May I recommend the David Wax Museum →[More:]We caught this band as part of a show a couple weeks ago. It's a pretty unique, fresh sound they are starting to develop. The bandleader knows quite a bit about Mexican culture and traditional music, and he's now writing contemporary alt/pop-ish songs using the same forms as the Mexican tunes. They're clever, really melodic, and rhythmically interesting.

Here's the band website.

The tracks on the MySpace player seem to be a little older, and don't really do him justice, but try "The Great Unawakening" and "Rosamar." The real goods are in the videos loaded under the General Info section - "Colas" and "Beatrice." I hope the band keeps heading in this direction - it's awesome, ear-catching stuff.