From listening to the debut album from Beirut, Gulag Orkestar, the last place you would think Zach Condon, the 19 year old behind the band, was from would be New Mexico, as his music sounds very much like it is made by a traveling group of musicians somewhere in Eastern Europe who lived about 50 years ago. Zach found this Balkan gypsy style of music when he was sixteen after dropping out of high school to travel Europe, obviously this had a huge impact upon him as a musician, and to the benefit of all that hear his music. On this record he is accompanied by a whole range of instruments played by a few musicians that helps to conjure up images of traveling communities and gypsy culture, even though he lives considerably closer to Mexico than anywhere in Europe.
It is almost certain that listening to the different tracks on the album will conjure images of events in your life or stories you've been told, or if you are too young to have lived life fully enough it will cause you to remember scenes from movies that you can only vaguely recollect. From the opening, which builds from a clattering of instruments into what seems is a gypsy funeral march of sorts, to the closer After The Curtain, which turns manages to make electronica not sound out of sorts on an album filled with traditional instruments and is backed by a well earned round of applause, it is a journey to little ventured parts of Eastern Europe from a few centuries ago, and one that you will want to repeat over and over.
The first four tracks of the album are probably among the greatest openings in any piece of music ever, since possibly the classical greats, and although the rest of the album isn't able to live up to the opening it still is something very special indeed. Postcards From Italy is the absolute peak of the album, and if you ever need to explain Zach Condon's music to anyone, which I expect you'll want to do a lot after listening to this album, then this is the track to get them hooked on. With mainly just a ukulele and an occasional trumpet, and then later percussion is added to this wonderful mix, it is something altogether different from the guitar based indie rock that is oh-so commonplace now.
It seems there is one album every year that is something completely different from the norm in music and comes from absolutely nowhere without gaining a huge deal of coverage from the music press and manages to be one of the best records of the year, and for 2006 Beirut's Gulag Orkestar must be that album. Although it isn't going to be to everyone's taste, some may rather just settle for Kasabian or the Killers, it is something that everyone should at least try, because I can guarantee you that it is the best experience on a shiny plastic disc ever.
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Disc 1 The gulag orkestar Prenzlauerberg Postcards from Italy Mount Wroclai (idle days) ... more
Rhinland (heartland) Scenic world Bratislava The bunker The canals of our city After the curtain Disc 2 Elephant gun My family's role in the world revolution Scenic...
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Feb 18th, 2007
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