Beirut/Real People – March of the Zapotec EP/Holland EP

The first few weeks of the year are generally a bit dull in the music world. The emphasis sales-wise is obviously the holiday season, and labels are content to let their big 2008 releases coast for awhile into the new year running on momentum and iTunes gift cards.

Last year, it wasn’t until the 28th of January that something significant hit stores with the Vampire Weekend album and, on a lesser note, the awesome Protest the Hero disc (apologies to the three of you that were super-psyched for the Natasha Bedingfield disc). On the mainstream end of the spectrum, 2009 isn’t much different. Taylor Swift has been the most direct beneficiary of the great gift card cash-in, but the industry is still hibernating, with some of the lowest total sales weeks in decades ringing in the year the wrong way economically. The indie world, on the other hand, has Animal Collective to get all frenzied over, although I’m not sure if people prefer the idea of that band to its recorded reality. Personally, I wasn’t a huge fan of the act before and their new album (and accompanying Pitchfork fueled hype) didn’t sway me, so the first truly exciting release of 2009 would still be to come.

A new album by New Mexico youngster Zach Condon and his act Beirut seemed promising enough. However, as news trickled out about the project, scheduled to be released on February 16th, there was something troubling about it all. First, the release wouldn’t be an album per se, but a collection of two EPs. The first EP was the result of a soundtrack commission that fell apart, but still sent Condon to Mexico to record with the 19-piece Jimenez Band from the village of Teotitlan del Valle. The second EP would, however, consist of electropop tracks Condon recorded in his bedroom. For a guy whose notability is largely based on his recordings/tributes to Gypsy music, the idea of a synth-driven collection of songs, even if it wasn’t a full album, was somewhat disconcerting. Sure, no one wants to hear the same album recorded over and over again with slight variations and different titles, but this news seemed like a creative left turn competitive with Kanye West’s autotune album of sad bastard balladry. Sure, artists can do whatever they like creatively, but should they?

The good news is that if you liked the other Beirut albums, the March of the Zapotec EP (the Mexican one) is “more of the same” in largely a good way. The energy of a different set of musicians and a different setting were good things for Condon, who probably couldn’t release another album in his gypsy arc without seeming out of ideas, but still carries a familiar set of touchpoints into his new surrounding. Like on Gulag Orkestar and The Flying Cup Club, the songs are beautiful and evocative with rich instrumentation, full of drama and energy. Condon’s singing is so effected that it’s difficult for me to understand what the heck he’s saying, but in the same manner you could listen to a French singer like Edith Piaf and feel her words through her rich performance, a song like “La Llorona” works as an over-the-top whole. There are seemingly a thousand things going on each track (the perils of using a nearly twenty piece band), but Condon’s respect for old world traditions of song is welcome and wonderful.

The other part of the news is that the Holland EP is good as well, albeit not great. This seems to be the sort of project the ability to purchase on iTunes by the song was made for. You can tell quickly, even via a thirty second sample, if this half of Condon’s project is for you. The final track “No Dice” is a straight lo-fi indie instrument made for some sort of dancing, I suppose, but otherwise, the other tracks are like Beirut if you replaced all the horns and accordions with one synthesizer. Oddly, Christian fringe act Joy Electric might be the closest reference point. The electronic songs aren’t quite as deliberately hooky as say the Postal Service, but Condon has quite a bit of skill in the genre, but these five songs aren’t going to be for everyone. Unlike Animal Collective, for example, Condon’s experimental side still keeps the song at the center, although the novelty might not hold up for long. Still, as an artist, Zach Condon/Beirut/Realpeople/whatever is still heavy on the charm, which certainly helps make for a 2009 release to be happy to see on the shelves.