Beirut September 23, 2006

Zach Condron, the heart of Beirut, is a nineteen-year-old kid from NYC via Albuquerque, New Mexico. But you can know that only by being told. Just hearing this music alone would have convinced you that it sprang from a rag-tag group of musicians from the Balkans, circa the 1950s. A lost artifact, found and dusted off, as if it had hung in an antique shop for decades.

Opening band: Venice Is Sinking

The Athens, Geo., band's sound is reminiscent of the early days of alternative rock, when the term "college rock" still had significance. The violins recall Camper Van Beethoven, but the music is lush and romantic. The real atmosphere comes from the vocals that ohh and ahh in the background, as if echoing up from the bottom of a cave or simply seeping out of the back of your brain.

Yet their intuitive, almost innocent approach works well for a modern audience. Heaps of acoustic instruments clutter each tune: "a trumpet from Paris, farfisa organ, accordion, piano, ukelele, mandolin, glockenspiel, violin, cello, tambourine, the air powered organ I bought on twelfth street, Congo drum donated from the neighbors . . ."

$12 advance / $14 day of

Official Website: http://www.theflyinganvil.com