No. 64: Balkan Beat Box

Just take a good long look at that picture. You want to be in this picture. Better yet, you want to be drunk and in this picture. You've got a pantload of hot hipster chicks, drums and wah pedals in the audience and..... wait.... is that someone's grandpa breaking it down in there??? Admit it, that shit looks fucking fun....And as someone who has seen Balkan Beat Box perform live, I'm here to vouch that it is. Way back in 2006, I had the luck to stumble into a small Mobile, AL bar called the Cell Block to find a shirtless pint-sized dynamo by the name of Tomer Yosef crowd surfing while bandmates Ori Kaplan (sax) an Tamir Muskat (drums) ripped it up on stage. These guys had the crowd eating delicious morsels of eastern gypsy punk infused with hip hop and dubstep with accents of rockabilly out of their hand. Balkan Beat Box's pedigree as a gypsy punk band has roots in THE pre-eminent mainstream gypsy punk band, Gogol Bordello where Muskat was a percussionist. Balkan Beat Box has always had one goal from the start of their career: To bring peace and understanding of numerous cultures through their music and explosive live shows. The band has 3 releases under their belt, 2005's Balkan Beat Box, 2007's Nu-Med and this April's Blue Eyed Black Boy. The band has also exploded to 10 members from just the core trio and Chicago is one of 3 stops on its world tour this summer as the band will be concentrating on touring places like Spain, France and Israel. Just think about what those shows are going to be like and then think about the fact that you might not see this band again for a while... If you had fun at the Dan Deacon show last year, you might want to check these out as it may prove to go above and beyond that one in terms of crowd participation and balls -out crazyness. Bottom line: Don't balk at Balkan.

Myspace

www.balkanbeatbox.com