well. So well, in fact, that they just sent me a truly unbelievable offer. I can get 5 FREE MUSIC DOWNLOADS just for filling out a simple form at navy.com/action. But that's not all- in order to receive these downloads, I have to be willing to be called by a Navy recruiter "to verify my information". Thank goodness they also let me know that it is okay "to feel...
More >
Sept. 7th at the Empty Bottle is Golem and Balkan Beat Box. Looks like it's going to be a hell of a fun show. Kinda so-so on the available clips from the Golem website. Sounds good, but seems like the novelty might wear off quickly on a long set. Balkan is our main focus for going, and is rumored to put on a great live show. We missed them earlier in the year, so I'm doing backflips that they'r...
More >
| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Cha Cha |
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| 2 Bulgarian Chicks |
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| 3 Adir Adirim |
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| 4 9/4 the Ladies |
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| 5 Shushan |
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| 6 Ya Man |
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| 7 Gross |
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| 8 Sunday Arak |
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| 9 Hassan's Mimuna |
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| 10 Meboli |
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| 11 La Bush Resistance |
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Click to purchase…
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 "Balkan Beat Box")
