I've been meaning to alert everyone to the existence of these guys for ages and ages. They first came to my attention at the Edinburgh Festival (which, I'm sure you all know, we cover via our sister publication ThreeWeeks in Edinburgh), possibly because one of my reviewers told me how great they are. And they are great. They are a six piece string based outfit purveying (popular word with me at the moment, that) gypsy, tango, Balkan punk. Or something like that. It's certainly gypsy. And certainly stringy. And certainly bloody good. Their live performances are quite extraordinary, but taking a look at the MySpace page will give you an idea of their sound, clearly, and they energy that they bring to the music. There are four tracks to listen to, and, if you're interested, quite a few blog entries.
http://www.myspace.com/luminescentorchestrii