BragginBilly Music Blog & The Boston Scene
Talkin’ With Someone About Somethin’
A 2007 Top Ten Album - Beirut’s The Flying Club Cup
Author: 2b21 Oct
These folks have been generating a lot of buzz ever since the release of Gulag Orkestar in 2006, but they were under my radar until they came to my attention a few weeks back. Beirut has been know for being more of a music collective, than a formal band, similar to Broken Social Scene, although I’ve read a couple places the lineup may be solidifying.
What finally got me was a live performance of them from SXSW 2007 on largehearted boy. Totally sucked me in. This was once again a great piece of luck, since The Flying Club Cup, their second LP, was released just a few days later.
Zach Condon the 21-year old singer/songwriter, who heads up Beirut, has a crooners voice that is laid over an updated version of gypsy folk music. Their instrumentation is outstanding. In addition to the standards like guitars, bass, drums and violin, you have accordion, ukulele, mandolin, glockenspiel, a variety of brass and percussion and other unusual instruments. They create simply gorgeous interlocking melodies.
This is a brilliant album from beginning to end. Ever since I picked it up, its been in regular rotation. What’s interesting is that as good as it is, there is a whole other version of it. You can hear and see it at this site. Its a complete set of videos for The Flying Club Cup. Each video is one continuous shot where the music is recorded live. It is brilliant. I can’t recommend them highly enough. I keep going back to watch them again and again. (Thanks to Hip To Be Square for bringing the new collection from La Blogotheque to my attention.)
These folks are a must see next time they are in town. All the live recordings I’ve heard are just spectacular.
Beirut
MySpace Tracks, Tour Dates & More
Blogroll
Categories
Recent Posts
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Jun | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |||
2 Responses for "A 2007 Top Ten Album - Beirut’s The Flying Club Cup"
It is one of the best albums of 2007. No doubt.
this Condon guy is so talented.
Check out this post about his former project. He did some amazing music even before Beirut.
Thanks Billy for the mention. I recently went back to Flying Cup. At first it was a departure for me and almost felt like he was pushing the French elements. But after keeping it at bay for a couple weeks, I’ve found that he really hasn’t changed much from the last album, it’s just a lot cleaner. I guess all that media talk about the French influences took over my ability to think independently. It happens.
Leave a reply