Beirut - Gulag Orkestar

Rating

single starsingle starsingle star

RIYL

Neutral Milk Hotel
Devotchka
Decemberists

Tracklist

1. Gulag Orkestar
2. Prenzlaurberg
3. Brandenburg
4. Postcards From Italy
5. Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)
6. Rhineland (Heartland)
7. Scenic World8. Bratislava
9. The Bunker
10. The Canals of Our City
11. After the Curtain

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When I was 19, I was just wrapping up my first year of college; I went home for the summer and worked as a plastics inspector. It was by far the worst job I ever had. Standing for hours straight as every 8 seconds some bit of formed plastic would come by me, I’d have to take it apart and make sure everything was ok. Every 8 seconds… for hours on end… I literally could feel my life ticking away. When Zach Condon was 19, he created this album. Show off.

Gulag Orkestar obviously has an Eastern European influence (Balkan to be exact), accordions pump, trumpets weep, a myriad of stringed instruments come and go, and all the while young Mr. Condon’s voice howls hauntingly throughout. It’s a real credit that the majority of work on this album was done by one person (Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost toss some support his way) given the way the instruments blend so beautifully and seamlessly together.

It’s hard to comment on individual songs as they all have a very similar feel and style. One thing that stands out is the inability to understand almost any lyric on the entire album. I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad thing, it melds with the music well and for all intents and purposes becomes like another instrument in the grand scheme of things. It would have been nice to have heard what ideas and concepts were being shared on Gulag Orkestar, but alas, it’s not to be.

In the time that it takes to listen to the album I would have inspected around 300 pressings of melted plastic trays in my old job, and as they kept coming out of the machine, the repetitiveness gets to you and you just want to quit. Which, oddly enough, is kind of like what happens with this album. On first pass, the album is a pleasure to listen to, and it’s nice to put on when doing work. However, it’s not the type of album I could listen to every day as it has some heft to it and can be a bit overwhelming after repeated listens.

--Craig Tamble

Author

Craig Tamble
Last updated: 09/29/2009 08:54PM

Comments

Jeremy Deal
11/03/2006
08:41AM
Age: 33
I agree with this review for the most part. It's a really good album to listen to - and taken in doses, is still very pleasureable, but it's best that it remains that way or listened to more as a background rather than center of focus. Astute review of an album definitely worth at least 1 listen.

"These are our lives, but did they ever even matter - are we worth remembering?"
- "Tip The Scales"
Rise Against

awake_and_avenge
11/03/2006
08:46AM
Age: 30
Location
Tucson, AZ
Interesting review, but to be honest I have no idea where you're coming from. This is one of my favorite releases this year and I don't find the myriad of instruments or song structures to be even slightly repetitive; the thing about the vocals is understandable, and it was good that you pointed out that they serve more as an instrument than anything else, but I really like their crooning unintelligibility.

I guess my beef is that this review didn't really seem to do the album justice for me (at least in explaining to me why it isn't "great"). Oh well. To each his own.
Dave Spak
11/03/2006
09:01AM
Location
Boston, MA
I agree with a lot of the points made in the review. The only problem is you don't talk about the music. There are some amazing songs that should have been mentioned (Postcards for Italy, Mount Wroclai (Idle Days), Bratislava, The Bunker)

Stereo Typing

Tweet at me, bro

Craig Tamble
11/03/2006
11:52AM
Location
Santa Cruz, CA
Shallow Breathing
I agree with a lot of the points made in the review. The only problem is you don't talk about the music. There are some amazing songs that should have been mentioned (Postcards for Italy, Mount Wroclai (Idle Days), Bratislava, The Bunker)


I'll quote myself here: "It’s hard to comment on individual songs as they all have a very similar feel and style."

In the short scheme of things, this is a great album, but in the bigger picture, it's something that's not very groundbreaking (there's an entire region of the world making this exact same music) and the shelf life, I fear, is going to be short. Plus Zach Condon's already said he doesn't plan on making another album like this, so even he knows this fact.

So I'm not going to blow my load on something that even the creator of the music knows is a passing fad.

Travel By Train

awake_and_avenge
11/03/2006
11:59AM
Age: 30
Location
Tucson, AZ
To infer that the creator thinks his own music is sub par based solely on the fact that he wants to move in other directions artistically is a bit presumptuous.
Craig Tamble
11/03/2006
12:14PM
Location
Santa Cruz, CA
awake_and_avenge
To infer that the creator thinks his own music is sub par based solely on the fact that he wants to move in other directions artistically is a bit presumptuous.


It's not subpar, I never said it was. What I did say was that he simply brought an entire region of the world's music here, and doesn't see fit to make another album in that style.

Like I said, it's a great album in the short scheme of things, but it just screams "passing fad" to me. And he seems to agree.

Travel By Train

Jeremy Deal
11/03/2006
01:35PM
Age: 33
Re-listening again now -and I do have to say the album deserves another star... half of one at least. I feel like I should be watching some important movie whilst listening to this - something very spiritual.

"These are our lives, but did they ever even matter - are we worth remembering?"
- "Tip The Scales"
Rise Against

Dave Spak
11/03/2006
02:33PM
Location
Boston, MA
Just saying that all the songs simply have 'a similar feel and style' seems like a copout in my opinion especially considering the different arrangements and instrumentation contained in this particular album. I don't think Zach Condon was saying it was a "passing fad". I'm pretty sure he was just stating that he didn't wish to follow the same direction with future albums. Also, isn't this pretty much world music. How can world music be a passing fad?

Stereo Typing

Tweet at me, bro

awake_and_avenge
11/03/2006
04:11PM
Age: 30
Location
Tucson, AZ
That's kinda what I was thinking. I hear a lot of variety in this record, since it meshes a lot of instruments and styles with both Eastern European and American influences, but has an overall cohesiveness of sound. It's something I haven't really heard (done this well) from a lot of other American bands. That, plus the fact that most of the European influences have been around for centuries, seems to contradict the passing fad thing. But I've been wrong before.

Just to be clear, I don't have a problem with your opinion on this, Craig. I may love this album, but I also wouldn't want to hear another one just like it from Condon. The review just didn't seem to do a few elements of it justice.
babarm87
11/03/2006
04:12PM
Location
Los Angeles
I really liked this record.

postrockpaperscissors

Craig Tamble
11/03/2006
04:16PM
Location
Santa Cruz, CA
Shallow Breathing
Just saying that all the songs simply have 'a similar feel and style' seems like a copout in my opinion especially considering the different arrangements and instrumentation contained in this particular album. I don't think Zach Condon was saying it was a "passing fad". I'm pretty sure he was just stating that he didn't wish to follow the same direction with future albums. Also, isn't this pretty much world music. How can world music be a passing fad?


I agree that it's somewhat of a copout to say they have a similar feel and style, even though they really do. Of course the arrangements are different, they're different songs, but from song to song, it felt more like movements in a bigger piece of music than distinct songs.

And I also agree that it would fall under the extremely broad category of "world music." However, in the niche of indie music, this style of music isn't something that comes around much and doesn't stay around for long when it does. This has all the hallmarks of a more minimal version of the freak folk explosion from a few years ago. You couldn't go anywhere online without hearing about Devandra Banhart or Joanna Newsome or Six Organs of Admitance (or countless other bands), and while they're still around, they've been pushed a bit to the back burner. It doesn't make their music any worse or better, but I'm not going to go goo-goo-ga-ga over the latest blow-up and give them more props than they're actually worth.

It's a solid album, but I stand firm in my belief that it's too dense to be anything more than a random listen after a few weeks/months of play. Great albums can be listened to over and over, at anytime of the day, any day of the week. This doesn't fit that. It'll get on a lot of peoples best of 2006 lists, but more so because it's different and an attempt to bring something new to the table than because it's a truly great album.

Travel By Train

sir mix-a-lot
11/03/2006
05:26PM
Location
Sacramento, CA
this is at least a 3.5. but you still make interesting points and they're all fairly valid. so i'll just stick to the idea that you enjoyed it and i just happened to enjoy it a bit more.

I'm not here to make things better; only to observe and pass judgement.

Originally stated by Scott Miller
It's like talking into a mirror!
Quanman
11/03/2006
07:15PM
And easy 4/5 for me. If not higher.

We live as we dream- alone.
~Joseph Conrad

sovietnoodle
11/04/2006
12:02PM
Location
Colorado
BOO! This def. deserves a MINIMUM of 4 stars. Possibly even a 5. This is an exceptional/creative album. Definitely one of the most listened to albums in my collection this year.