Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
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Free Music Notes for Gulag Orkestar
Free Music Review: Play, Orkestar
Hit: 5 Stars
To be honest, when I think of psychedelic bands I don't usually think of Balkan folk music. But with the release of Beirut's "Gulag Orkestar," I may have to revise my thinking.
This new band consists of teenage musician Zach Condon, along with people from Neutral Milk Hotel and A Hawk and a Hacksaw, making bittersweet folkpop and danceable marches. Imagine a band of slightly drunk gypsies on parade, and you'll have the general idea of how it sounds.
It opens slow, with a gentle piano and blaring horns. The title track meanders in circles and finally dies away... only to be reborn as a swaying march. Halfway through, Condon joins in with some mournful wails and equally mournful singing. That turns around in "Prenzluerberg," where the singing is just as melancholy, but the music is a cheerier march.
From there on, the trio tries out those styles and everything in between -- rattly folk with tambourines and horns, danceable folkpop, and tinkly klezmer music. Yes, tinkly klezmer. They get downright happy in "Scenic World," a colorful glockenspiel song that is just barely grounded by some quick violins.
After that, "Gulah Orkestar" is pretty upbeat, with a string of swaying marches and upbeat folk acoustics. The album's finale is a bit of a head-scratcher, though. "After the Curtain" is a relatively bare-bones song with Condon singing over applause and a dancing glockenspiel. I don't know how to fit that one in.
And this version has an addition: The "Lon Gisland" EP, which starts off with the bittersweet, playful horn pop "Elephant Gun," before slipping off into a ponderous march song, a colourful accordion tune (complete with clacking drumsticks), a sweep of soaring horns, and the delightfully bright "Carousels."
Basically this album is what happens when an American teenager drops out and crosses Eastern Europe, soaking up the folk music as he goes.
And it's a good thing Condon's musical talents are being backed by experienced musicians, so we can get a bittersweet, atmospheric taste of whatever he heard there. The main problem is that the less folky songs don't really fit in -- without them, the album would have been a lot better. But as it is, it's a remarkable achievement.
Condon has a pretty deep voice for someone so young, and he fills it with the longing and beauty that traditional singing often has. And he's assisted by some very talented musicians: Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost, both of whom work in the psych-folk band A Hawk and a Hacksaw. So of course, they have a good ear for this sort of thing.
So how do they manage? Soundwise, it's like someone took the gypsy out of Gogol Bordello and slapped it on Neutral Milk Hotel. The songs are brimming with violins, horns, accordion, mandolin, pianos, ukeleles, glockenspiel and many others. These instruments are so smoothly blended that it sounds like at least a dozen people are playing at any one time, and that they've played this music their whole lives.
"Gulag Orkestar" is a pretty, heart-tugging album that will make you think of quaint European villages in the springtime. Definitely worth listening to, many times.
Free Music Review: Making Eastern European/Russian traditional type music accessible
Hit: 5 Stars
This and M Ward's Postwar are my favorite cd's of 2006. It's brilliant how this band is able to make Eastern European/Russian traditional type music accessible. I know that this may be a weird comparison but this type of music innovation to me is like Moby's Play album (really old gospel songs to contemporary beats) and Enigma's MCMXC A.D. (Gregorian Chants to dance beats)--not the type of combinations you would expect.Free Music Review: Fresh and innovative
Hit: 5 Stars
I can't decide if this is happy music that sounds sad, or sad music that sounds happy. I am absolutely captivated by this cd. His haunting voice, unbelievably comforting and soothing though it's hard to understand a word of what he's singing. The instruments all blend very nicely together. It does get a little repetitive at times but oddly enough, at the end of the cd I'm craving more. Postcards From Italy is hands down the best track on the disc. But really there isn't one single song on this cd that I don't like. It's nice to come across something as catchy as this, that sounds different that the latest humdrum of our time. Cheers to this new artist. Looking forward to more!Free Music Review: Don't understand the hype
Hit: 2 Stars
While I admit it is an interesting concept to incorporate this brass style music with an indie/rufus wainwright twist. One can't help but be bored to sleep with the same sound over and over. An ambitious undertaking yes... but unfortunately Neutral Milk Hotel was way more eclectic with the use of the brass and DID NOT OVERUSE it like beirut does. Every time I put this on I feel like I'm part of some international parade looking for a way outFree Music Review: Stunning.
Hit: 5 Stars
If you like Goran Bregovic or Johnny Cash or Roy Orbison or David Byrne or Mostar Sevdah Reunion or Zlatne Uste, you'll like this music; if you like all of the above, you'll love it. It's that simple. Indie crooning plus Balkan brass music. How come nobody ever thought of this before?