Drum, congas, violins, organs, pianos, clarinets, accordians, horns, cellos, ukuleles, mandolins, a 12 team ensemble and 20 year old Zack Condon of Albuquerque, New Mexico masterminding the whole experience. I want to call it Eastern-European-contemporary-gypsy-folk music with a little Spanish influence but accurate descriptions escape me at the moment. There's something warm and familiar about Beirut's overall sound that keeps me anchored to last year's Gulag Orkestar and their latest incarnation, the 5 song EP (*) Lon Gisland (which contains two of my favorite songs this year "Elephant Gun" and the equally stellar "Carousel").*(The EP was actually released for download only late December of 2006 and will see an official release late this month.)
I'm looking forward to another full length album this year and (hopefully) a live show in these parts.
