Nu Med

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