Some Of My Favorite European-ish Music

I'll try to steer away from the mainstream European bands who have become very Americanized and focus on two more unknown bands: one European, one American but very heavily influenced by eastern Europe.

Muse, Phoenix, Mumford & Sons, Daft Punk, Justice, and Belle and Sebastian are some of my favorite bands/DJs but they are pretty Americanized now.

One band I like is Two Door Cinema Club from northern Ireland. They are an Electropop/Indie rock band and are signed to French record label Kitsuné Music. They are slightly more Americanized in their sound but they have really upbeat and catchy music if you're in the mood for that.

One of my favorite artists Zach Condon, who has since formed the band named Beirut, is from Santa Fe, New Mexico but his first album is based on his first trip alone to Europe. This bio is from his page on the music website lastfm.com:

"Condon was a straight-A student until he dropped out at the age of 16 to travel Europe in a drunken haze, cavorting and partying with the locals wherever he ended up. It was during one of these evenings that he was first exposed to Balkan music (notably including the Boban Marković Orkestar), blasting from the upstairs apartment. Condon ended up with the Serbian artists all night, going through albums country by country, note for note.

The first album under the Beirut moniker, Gulag Orkestar (2006), was the direct result of what he learned that night. While it may sound like an entire Balkan orchestra playing modern songs as mournful ballads and upbeat marches, the album was performed and recorded almost entirely by Condon alone."

While we get enough of the American perspective on Europe in films today, and even though Condon's story of drunkenly traveling across Europe is a stereotypical one I really find it interesting that he is so heavily influenced by Balkan music. His sound is very unique and a nice change of pace from certain indie bands that start to all sound the same after a while.