Balkan Beat Box
Delhi 2 Dublin, World Town
Wed, March 20, 2013
Doors: 8:00 pm / Show: 8:30 pm (event ends at 2:00 am)
The Blockley$17 - $20
Tickets
This event is 18 and over
http://www.theblockley.com/event/191675/
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Balkan Beat Box
For the uninitiated, Balkan Beat Box first burst out of New York City’s underground music scene in 2005, with a self-titled debut that introduced the world to their Mediterranean-inflected, globalized electronica sound.
Founded by Israeli-born ex-pats Ori Kaplan (ex-Gogol Bordello), Tamir Muskat (ex-Firewater), the band built their reputation on explosive live shows. BBB soon added frequent collaborator Tomer Yosef as frontman – his wild onstage energy galvanizing live audiences ever since.
The three emerged as a cohesive songwriting trio on 2007’s Nu Med – Tamir crafting hard-edged beats, Ori orchestrating melodies and Tomer writing the hard-hitting lyrics – and took their sound to Belgrade and other points East on 2010’s Blue Eyed Black Boy.
Inspired by last year’s people’s protest movements across the globe – from the Arab Spring, to Occupy Wall St., to Israel’s own massive social protests Balkan Beat Box's new album Give captures the cautious hope and re-energized spirit of our time.
Brimming over with handcrafted beats and samples, and recorded primarily at Tel Aviv’s Vibromonk East studio, Give was conceived of as “a smaller, more introverted album,” according to Ori Kaplan. “It was fun for us to see what just came out of the three of us while we played with old analog synths and children’s toys”.
“This is our most hardcore album so far,” says Tamir Muskat. “Definitely musically – there’s more of a harder-edged, electronic sound. The songs and their subjects are also kind of darker and more political.”
One of the other animating forces on Give is fatherhood – all three members have become fathers since the recording of their last album, and Tomer explains how that influenced the band’s outlook: “When you have kids, you become a little more aware of what’s happening in the world and what kind of world that we’re leaving your kids. “
“It was kind of a crazy vibe in the studio sometimes,” Tamir laughs. “We were recording some of our most hardcore songs ever, but our kids would be there, too, running around and playing in the middle of everything. I think it gave things a hopeful vibe, too… it reminds us that we’re fighting for something, not just against everything.”
Founded by Israeli-born ex-pats Ori Kaplan (ex-Gogol Bordello), Tamir Muskat (ex-Firewater), the band built their reputation on explosive live shows. BBB soon added frequent collaborator Tomer Yosef as frontman – his wild onstage energy galvanizing live audiences ever since.
The three emerged as a cohesive songwriting trio on 2007’s Nu Med – Tamir crafting hard-edged beats, Ori orchestrating melodies and Tomer writing the hard-hitting lyrics – and took their sound to Belgrade and other points East on 2010’s Blue Eyed Black Boy.
Inspired by last year’s people’s protest movements across the globe – from the Arab Spring, to Occupy Wall St., to Israel’s own massive social protests Balkan Beat Box's new album Give captures the cautious hope and re-energized spirit of our time.
Brimming over with handcrafted beats and samples, and recorded primarily at Tel Aviv’s Vibromonk East studio, Give was conceived of as “a smaller, more introverted album,” according to Ori Kaplan. “It was fun for us to see what just came out of the three of us while we played with old analog synths and children’s toys”.
“This is our most hardcore album so far,” says Tamir Muskat. “Definitely musically – there’s more of a harder-edged, electronic sound. The songs and their subjects are also kind of darker and more political.”
One of the other animating forces on Give is fatherhood – all three members have become fathers since the recording of their last album, and Tomer explains how that influenced the band’s outlook: “When you have kids, you become a little more aware of what’s happening in the world and what kind of world that we’re leaving your kids. “
“It was kind of a crazy vibe in the studio sometimes,” Tamir laughs. “We were recording some of our most hardcore songs ever, but our kids would be there, too, running around and playing in the middle of everything. I think it gave things a hopeful vibe, too… it reminds us that we’re fighting for something, not just against everything.”
Delhi 2 Dublin
Turn Up The Stereo is both the title of the new Delhi 2 Dublin album and the philosophy behind the release. "Sometimes we just need to drown out the noise of the world by making the music louder", declares vocalist Sanjay Seran. Tarun Nayar, who handles electronics and plays tabla in the band, adds, "It's also a metaphor for us turning it up in many ways for this album. We spent ten times the amount of time and effort writing this album than we have in the past. We really tried to make everything better, from music and lyrics to production and artwork." Part of the process included a retreat in Bali. After performing at a festival on the Indonesian island in the spring, Nayar and Seran, joined by violinist Sara Fitzpatrick, guitarist and sitar player Andrew Kim and dhol player Ravi Binning, rented a house and jammed out on the songs. "One of the most enlightening exercises was the day we spent playing all our songs acoustically on a guitar. We'd never been able to do that with our material - it really showed us the strengths and weaknesses of the songs. A strong song can be played with very little instrumentation and still sound awesome!" says Nayar.
Delhi 2 Dublin's songs and the band itself reflect the cultural diversity present in many major cities around the world. They challenge the definition of urban music and drag it to the intersection of Bhangra, Celtic, Dub Reggae and Electronica. They have created their own niche. Nayar states, "As a band, we're not interested in making the same album over and over again. The music we're inspired by changes almost weekly. At the moment, we're loving Santigold, Major Lazer, Jazzy B, Burial, Buraka Som Sistema, Four Tet, Moombahton, and tons of underground stuff, which is quite different from the music we were listening to when we made our last album." Another big change for Turn Up The Stereo was the band co-writing with outside songwriters for the first time. While being careful to maintain the Delhi 2 Dublin vibe and their unique sound, they found the experience to be a positive one. "The best part of it all was that we realized that our intuition is a great tool and that we should totally trust it. We learned that trust is very important when it comes to being creative," reasons Seran.
Aside from the band, one of the key contributors to the new album was multi-instrumentalist and producer Dave Sharma. Sharma is a friend whom they met for the first time onstage in front of 100,000 people! "Working with him was really great. He is super fast and a genius in the studio," exults Seran. "We knew we wanted to up the ante on the electronics of this album and Sharma seemed like the perfect fit. More than that, however, Sharma is a talented songwriter. Having his ear on everything as we developed these ideas was essential to the finished arrangements," agrees Nayar. The secret weapon on Turn Up The Stereo is violinist Sara Fitzpatrick. Having been in the band now for over a year, she added another dimension to the music with her violin, but almost more importantly with her voice. Her vocal harmonies add an ethereal twist to Seran's voice; a sweetness which is new to the band's studio sound.
Nayar sums up the band's outlook, "We hope people will like this album. We wanted to make something fun; that we love and will help us do what we love, which is travelling around the world, playing music and connecting with people." The Delhi 2 Dublin crew is constantly touring. The road warriors feel that they plug directly into the world's music and energy. The strong word-of-mouth for their live performances has enabled them to build a loyal and continent wide fan base. The band has played several of the top festivals in Canada, the UK and the U.S. and, in 2011, expanded its horizons to include performances in the Pacific Rim and Europe. A new album and new international touring opportunities all signal that originality and evolution are all part of the Delhi 2 Dublin experience. Described by one magazine as the "United Nations of rock 'n' roll", they have become one of Canada's most buzzed-about bands. This year will only see them enhancing that reputation. Turn Up The Stereo is set for an August 28th release.
Discography:
2008 – Delhi 2 Dublin
2009 – Remixed
2010 – Planet Electric
2011 – Planet: Electrified
2011 – Delhi 2 Dubland EP
2012 – Turn Up The Stereo
Delhi 2 Dublin's songs and the band itself reflect the cultural diversity present in many major cities around the world. They challenge the definition of urban music and drag it to the intersection of Bhangra, Celtic, Dub Reggae and Electronica. They have created their own niche. Nayar states, "As a band, we're not interested in making the same album over and over again. The music we're inspired by changes almost weekly. At the moment, we're loving Santigold, Major Lazer, Jazzy B, Burial, Buraka Som Sistema, Four Tet, Moombahton, and tons of underground stuff, which is quite different from the music we were listening to when we made our last album." Another big change for Turn Up The Stereo was the band co-writing with outside songwriters for the first time. While being careful to maintain the Delhi 2 Dublin vibe and their unique sound, they found the experience to be a positive one. "The best part of it all was that we realized that our intuition is a great tool and that we should totally trust it. We learned that trust is very important when it comes to being creative," reasons Seran.
Aside from the band, one of the key contributors to the new album was multi-instrumentalist and producer Dave Sharma. Sharma is a friend whom they met for the first time onstage in front of 100,000 people! "Working with him was really great. He is super fast and a genius in the studio," exults Seran. "We knew we wanted to up the ante on the electronics of this album and Sharma seemed like the perfect fit. More than that, however, Sharma is a talented songwriter. Having his ear on everything as we developed these ideas was essential to the finished arrangements," agrees Nayar. The secret weapon on Turn Up The Stereo is violinist Sara Fitzpatrick. Having been in the band now for over a year, she added another dimension to the music with her violin, but almost more importantly with her voice. Her vocal harmonies add an ethereal twist to Seran's voice; a sweetness which is new to the band's studio sound.
Nayar sums up the band's outlook, "We hope people will like this album. We wanted to make something fun; that we love and will help us do what we love, which is travelling around the world, playing music and connecting with people." The Delhi 2 Dublin crew is constantly touring. The road warriors feel that they plug directly into the world's music and energy. The strong word-of-mouth for their live performances has enabled them to build a loyal and continent wide fan base. The band has played several of the top festivals in Canada, the UK and the U.S. and, in 2011, expanded its horizons to include performances in the Pacific Rim and Europe. A new album and new international touring opportunities all signal that originality and evolution are all part of the Delhi 2 Dublin experience. Described by one magazine as the "United Nations of rock 'n' roll", they have become one of Canada's most buzzed-about bands. This year will only see them enhancing that reputation. Turn Up The Stereo is set for an August 28th release.
Discography:
2008 – Delhi 2 Dublin
2009 – Remixed
2010 – Planet Electric
2011 – Planet: Electrified
2011 – Delhi 2 Dubland EP
2012 – Turn Up The Stereo
World Town
Ben Arsenal + Femstar aka the World Town DJs : :
Bringing unique international style to diverse audiences with high energy mixes from Dancehall, House, UK Funky, Funk Carioca, and Bmore.
http://worldtownparty.com/
Bringing unique international style to diverse audiences with high energy mixes from Dancehall, House, UK Funky, Funk Carioca, and Bmore.
http://worldtownparty.com/