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It seems impossible to avoid the fusion and clash of cultures in world music these days. Connectivity means it's all within your (everyone else's) reach. Here on their second album, Nu Med, Balkan Beat Box continue to play at the nexus of Eastern European, klezmer, Arabic, hip-hop, rock and electronic music. Headed by Israelis Tamir Muskat (drums, programming) and Ori Kaplan (saxophone), the band's sound is far from forced, easily summing up the musicians' lives in their homeland as well as their current experiences living in New York City. As with all great folk songs, the melodies are insistently catchy enough to get listeners to sing or hum along before the song ends. Highlights include the Saharan dancehall cut "Digital Monkey," the insistent "bbbeat," and the Dead Sea surf guitar sound of "Joro Boro," which features singer Dessislava Stefanova. Like the first album, this one is as fun as it is far reaching. --Tad Hendrickson

Review

With Nu Med, Balkan Beat Box steps forward with a cohesive new album that imagines a Middle East without borders and a healthy dose of New York energy. Balkan Beat Box blends electronic music with hard-edged folk music from North Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans and Eastern Europe.

BBB makes connections that politics often keep separate. Jewish, Gypsy, Arabic, and American are united by hip hop beats and dancehall toasts. BBB's musical hitch-hiking continues as they mix things up with dub and electronics, juxtaposed with ancient Moroccan and Mediterranean melodies. The band's sound gives equal weight to soulful acoustic timbres and digital rhythms creating a uniquely organic sound with electronic elements. Echoing his growing involvement in their live shows, MC Tomer Yosef is a dynamic presence on Nu Med, blazing his way through featured tracks Digital Monkey, Mexico City, & Hermetico. -- Label