The ins and outs of an accordion Web site

For people whose only association with the word “accordion” consists of “Lady of Spain,” “Pancordia: the two-fisted accordion weblog” (www.ookworld.com/pancordia) is a glimpse of broader musical horizons.

Recent entries on the intermittently updated journal of “accordion resources, information, ideas and enthusiasm,” suggest a world of possibilities:

March 27: “ ... the Raymond Scott Orchestrette’s first album, Pushbutton Parfait, has been available for a while now. Dedicated to reworkings of the late Raymond Scott’s compositions, this acoustic septet delivers with lovingly tweaked renditions of such classic Scott numbers as ‘Powerhouse’ and ‘The Penguin.’ ... The music is not particularly accordion-centric, but there is much good playing to be heard.”

March 25: “ ‘The Many Sounds of Steve Jordan’ is ... terrific stuff -- hot conjunto, chopped, channeled and fully customized in Jordan’s unique style. Listening to ‘Midnight Blues’ with the thought that he’s playing it on a three-row diatonic box simply blows my mind.”

Jan. 30: “ ‘Ahma’ is a 1998 album recorded by Finland’s Maria Kalaniemi with her band, Aldargaz. Like much eclectic, modern music, it’s a bit tricky to describe exactly, but I’ll generalize it as Finnish folk refined to a chamber-music level.... Some of the other musicians occasionally get a bit too new-age tinkly for my cranky taste, but the accordion work always makes up for it.”

And you thought accordion just meant polka.