Nation Beat aren't your typical Brooklyn indie rockers. In fact, they're pretty far from your typical anything at all. Their exciting and cosmopolitan performances are equally inspired by Brazilian maracatu, New Orleans funk, and -- thanks to Skye Steele's fiddle work -- roots music from the Appalachian South. Recorded in Brazil,

Nation Beat have been getting attention from Rolling Stone Brazil, Time Out Chicago, North Carolina's Encore Magazine, and New York's own The Onion, who points out that "Anyone with a few friends, drums, and a samba whistle can start a world-music band. It's tougher to create imaginative and lighthearted combinations, but Nation Beat manages to do so."

A good place to start is Old Wooden Chair , a porch-stomper that segues into a soulful, almost funereal (in New Orleans at least) sing-along. For one of the more Brazilian pieces, check out Cheguei Meu Povo , showcasing the band's great horn section.

And here's a message for fans from the band themselves:

Thanks so much for coming and dancing your butts off at our shows, hanging with us in the clubs, and buying our CDs. However, we do need to ask one more thing from you -- tell your friends! The next time we want to hit your town we want to see you again, but also bring your best friend, her neighbor, his babysitter's older sister, her cousin's uncle's ex-wife, their mutual friend from Shartlesville, their mechanic's fiance and her two twin boys, that guy from the Handphibians who you used to go to school with, the cable guy and his girlfriend, her best friend's stepfather's older brother's second son, (not Reggie, the other one, who goes to Antioch, you know, with the goatee) and the, well, you get the idea.

Got it?