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Beirut's five-song EP LON GISLAND works as a nice stop-gap for those anxious for the next full-length from wunderkind songwriter Zach Condon. Condon's penchant for unique instrumentation and world-music accents (particularly klezmer and Balkan ... Full Descriptionbrass) is in full flourish on this brief 2007 release, as best revealed on the rousing instrumental "My Family's Role in the World Revolution" and the gorgeous reworking of GULAG ORKESTAR's "Scenic World"--which gets fleshed out with the requisite accordions, ukuleles, and mournful brass, recasting the song as a bittersweet death march. Condon, indisputably, has talent and vision; that he can pack as much of it into five songs as he does here is staggering.
01. Elephant Gun
02. My Family's Role in the World Revolution
03. Scenic World
04. The Long Island Sound
05. Carousels
Zach Condon - vocals, ukulele, trumpet, piano
Jon Natchez - ukulele, clarinet, baritone saxophone, glockenspiel
Paul Collins - ukulele, organ, percussion
Kelly Pratt - trumpet, flugelhorn, euphonium
Kristin Ferebee - violin
Jason Peranski - mandolin, ukulele
Nick Petree - percussion
Perrin Cloutier - cello, accordion
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
"There’s a melancholic beauty in the melodies of Zach Condon that conjure a cinematic romanticism—the kind you’d find in something contemporary like Rushmore or Amélie, but maybe more appropriately in something classically French, like Jules et Jim. And while Condon has devoted his second proper full-length release to French pop culture, there is no shortage of influence from the more eastern side of Europe. The waltz-time signatures, oompah rhythms, and torchy anthems imply something pre-Weimar Republic. It belongs to the Viennese, the Germans, and the Gypsies. Imagine a tiny village of gnomes, hell, Smurfs even, who understand the sadness of life yet join together in song because, if nothing else, they have the gift to do so, beautifully.
But just when you think it might get a little too cute or precocious—what with the accordions, brass horns, Oktoberfest organs, marching band drums, cymbal crashes, ukuleles, and even what seems to be a bouzouki—a melody rises above it all. Songs such as “A Sunday Smile” and “St. Apollonia” are sung in a high tenor that is so stunningly gorgeous and honest, it captures the sound of a brokenhearted man sitting in a café somewhere across the Atlantic, contemplating the fact that his lover has gone and won’t ever be back. “Fuck the gnomes and the Smurfs,” he may think, but it’s really time to go back to them—to stand in taverns with steins of pilsner and with voices united in self-pity, singing songs of brotherhood and understanding. And even though anyone would leave the bar in a second for another chance with the girl who just left, it’s still the sound of hearts mending…the sound of sadness and loss coupled with the knowledge that there was never any other choice but to sing it out loud."
01. A Call To Arms
02. Nantes
03. A Sunday Smile
04. Guymas Sonora
05. La Banlieue
06. Cliquot
07. The Penalty
08. Forks & Knives (La Fete)
09. In The Mausoluem
10. Un Dernier Verre (Pour La Route)
11. Cherbourg
12. St. Apollonia
13. The Flying Club Cup
Link
While it may sound like an entire Balkan gypsy orchestra playing modern songs as mournful ballads and upbeat marches, Beirut's first album, Gulag Orkestar, is largely the work of one 19-year-old Albuquerque native, Zach Condon, with assistance by Jeremy Barnes (Neutral Milk Hotel, A Hawk and a Hacksaw) and Heather Trost (A Hawk and a Hacksaw). Horns, violins, cellos, ukuleles, mandolins, glockenspiels, drums, tambourines, congas, organs, pianos, clarinets and accordions (no guitars on this album!) all build and break the melodies under Condon's deep-voiced crooner vocals, swaying to the Eastern European beats like a drunken 12-member ensemble that has fallen in love with The Magnetic Fields, Talking Heads and Neutral Milk Hotel.
"...stunning spring-to-summer gypsy-klezmer...beautiful and disarming."
"...awe-inspiring, wonderous, almost intangible composition of raw talent, emotion, and complexity, reminding us why we listen to music..."
"...a feat because it is a folky record that is so much fun."
"This kid...is a genius, who...has created one of the most diverse and creative albums of 2006 thus far."
01. The Gulag Orkestar
02. Prenzlauerberg
03. Brandenburg
04. Postcards From Italy
05. Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)
06. Rhineland (Heartland)
07. Scenic World
08. Bratislava
09. The Bunker
10. The Canals Of Our City
11. After The Curtain
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
