Here’s my first post into the world of blogging and I will begin it with my guaranteed new favorite album of 2006. Even though I’ve already had the pleasure of hearing it months before the official release, none the less I am quite still in love with it.
Zach Condon the sole proprietor of Beirut has really created something unique and special. Though the official release will have the tinkering of Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost of A Hawk and a Hacksaw, they are only slight. This is album is so warm and picturesque and it really does take you through the Alps through the Balkan plains then back. Taking you to a time where gypsies traveled massive amounts of distance only to lessen their tedious journey through song and dance.
Just recently turning 20 maybe one can asses Zach Condon has traveled an insurmountable amount of time having been recording since he was 15. He has been able to amass an orchestra in his bed room playing everything from the horns, ukulele, piano, glockenspiel, accordion, mandolin, violins, cellos, tambourines, organs, farfisas, congas and whatever toys lay around. That’s right no guitar no bass. But not only is it the fullness of his bedroom orchestra that he is able to recreate a romantic mood with, it is his sultry vocals. Crooning and resonating lyrics as simple as “The times we had, oh when the wind would blow with rain and snow were not all bad, we put our feet just where they had, had to go” from Postcards from Italy, Zach is able to sweep your heart and water your eyes with that subtle joyous feeling. Zach is able to create a nostalgia that only master story tellers are able to do.
With his debut Gulag Orkestar at hand the world should be prepared for something they’ve never heard before. From the beginning with the chilling and moody “The Gulag Orkestar,” the Latin beats and rhythms in “The White Whale” that will get you ready to salsa, the light hearted “Scenic World” and of course the brooding ukulele in “Postcards from Italy,” Gulag Orkestar will take you on a breath taking voyage.
MP3: “Postcards From Italy” “Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)”
Website: www.beirutband.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/beruit
Purchase: Gulag Orkestar, Lon Gisland
Label: Ba Da Bing Records
Now with my first post out of the way, I will regularly begin to post anything memorable from 2006. Once 2007 begins to present itself with something worth writing about I will do so.
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