Beirut
Gulag Orkestar
Ba Da Bing! 2006

01. Gulag Orkestar
02. Prenzlaurberg
03. Brandenburg
04. Postcards from Italy
05. Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)
06. Rhineland (Heartland)
07. Scenic World
08. Bratislava
09. The Bunker
10. The Canals of Our City
11. After the Curtain

While it may sound like an entire Balkan gypsy orchestra playing modern songs as mournful ballads and upbeat marches, Beirut's first album, "Gulag Orkestar", is largely the work of one 19-year-old Albuquerque native, Zach Condon, with assistance by Jeremy Barnes (Neutral Milk Hotel, A Hawk and a Hacksaw) and Heather Trost (A Hawk and a Hacksaw). Horns, violins, cellos, ukuleles, mandolins, glockenspiels, drums, tambourines, congas, organs, pianos, clarinets and accordions (no guitars on this album!) all build and break the melodies under Condon's deep-voiced crooner vocals, swaying to the Eastern European beats like a drunken 12-member ensemble that has fallen in love with The Magnetic Fields, Talking Heads and Neutral Milk Hotel.

Just do whatever it takes to get this. Seriously. We must all have Beirut on the brain. Buying is an option too, cause it's the kind of sound with grand volume. No, quite huge actually. Thank you Makunouchi guys for the tip-off - made my week from early on. Postcards from Italy could make my whole year...

>> get it (52mb)