In a land of amazing bands and ensembles, MAiKA have managed to forcefully grab my attention.  While they call themselves an alternative dance-punk band, there’s so much more to the music.  The energy is amazing, the voices cut right through you in a way that most indie music can’t, and the fact that they combine brass band music with punk gives the music an authentic, punchy feel.

From their Bandcamp site:

“From the perspective (both musical and visual) of MAiKA, Balkan is an absurd mix of contrasts: religion and tradition combined with modern technology, natural beauty with destructive politics, mud with gold, ecstatic joy with tears, bloody conflicts with warm humanity and generosity. Balkan is a bizarre soup of many influences, styles, and cultures, which is the main theme of MAiKA music.”

An apt summarization of MAiKA, indeed.