Before Beirut…
March 29th, 2007 . by Jilly
My favorite album of 2006 was Beirut’s “Gulag Orkestar“. I was really amazed at how a 21 year old could play so many instruments and sing and do it all so well. Of course that was not the first album he ever made. Before he made gypsy folk music he was in an electronic band at the ripe young age of 15. He was also in a doo-wop band at age 16. These were not widely released. I figured I would never get a chance to hear his earlier works until I read this post from I Guess I’m Floating…
One of the remarkably few joys of my inbox is the occasional surprise it offers…and this week’s might be the sweetest surprise of them all: Zach Condon’s debut, his real debut: The Joys Of Losing Weight, a collection of 21 untitled songs released under the moniker The Real People. Here’s a snippet of the note that was attached to the email:
“This album has never been released, is not available for sale, and has never been seen or heard by anyone other than a handful of people who have personally received a copy of this record. It pre-dates all of his work with Beirut and does not bear any influence of the Balkan/Eastern Gypsy sound that he has become reknowned and critically acclaimed for; however, it’s a highly precocious album that’s steeped in amazing melodies draped against a backdrop of synthesized electronica: imagine an entire electronic/experimental album in the style of Scenic World with Zach’s distinctive vocals and the occasional appearance of his famous brass instrumentation.”
I Guess I’m Floating has three tracks from the album “The Joys of Losing Weight” by Zach Condon’s earlier band “The Real People”. If you like what you hear, word on the street is that you might be able to find the whole album if you search google. My husband was kind enough to download the whole album for me this morning, so I’m going to have a nice treat when I get home from work today.
