I MET ZACH CONDON. I HEART BEIRUT.

Stelios Phili EDITOR

For the thousands of non-Bostonians that visit PopSense daily, I'm sorry sorry to burst your beer-drinking bubbles, but Beirut beats pong anytime, anyday. That's right, a meek indie boy and a 19-piece Mexican backing band with tubas and other sharp, brass instruments is ultimate means of domination.

For those of you who don't know what the hell I'm talking about, brace your ears. Zach Condon is the orchestrator/man-wonder that writes all his brassy/gypsy influenced music under the moniker of 'Beirut.' Two years ago, in my motherland, Greece, after a full day of street performing with my accomplice, Dan, I had the pleasure of meeting Zach at an antique kiosk that sold old, mangled trumpets. His bohemian girlfriend stumbled towards us boasting about her boy toy - "Have you heard of Zach Condon? He is Beirut." Being the arrogant street urchin that I was, I thought to myself, "Whoopdy-effin-do" - in Greek. I then introduced myself to him, noted the two french horn tattoos on his wrists, confirmed that this was either the best or worst choice of tattoos I had ever seen, and then fled into the streets of Athens.

Flash forward to today. Zach Condon is genius. I absolutely love his music. He reaffirms every ounce of Gypsyness that is in me, maybe even more so than Man Man . His new album, March of the Zapotec, which drops February 17, has partially been recorded in Mexico with the 19-piece Mexican backing band that I mentioned earlier. Enjoy the new track, La Llorona!!

Beirut - La Llorona.mp3

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