FOLLOW THE ACCORDION MAN!

The Northwest's favorite accordion wielding troubadour, Jason Webley, is making a mad dash across the Pacific Northwest mid-April.

A few days ago while browsing iTunes Music Store I found Vampire Weekend as one of my recommendations and I was hooked immediately. They have a unique sound blending Soukous guitars and other African styles with western classical and Ska-influenced indie rock. Their self titled debut album is my favorite album since Neon Bible.

The TV images and sounds coming from Palestine can be overbearing. But for many people, they are the daily lot. Now a Palestinian-Franco-Tunisian collective is using them as a soundtrack to create electronic music.

Gogol Bordello frontman Eugene Hutz has three words to describe the New York via Ukraine punk rock on his band's forthcoming effort, "Super Taranta."

I recently discovered Gogol Bordello, which bills itself as a "Ukrainian Gypsy Punk" band. Their sound is a delicious blend of punk rock and Gypsy music with many other styles from around the world thrown in.

The band is led by Eugene Hutz, a Ukrainian immigrant inspired equally by Gypsy music & Iggy Pop. If you're looking for a new world fusion sound in the tradition of Babaloo's Punk Mambo, look no further.

Acrassicauda is a new heavy metal band from Iraq started by 19-year old Waleed Rabiaa. Read more about them here and see their video.

One of my favorite groups, Babaloo now has several albums available in iTunes Music Store