Balkan Beat Box have never really fit the “gypsy punk” label. Sure they mix old world horns with western pop but when they bring their multi-national genre party to the Showbox this Wednesday, you'll see more “D.A.N.C.E” than “CBGB.”

The band is infatuated with international dance hall culture, drawing as much from the contemporary club hits of Eastern Europe and the Middle East as from their trad-folk music. The result the is a bright celebration, a living, wild-eyed mash up that is pretty fun to dance to.

At their best, Balkan Beat Box make songs like, “Bulgarian Chicks,” a horn heavy ode to bulgarian chicks. The song samples an eerie female harmony and moves like a house track: hypnotic builds and non-stop pulse.

When the band stumbles it's usually because of their lyrics. They believe in a vague concept of peace which lands them some over-broad clunkers. On “War Again” an ebullient big band chorus fades into, uh oh, a reggae tinged breakdown.  “Give me a good reason not to start a revolution” MC/spoken word artist Tomer Yosef sing speaks while the audience cringes. “What's in the Constitution?/ it's this illusion that we buy.”

These sub-Rage-Against-the-Machine-isms sometimes halt Balkan Beat Box's raucous momentum; their party shouldn't be a political one.

But at least they're not faking it. The band has successfully played international provocateurs, bringing Palestinian rappers on stage with them in their native Israel (plus in YouTube videos their English isn't the best, so probably I'm being a bit of an asshole.)

And maybe Balkan Beat Box is saving all it's nuance for their expert world fusions. It's easy to get lost in a giddy cross pollination like “Hermetico,” where baile-funk mingles with Balkan horns and reggeaton. The band effortlessly incorporates these disparate musical traditions, making a confetti worthy party starter and most of the time that's enough.

Balkan Beat Box play the Showbox at the Market this Wednesday, March 17th
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