TriBeCaStan - 5 Star Cave (2010)

It's probably fair to call Tribecastan strange. They've developed their own cosmology and music style that's sort of Balkanish (or points further East), not unlike 3 Mustaphas 3. They're clever, slyly humorous, and technically very good indeed. They're as comfortable with the neo-surf of "Back When Tito Had Two Legs" as on the sort of funky jam "(I Drove My Cara Down To) Baja," featuring guest Al Kooper on organ. They're extremely eclectic, twisting "Wildwood Flower" around, perverting bebop on "Dizzy in the Dunes," and journeying around the globe on "From Bamako to Malibu." It works because they understand the groove and because they feel the music and respect the cultures they explore. Even when they get down and dirty, as on "Varaha's Boogie," it's with a delicious twist. Smart, often funny, but always highly accomplished, this is a disc to satisfy the head and the feet.