Beirut’s The Flying Club Cup is achingly beautiful. If you aren’t familiar with Beirut, their sound is heavily influenced by Balkan folk music (think Gypsy). Many of their songs sound as if they are from another world and another time, especially the first album Gulag Orkestra. But others such as “After the Curtain” are as accessible as any song by The Postal Service. Zack Condon and his mighty band expand and build upon the sound of Gulag Orkestra on The Flying Club Cup. The music is less heavily influenced by the Balkans, but the same richness and texture is still there: strings, horns, percussion. We really appreciate Beirut, much like Sufjan Stevens and Arcade Fire, for pushing indie rock music beyond the four/four-guitar-bass-drum-kit formula, however tried and true it may be.
From Gulag Orkestra
“After the Curtain”
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From The Flying Club Cup
“The Sunday Smile”
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“The Penalty”
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[...] Fire – Neon Bible (Merge) Band Of Horses – Cease To Begin (Sub Pop) Battles – Mirrored (Warp) Beirut – The Flying Club Cup (Ba Da Bing) El-P – I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead (Definitive Jux) Justice – † [...]