Really cool chamber music even I like.

[Teresa]

Something She Said and The Marionette by the Two Star Symphony.
http://music.download.com/twostarsymphony/3600-8281_32-100790363.html?tag=MDL_listing_song_artist

Two Star Symphony is Houston's most unusual string ensemble performing all original music. Since its inception in 2002, the group has played many venues from small bars to vast auditoriums, collaborated with local theaters and traveled to both coasts to perform. Their aim is to create new and diverse music that speaks to the collective conscience of a broad audience, with music evoking starkly sketched imagery: a drunken pirate walks the plank, a marionette gains its footing, a black cat turns and hisses, a poisoned apple is offered, and goblins attack.

  Two Star Symphony is Jo Bird (viola/toy piano), Debra Brown (violin), and Margaret Lejeune (cello/harp). Their extended band, Two Star Symphony Orchestra includes Chris Bakos (Bass), John Duboise (clarinet), Chenoa Mauthner (violin), Jerry Ochoa (violin), Cathy Power (marimba, bells), and Kirk Suddreath (percussion, drums). Each member's unique background brings together an eclectic variety of music styles, including gypsy, rock, hip-hop, metal, classical and electronic. Their hunger to experiment and explore this art form has captured the imaginations of the young and old, despite whatever previously held notions they may have had of musical ensembles.

I burned them to CD-R and this will be part of my go to music for Classical newbies, I am really thrilled these two works are really wonderful and exciting. They will be among my favorites even though they are on low resolution CD-R burned from even lower resolution MP3. But WOW!

Two Star Symphony have two CDs from CD Baby for $12 each.

Here is Two Star Symphony's web site; http://www.twostarsymphony.org/index2.html

BTW I don't dislike all chamber music I like at lot of Kronos Quartet's recordings which use percussion and other instruments from around the world.

And works for chamber symphonies that include percussion such as Stravinsky's "A Soldiers Tale' and Kurt Weill's Klein Dreigroschenmusik "Suite from the Three Penny Opera" 

[hornteacher]

Sound like a fun group.  Do they have a tour schedule?

I saw the British string trio "Pluck" last year and laughed the rest of the week.  They play serious music mixed with comedy skits.  Sort of like what would happen if Victor Borge met PDQ Bach.

[LVB_opus.125]

Each member's unique background brings together an eclectic variety of music styles, including gypsy, rock, hip-hop, metal, classical and electronic.

Call me a party pooper, but something tells me that this cannot be good.

Edit: To be fair, I'm listening now to the samples provided in the link. It's not as bad as your description seemed. For instance, I don't really hear any metal, hip hop or electronic. It's more like gyspy folk. And I guess it's okay for what it is. But I don't think it trumps, lets say, classical chamber music in any way shape or form.

[Kullervo]

This reminds me of a hilarious review of a similar project done by an underground hip-hop DJ and a string trio...

If your favorite part of romantic foreign films is the theme under the end titles, or perhaps you listen to Weekend Edition just for the bumper music between stories, then Lullaby for My Favorite Insomniac, the Ahn Trio's Sony debut, will be just your cup of half-caf skim latte. Even before the numbing banality of the music registers—and mind you, some very fine composers are parties to the offense—the aggressive sound quality alerts you to the fact that theirs is a chamber-music record for people who think Josh Groban sings opera.

[jochanaan]

...But I don't think it trumps, lets say, classical chamber music in any way shape or form.

Um, I suspect that Two Star Symphony is trying to do something entirely different than classical chamber composers.  Or maybe not; a lot of that stuff was originally "party music" too.  The Mozart wind serenades were certainly not first performed in formal concerts!

(My dialup connection prohibits downloads this big, unfortunately. 

[Que]

"Really cool chamber music even I like"

If listened to the clips and it has nothing to do with Classical chamber music - as mentioned it's more inspired by folk music/ gypsy music.

Like it if you want, but why insist on labeling it as Classical chamber music?
And "selling" it to Classical newbies as such as well?

Q

[BorisG]

BTW I don't dislike all chamber music I like at lot of Kronos Quartet's recordings which use percussion and other instruments from around the world.

That's a surprise.