The current issue of Mother Jones magazine has a great article on the new "world music" influenced heavily by hip-hop, electronica, and turntablism. I did a little poking around and discovered the stringently political yet joyous Asian Dub Foundation, an English quintet whose music can best be described as traditional European and Asian folk music mixed up and laid down by Ice Cube. In addition to being great fun, the band has been a ceaseless advocate for several social causes including political prisioners and music education in schools.
DJ Shadow fans can check out his new disc, Private Press, at this listening party. You'll need to have the latest Quictime player installed to get in on this.