My recommendations 2006:Gulag Orkestar by Beirut

Beirut: Gulag Orkestar
Ba Da Bing 5/9/2006

Available at Emusic

Gulag Orkestar's title gives a fairly good indication of how it sounds. The music evokes of images of WWII-era Eastern European military bands in Soviet captivity, marching in tattered uniforms with sheet music slightly seared at the edges. Horn sections and accordions form the foundations of most of the songs. It amazes me that a songwriter so young can so convincingly portray the misery of captivity and the dignity of a band that refuses to stop playing in spite of squalor and gloom.