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Track:Mount Wroclai
That sounds like I'm geographically challenged huh?I forgot how much I love this song, and the beginning reminds me of the song used in Amelie.<3I'm excited to give Lon Gisland a listen!
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Beirut
Gulag Orkestar
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AMG Review of Gulag Orkestar
Stewart Mason
All Music GuideThe best album to come out of Albuquerque since the Shins decamped for the Pacific Northwest, the debut album by Beirut (aka New Mexico-born 19-year-old singer/songwriter Zach Condon) bears an immediate resemblance both to Denver's DeVotchKa and the current passions of the Athens, GA, crowd formerly associated with the Elephant 6 stable. Like DeVotchKa, Condon is heavily influenced by Eastern European folk music and, to a lesser extent, the mariachi trumpets and Latin rhythms of the desert Southwest: the songs on Gulag Orkestar are lousy with mandolins and similarly plinky members of the string instrument family, accordions, horns, and hand percussion clearly played with dramatic in-studio arm flourishes. But like the Athens folks (some of whom appear here in a supporting role, most notably A Hawk and a Hacksaw's Jeremy Barnes), Condon isn't interested in mere approximations of raditional forms. Condon and friends use the folk instruments primarily as really cool-sounding textures, exotic backdrops for Condon's melodic indie folk tunes and impressionistic lyrics. The lyrics, it must be said, are the album's most obvious flaw, clearly the work of a young, romantically inclined teen who has never been to Europe but has seen a lot of foreign art films about, like, Gypsies 'n' stuff. Ignore the clunky lyrics -- easy enough to do since Condon is an unexpectedly appealing singer with a rich, mellifluous voice that, no kidding, recalls the great bel canto crooners of the pre-ock era (along with a little Nick Cave) -- and Gulag Orkestar is an infinitely more appealing album.
I'm rediscovering Beirut
The Best and Most of Oh Six
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I really like songs, and I really like lists, but trying to list my favorite songs in order of greatness just didn't feel right. These are the songs I heard this year that accompanied my ups and downs, made me dance carelessly around my living room, helped me fall asleep and wake up, and gave me reasons to love music all over again. How could I choose one great song over another (besides "Postc...
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Bands I just got into Today
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And I just reintroduced myself to Bitch (formerly of Bitch and Animal), whose album debuted over month ago. SHe's been way out my radar for a while. She's been busy since the last time I saw here like 2 years ago. Starring in movies, getting mag write-ups along with her ce-les-brity GFF, Daniela Sea (The L-Word)... She's like the female Tenacious D, and all that that implies ;). Ironically she ...
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such a pity, the meager capacity of our vessels
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Track:Interior of a Dutch House
i was going to see beirut tomorrow night at suny oswego. alas, mr. conlon's musical prowess got the best of him, and the rest of the tour was cancelled. someday. i've no other shows approaching as of yet.. i'll need to do some searching.
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Beirut
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After seeing the band a few times, I haven't been able to stop listening to their debut LP.I never dance at concerts (since back before it was uncool, the uncool that came after it was cool; so really, I mean I never danced at shows since, I was like 12. And I never got into the habit) but I danced a ton at the Beirut shows.Well, I've discovered that it's the greatest gym music, Gulag Orkestar...
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The lowdown on Beirut
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Lots of people all over the place seem to love Beirut's Gulag Orkestar. I'm happy for people when they find new stuff that moves them. All of us probably remember the thrill of falling in love with a new band. I hope each of us still gets to experience that awesome feeling every now and again. (Alas, the past two years have been a dry patch for me, with just five new bands that I really truly l...
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Philosophy of the Body
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I'm going to see Beirut tomorrow night. But before we do that, we have to finish up some work on our thesis. As much as I love Wittgenstein, well. I'm burnt out.
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Suprise Suprise... Beirut
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From a classically trained standpoint: sloppy technique, some pitchy issues, tone quality occasionally lacking, and for the love, someone buy that kid a better piano! but me and my ears love it. I think I'm a bit late on this one too (hey at least I've heard of it at all) but Gulag Orkestar has a variety of instrumentation enough for a horrid horrid mess. Instead it immediatly makes me feel ...
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Sounds of Home
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Wow, the Beirut album reminds me of home...No, not of my home, nor of the town where I was born, nor of any place I've ever lived or visited. No, this album reminds me of a time and place before I was born. The place where my great-grandparents were born, lived, and thankfully escaped. It is a place that I have felt drawn to all my life, but never had the opportunity to go. It is a place of...
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I dare post poetry?
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It doesn't take a lot to confuse me, and its happening right now.Laying, looking, waiting...Why am I here and how?Pull me from the ground.Pull me up and throw me down.Or just leave me, to stare at the sky.The ground it wets my back,the sun it burns my eyes.And I watch t
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Mogging Hiatus
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Looks like you are going to be without my charming company for a week. I'm heading off to Sicily on Friday, and this will probably be my last chance to post before then. I hope you don't have to much fun while I'm absent. Don't worry about me, the drinking age there is 16, so there will be much frivolity and merrymaking(admittredly, it is a school trip, so I'll be limited to three pints a night...
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The times we had...
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Sometimes we find ouselves in unexplained distress. Sometimes the path is more difficult than we anticipate. You know how it is, friend. But there are things we end up grabbing on to...moments that seem irrelevant as they're happening, but end up defining our very existence. Music has this incredible power to soundtrack the moments that make us who we are, and provides a spiritual "marker" in o...
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The Best and Most of Oh Six
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Artist:
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I really like songs, and I really like lists, but trying to list my favorite songs in order of greatness just didn't feel right. These are the songs I heard this year that accompanied my ups and downs, made me dance carelessly around my living room, helped me fall asleep and wake up, and gave me reasons to love music all over again. How could I choose one great song over another (besides "Postc...
More >
The lowdown on Beirut
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Artist:
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Lots of people all over the place seem to love Beirut's Gulag Orkestar. I'm happy for people when they find new stuff that moves them. All of us probably remember the thrill of falling in love with a new band. I hope each of us still gets to experience that awesome feeling every now and again. (Alas, the past two years have been a dry patch for me, with just five new bands that I really truly l...
More >
Why you'll fall in love with Beirut
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Beirut is a band that has recently stolen my heart. And they are not giving it back.It was an afternoon at my house when my brother burned both their CDs onto one CD for me and insisted I listen to it immediately. Honestly, I was not expecting a brand new obsession. I was thinking a band I would enjoy listening to, something cool to walk down the street to. Now, I do both things with Beirut, an...
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Horror, a photograph, and a song
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I read a lot of Middle East news. It's my job. I edit a site called Electronic Iraq. Our sister site, Electronic Intifada, has been covering the Israeli attacks on Gaza this week (it seems they are always covering Israeli attacks on Gaza). I was reading through a week's worth of reports from Electronic Intifada yesterday and listening to a mix I just received from one of my closest friends.Read...
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Beirut
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First a distant, pulsing synth and a teenaged croon in slow-motion. Now a loop of recorded applause, and only then does the song really begin: the clapping roils, the howl turns to moan, a simple, sad, electronic piano peers in over the collected sounds.It's cul de sac wizardry, homemade.
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I'm rediscovering Beirut
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Track:Mount Wroclai
That sounds like I'm geographically challenged huh?I forgot how much I love this song, and the beginning reminds me of the song used in Amelie.<3I'm excited to give Lon Gisland a listen!
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Bleary eyes...
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... and raw emotions but I'm back after a long-ish hiatus. I'm back for practical reasons. I was able to find some new music on my own while I was away, but I MOG is still the best way I've found to get new leads on great stuff. What was I doing while I was away? My normal routine plus way too much World of Warcraft. Ventrilo severely cut into my music listening, but I'm feeling the need t...
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Beirut: Bandenburg
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I usually try to offer some information about the bands/songs I post, but I see moggers are already quite familiar with Beirut - which is good... I'm feeling kinda lazy. I will say this... I SWEAR I saw him (and possibly one other person... can't quite remember now) playing at the Lorimer/Metropolitan stop on the G train (smith/9th side) 4-7 weeks ago. At this point I had never seen zach, or ev...
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beirut
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Honestly beirut is my first introduction to balkan music. But Zach Condon manages to translate their music into gorgeous pop that a wider audience can not only accept but love. I saw beirut play in october and it was mindblowing!! Their music is so powerful that it was surreal to stand their and watch it being played. Anyways here are some pictures. The last pic always make me laugh.
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Bands I just got into Today
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And I just reintroduced myself to Bitch (formerly of Bitch and Animal), whose album debuted over month ago. SHe's been way out my radar for a while. She's been busy since the last time I saw here like 2 years ago. Starring in movies, getting mag write-ups along with her ce-les-brity GFF, Daniela Sea (The L-Word)... She's like the female Tenacious D, and all that that implies ;). Ironically she ...
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Strumpets and Trumpets
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Thank you to everyone who commented! I especailly loved the video Hammerogod!So I was racking my brian for a song that mentioned strumpets and the only one I've been able to come up with is (oddly enough) a Disney song.Topsy Turvy from the Hunchback of Notre Dame contains the line:"Join the bums and thieves and strumpetsStreaming in from Chartres to Calais"Now on to Trumpets.So I kind of lied w...
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 "Gulag Orkestar")
