I'm not that graceful and eloquent like you....

Outlandish arrived at an interesting time. Despite the fact that they have been around in Denmark for a good few years, they have finally managed to break the UK's notoriously difficult pocket-money infested market with the radio airplay of chilled summery crossover hit "Guantanamo" with its Spanish vocals and its Cuban guitar straight off the streets of Havana. It is an interesting time because of the slow ebb and flow of international and ethnic music in the charts. Bhangra has made the crossover it has been threatening for years and everyone's dad bought Buena Vista Social Club. Somewhere in the middle is Outlandish. On their latest album, "Bread & Barrels of Water" styles vary back and forth between playful Bollywood samples and Arabic strings with Spanish guitars and Cuban percussion adding a summery, chilled and multi-layered album. The vocals, although at times the rhythms stay the same, are expansive in both their political and social content and the variety of languages on show. Despite the fact that Outlandish evolved in Denmark, they rap mainly in English with rapper Lenny adding Spanish and Isam and Waqas occasionally slipping into Arabic and Urdu. The result is an album that sometimes hits hard. The song "Fatima" is a passionate take on arranged marriage and family responsibilities, whilst "Peelo"'s playful child's vocal is both innocent and hardcore all at once. The album does slip into cheesiness in places, however the strong songs more than make up for it.