Massilia Sound System are a French reggae band with a difference: they sing and chat mostly in the local Provençal subdialect known as “Marsellais,” and do so with joyful defiance. Musically, their style is a jaunty digital dancehall reggae of the kind that came to prominence in Jamaica in the late 1980s, characterized by Casiotone beats and synthesized basslines — and, in Massilia Sound System’s case, completely infectious earworms of melody and rhythm. Their songs are full of regional in-jokes and references, but you don’t have to understand a word to be swept up in the vibe.

– Rick Anderson