Fool's Gold is an American musical collective that combines Western pop with African and Middle Eastern music. The group started as a side project of musicians Luke Top (a vocalist and bassist) and Lewis Pesacov (lead guitarist), who set out to explore their shared love of various forms of African music (specifically Congolese, Ethiopian, Eritrean and Malian), Krautrock, and 1980s dance influenced pop music.

The band was formed initially as a collaboration between Top and Pesacov in 2007. The band's name came from a trip that Top and Pesacov took to Northern California in which a mutual friend described a time when she found fool's gold in the ocean. Fool's Gold expanded to a sizable band composed of numerous accomplished and unique musicians. Among the members joining Top and Pesacov were Garrett Ray, Jimmy Vincent and Matt Popieluch of Pesacov's other band, Foreign Born; Latin American pop star Erica Garcia; Orpheo McCord (former drummer for The Fall), Michael Tapper (formerly of We Are Scientists), and several others.

From Vampire Weekend to Foals, afrobeat has become a part of pop lately, but there's nothing quite like this. Fool's Gold aren't – as one hapless punter had imagined – a Stone Roses tribute but a fearsome Los Angeles-based afropop band. Led by Lewis Pesacov – a man who plays guitar when he isn't raising his arms in the air – and vocalist/guitarist Luke Top, the group grew up listening to western pop radio alongside soukous, high-life and desert music, and bring it all together in work that is uplifting and inspirational. At times, their approach to African music brings to mind that of the Pogues' to traditional Irish folk: playing it faster, and with such demented enthusiasm that one of the drummers falls off his stool.

Cast: Luke Top (Vocals, Bass), Lewis Pesacov (Guitar), Garrett Ray (Drums), Sal Plalencia (Percussions), Brand Caulkins (Guitar, Saxophone)