The World Music Festival’s points of entry for lazy Americans

The term “world music” turns a lot of people off, and not just in circles that hate labels outright: World-music fans will point out that the genre tag stems from the kind of outmoded thinking that once presumed the earth was the center of the universe and now presumes America is the cultural epicenter of the world. Although it’s generally agreed that “world music” refers to non-Western music, the uninitiated won’t know what to make of this year’s sprawling World Music Festival, running through Sept. 24 (it spans 21 venues with 55 shows total, which is hardly bite-size). In the hopes of inspiring Chicagoans to venture outside their musical comfort zones, The A.V. Club offers the lowdown on bands that are worth a look and offer recognizable points of entry for even the most staunch isolationists.

If you like: Xiu Xiu

Then check out: Phyllis Chen (Sept. 20, Chicago Cultural Center)

Country of origin: USA (New York)

Phyllis Chen's exploitation of the child's toy piano is akin to Xiu Xiu's musical exploitation of other household objects. But to be fair, Chen's music is more experimental than worldly, considering the instruments that accompany her toy piano are an egg in a frying pan, an old music box, a beat box, and wind chimes. Sometimes the resulting concoction seems nothing more than a random collection of silly sounds (“Clocks Unwound For Music Box”), and sometimes it seems like the nightmarish accompaniment to a terrible fever dream (her rendition of Andrián Pertout’s chilling “Exposiciones”). The latter is certainly fitting, given that Chen performed as the solo musician for the six-week run of the Off-Broadway version of Coraline, based on the Neil Gaiman novel and movie of the same name.

If you like: Gogol Bordello

Then check out: Luminescent Orchestrii (Sept. 20, Old Town School Of Folk Music)

Country of origin: USA (New York)

The Luminescent Orchestrii is like Gogol Bordello's less politico-punk, more traditional Romanian cousin, but with the same skirt-chasing moxie. Aside from doing the whole rag-tag gypsy-folk thing, the Brooklyn quartet also garnered some cabaret-goth cred after touring with The Dresden Dolls last year. Expect frenzied bass, campfire guitar, traditional whiny Eastern European violin, and possibly some non-instruments as well, since the band's website mentions it's "not uncommon" to find lead singer Sxip Shirey playing music with, uh, tampon applicators. You wanted some culture, right?

If you liked: The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou’s soundtrack

Then check out: Paulinho Garcia (Sept. 21, Uncommon Ground on Devon)

Country of origin: Brazil

Wes Anderson exposed his audience to traditional Brazilian music when he devoted a good chunk of the soundtrack to that submarine-inspired flick to Brazilian singer Seu Jorge's oddly enchanting Portuguese-language David Bowie covers. So Brazilian music shouldn’t be too hard a sell at the World Music Festival. Paulinho Garcia, a Chicagoan originally from Brazil, takes the charm Jorge serves up and jazzes it up with smooth bossa nova rhythms. Don’t let the words “bossa nova” or “jazz” scare you: Garcia has played plenty of festivals, is a polished performer, and has been teaching guitar and singing at the Old Town School of Folk Music since 2003. So he might not be singing Bowie, but the music should be plenty accessible.

If you'd like: Rage Against The Machine gone reggaeton

Then check out: Dame Pa'Matala (Martyrs', Tuesday, Sept. 22)

Country of origin: Venezuela

Anyone who opted for French in high school might have trouble following Dame Pa’Matala’s lyrics, seeing as they’re all in Spanish; but, much like Rage, they're slathered with palpable rage that needs no translation. The Venezuelan band incorporates the influences of samba and reggaeton, which couldn’t be more obvious than in the title of one of its more popular songs, “Fucking Reggaeton.” Other songs, like “Teleficción,” according to the band’s translated MySpace page, push a more positive message of peace, humanism, and tranquility. So, even if the message can’t be understood, you can still feel it here at the band's United States debut concert.