Beirut
Small Time American Bats.
Score: 7.5
There is almost nothing on the planet earth about this record. From what I can tell, it’s before Zach Condon started to get heavily into Balkan music. But it’s still good! When I heard that Beirut would be abandoning the big brass and moving in different directions I got worried. I loved the brass and the sweeping melodies that came with it. After listening to a lot of Zach’s different stuff, I can sleep easy at night. The Real People, the Pompeii EP, and now Small Time American Bats, show that he is actually a great musician, not just a one trick pony. Even though I love the fucking trick. So let’s get down to Small Time American Bats. I think I read that it was recorded in 2002 or 2003. A couple years before Gulag Orkestar shattered all of us. There are only THREE (3) songs on the record, which means your joy will be short lived.
The first track is called “The Fish Inside of Me,” and while it is good. It is probably the weakest track on the record. Ugh, listen. Fuck this track by track bullshit. I can really appreciate the low production values and simplicity of the record. With Gulag, etc. It was all about being grandiose, but on these tracks he is just a normal kid making music in his basement. There is piano, a guitar and a drum machine. Oh and Condon’s beautiful voice to drive it along. Like I said, there are only three tracks. After the first track, shit starts to heat up with the last two, “We covered the west in phone lines,” and “The electric show.” Both are magnificent. Apologies for the shortness, but you know how Beirut leaves me grasping for words.
Beirut - Small Time American Bats
Beirut
Lon Gisland EP
Score: 8.1
It was not so long ago that Gulag Orkestar was released, and while it still floats under the radar for the most part, those who have discovered it praise it like a worshiper would…well, worship a “God”. The “God” in question is Zach Condon, a 20 year old musical wunderkind, and while almost every song on Gulag Orkestar was dazzling yet, at the same time heartbreaking, Lon Gisland offers something more (if that were possible).
Lon Gisland sounds exotic, but as you might have deduced using the power of deduction, it’s just Long Island with the G on a different part of the word. This is a neat trick, in that I can use it all the time to make myself sound smarter than I really am, for instance, when ordering drinks at my local watering hole, I saunter up to the table, dressed as dapper as humanly possible, and tell my bar wench that I would like a Lon Gisland Icedt Ea, or perhaps an Applet Ini, if I’m feeling particularly daring.
Lon Gisland opens with the old timey twang of a ukulele that Condon made great use of on Gulag Orkestar, then he jumps in with his ever eloquent vocals, and what’s great about this song is that as it progresses, you can hear new instruments being introduced after almost every verse. If you were a fan of Gulag Orkestar, you will probably enjoy this, but if you noticed that Condon’s voice in Gulag Orkestar was kind of a background instrument, you will now notice that Condon’s voice is brought to the front, or at least close to it. “Elephant Gun” really sets the tone for the record, Condon is more coherent with his lyrics, but still manages to make you not wonder (or care) what he is saying. There are still points where I doubt he is even saying words, but the reason he can get away with it is because his voice flows like an instrument, it doesn’t go over top of the music, and it’s not him singing while the band plays in the background, his voice goes right in the middle. (I was going to use a river/fish analogy, but it would have been too hard to articulate.)
“My Family’s Role in The World Revolution” Is not only a superb name for a track; it also features an all out barrage of piano, drums, and some big brass. The drumming in this song is so powerful that even though it’s under layers of other instruments, you can still hear it pounding its way through like a hundred drummers hitting the same notes in unison. The song alone is good, but what makes it great is the little mess up at the start where you can hear the band laughing and just having fun with it, same goes for the end of the song. I don’t know about you, but I crave this shit, the little things that give you some insight into the bands chemistry. Delicious.
The last GREAT track on Lon Gisland is “Scenic World (Lon Gisland Version)” This version is longer and instead of having the drum machine intro of “Scenic World” from Gulag Orkestar, it has a violin and accordion (or some shit) with a flat drum beat in the back and Condon’s voice brought to the forefront, after the first verse, the drummery turns from flat into some fucking bongo shit, it sounds like Donkey Kong is playing them. The other big difference/improvement is that the chorus is much more powerful and captivating when Condon sings them with backup. It is also 45 seconds longer, which gives Condon time to unfurl the vocals without rushing it, like he did on the Gulag Orkestar version.
The last two songs on Lon Gisland don’t stand out, especially when the first three songs are as scrumptious as they happen to be. “The Long Island Sound” is just some more instrumentals that have become the norm for Beirut, and don’t get me wrong, this isn’t bad, it’s just I could listen to a better song and get the same thing from it. For example: I could listen to “The Long Island Sound” or I could listen to “Prenzaluerberg”. They are different songs, with the same instruments,(minus the annoying ambience) but “Prenzlauerberg” is just more robust. The same theory applies to “Carousels”, while it isn’t as sparse as “The Long Island Sound”; it just isn’t as good as anything else.
While only clocking in at 16 minutes, it’s hard to get lost in it like you could with Orkestar, but considering its bigger sound and more appealing vocals, I’d say it’s a fair trade.
Condon is a genius, that much is certain, but with his voice getting stronger and his new found ability to use lyrics to his advantage. I would say Deity status isn’t too far off in the distance.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K5JS2S67
