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Beirut

5/5 Stars.
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5

(Based upon average album ratings.)

Formed:
2004
Genres:
Alternative, Rock, Folk
Plays On:
WKCR, WFMU, WNYE, WBAI
Listeners Also Downloaded
(All): Matt & Kim, Langhorne Slim, The Summer Set, Big in Japan, The Apples in Stereo

One of 2006's most unexpected indie success stories, Beirut combines a wide variety of styles, from pre-rock pop music and Eastern European Gypsy styles to the alternately plaintive and whimsical indie folk of the Decemberists to the lo-fi, homemade psychedelic experimentation of Neutral Milk Hotel. At the heart of this sonic hybrid was a teenager from Albuquerque, NM, a fact that made Beirut's de...but album, Gulag Orkestar, all the more surprising. Something of a musical prodigy, multi-instrumentalist Zach Condon began making one-man D.I.Y. bedroom recordings in his early teens; while conducting interviews several years later, he claimed to have recorded an entire album of 1950s-style doo wop material and a collection of electronic pop songs inspired by the Magnetic Fields. (Indeed, Condon's dolorous vocal delivery and low, somewhat shaky pitch sound directly inspired by the Fields' Stephin Merritt.)

After dropping out of high school, Condon claims to have traveled through Europe at the age of 16, in the process becoming exposed to the Balkan folk and Gypsy music that's at the heart of Gulag Orkestar. Back home in Albuquerque, Condon crossed paths with fellow New Mexican Jeremy Barnes, formerly of Neutral Milk Hotel, whose own albums as A Hawk and a Hacksaw share similarly ethnographic interests with Condon's new material. With the help of Barnes and his A Hawk and a Hacksaw partner, Heather Trost, Condon recorded the songs that would make up Gulag Orkestar largely on his own, playing accordion, keyboards, saxophone, clarinet, mandolin, ukulele, horns, glockenspiel, and percussion along with Barnes' drums and Trost's cello and violin.

After Barnes gave an early version of the album to Ba Da Bing! Records label head Ben Goldberg, the newly christened band Beirut was signed to the New Jersey-based label and Condon moved from Albuquerque to Brooklyn, where he put together a floating collective of part-time bandmembers along the lines of Broken Social Scene for live performances. Following the release of Gulag Orkestar in May 2006, critical approbation quickly moved from the smallest blogs to mainstream media outlets that pegged Condon as a one-man cross between Jeff Mangum, Conor Oberst, and Sufjan Stevens. The EP Lon Gisland followed in 2007, leading up to the full-length The Flying Club Cup later that year. In 2009 Condon released the double EP March of the Zapotec/Holland. The latter featured six electronic tracks recorded at home under the pseudonym Realpeople, while the former included six tracks recorded in Oaxaca, Mexico with the Jimenez Band, a 19-piece group from Teotitl��n del Valle. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide

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Albums:

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(1-4 of 7 View All)

Live at Music Hall of Williamsburg

(2009)

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$9.99

March of the Zapotec & Realpeople: Holland

(2009)

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$9.99

The Flying Club Cup

(2007)

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$9.99

Elephant Gun

(2007)

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$2.97

Songs:

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(1-10 of 56 View All)

Clip	Song	Time	Album	Download
Clip	Postcards From Italy Log in to rate! 5/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5	4:17	Gulag Orkestar	Buy song now Save for later $0.99
Clip	Bandenburg Log in to rate! 5/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5	3:38	Gulag Orkestar	Buy song now Save for later $0.99
Clip	Scenic World (Version) Log in to rate! 5/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5	2:53	Lon Gisland EP	Buy song now Save for later $0.99
Clip	Prenzlauerberg Log in to rate! 5/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5	3:46	Gulag Orkestar	Buy song now Save for later $0.99
Clip	The Long Island Sound Log in to rate! 5/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5	1:18	Lon Gisland EP	Buy song now Save for later $0.99
Clip	Mount Wroclai (Idle Days) Log in to rate! 5/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5	3:15	Gulag Orkestar	Buy song now Save for later $0.99
Clip	Carousels Log in to rate! 5/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5	4:23	Lon Gisland EP	Buy song now Save for later $0.99
Clip	Bratislava Log in to rate! 5/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5	3:17	Gulag Orkestar	Buy song now Save for later $0.99
Clip	The Gulag Orkestar Log in to rate! 5/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5	4:38	Gulag Orkestar	Buy song now Save for later $0.99
Clip	The Bunker Log in to rate! 5/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5	3:13	Gulag Orkestar	Buy song now Save for later $0.99

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Beirut

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