N°71 BEIRUT - EAST HARLEM

From the South to the East and more specific East Harlem performed by Beirut; a New York, indie folk band.

Zach Condon founded the band in 2006 when using music samples collected on a road trip throug the Balkans in Europe. These samples were the foundations of the first Beirut album called Gulag Orkestar and the complete album was mixed in Zachary's bedroom. Only for the live performances a few of his friend wouls join him on stage to play his music and the soloproject became a real band.

Alos the second album found it's influences in Europe and this time France would be the link for the complete album. For example: on this album you'll find the fantastic song Nantes which I couldn't use yet into my links. His influences would not only be French chansonniers such as Jacques Brel or Gerard Lenormand but also French movies as you can here on that same single called Nantes. The album does not have a French name but is called The Flying Club Cup.

In between their first and second CD a few EP's were released such as Lon Gisland and Elephant Gun but i've chosen the first single of this year's album; which is Beirut's third album called The Rip Tide. This album is released and produced under Zachary Cordon's own private label Pompeii Records.Again influences from France, the Balkans and Mexico were the base for the songs but critics think of this album as a bit more poppy than all previous releases. Another difference from previous albums is that this album is finally recorded by the complete band as a whole instead of being different tracks put together in a studio.

I hope you'll like it.