It's not just because Les Yeux Noirs are fronted by two violin-wielding brothers that the word 'fraternity' comes to mind. Eric and Olivier Slabiak have produced a band that, while scoring extremely highly on the musical front, also come with a peace-love-and-understanding vibe fitted as standard.

Considered and complex yet wild and occasionally raucous, Les Yeux Noirs (The Black Eyes) certainly give notions of musical purity a good bruising. Theirs is a sound that ignores the divisions of political maps, sneaks past border patrols and extends the hand of - it's that word again - fraternity right across Central and Eastern Europe.

Equal parts gypsy and klezmer (with plenty of jazzy flourishes to boot), the band draw on music from right across the region, from Hungary down to Armenia. It's an exhilarating, winding journey, most often conducted at a pedal-to-the-metal, breakneck speed. Fans of Taraf de Haidouks or Nigel Kennedy's work with the Polish band Kroke are well-advised to get on board. Their new favourite band has just arrived.

—from a review by Nige Tassell