photos by Ryan Muir

Fanfarlo

"Collectively, they have a homespun quality, as if still learning how to make do. Three band members played mandolin over the course of the show. Three played drums. On one song Mr. Balthazar put down his guitar and picked up a clarinet. Glockenspiel was used to dramatic effect. A melodica made an appearance." [NY Times]

And as the NY Times pointed out, not only can you compare Fanfarlo to Beirut, they share a member! At least they did at these recent shows which included Monday night at Bowery Ballroom, and last night (Tuesday, 9/22) at the Bell House in Brooklyn. The Beirut member in question is Jon Natchez who you can see with his shaved head and beard playing a saxophone in the pictures. Also joining Fanfarlo as a member of their band for this tour was Jeremy Warmsley who was my favorite multi-instrumental member to watch on stage last night. Catch him play his own show at Pianos in NYC tonight (9/23)

Arcade Fire are the second most obvious comparison to Fanfarlo. I probably wouldn't have also thrown Neutral Milk Hotel into the mix... if they hadn't chosen to close their 2-song encore with a cover of "In the Aeroplane over the Sea"! I wasn't a huge fan of the choice, which made me biased before it even began, but it got lots of applause. A video Bill took of it is also making the rounds on the Internet today. You can watch that below.

Speaking of closing their set, they wrapped it up a little early due to throat problems, and according to one member who spoke to Bill after the show, technical problems that they didn't really let the crowd know about. Speaking of the crowd, despite it generally being a stand-there-with-arms-crossed kind of night, people got loud when applauding, and while cheering for the encore.

Like at other shows on the tour, they started the encore with audience participation and plastic tubes...

"I sold on the band when they flipped the switch on those lovely, glowing lights after the first song of their set, but when they came back for an encore and handed out instruments to the crowd (no idea what they're called, but the band had purchased a gaggle of those plastic tubes you swing around your head to make noise), I became a devoted follower of the church of Fanfarlo. Ten or so audience members were whipping these tubes around in the air, and the pitch of the tubes was aligned perfectly with "Comets". Arms got tired, tubes were passed onto other audience members, and it felt like everyone in the room was part of the band." [Seattle Weekly]

Wildbirds and Peacedrums opened the show for the second night in a row. It was their 5th show in NYC in a week. Their other three shows were at Bruar Falls, Cake Shop and Le Poisson Rouge.

Fanfarlo's album, Resevoir, is well worth a listen, and as Bill taught me, will be released officially as a CD by Atlantic in October. October is also when they'll be back in NYC to play at least two shows including the BrooklynVegan CMJ showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

More pictures from The Bell House below...

Continue reading "Fanfarlo & Wildbirds & Peacedrums @ The Bell House - pics "

DOWNLOAD: Tune Yards - Sunlight (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Phosphorescent - Torn Up Praise (MP3)

Tune Yards @ MHOW 2/4 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Tune Yards (or tUnE yArDs as its usually written) is the one-woman band of Merrill Garbus. Her debut record BiRd-BrAiNs, previously out on Marriage Record, is being re-released by 4AD, first as a limited-edition screen-printed CD on August 18th, then to wider release later in the year. "Sunlight," a track from that record, is posted above.

As Tune Yards, she tends to perform solo -- she also plays as part of Sister Suvi. Tune Yards will be performing at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Saturday, September 5th with (opening for) Phosphorescent (also a one-person band, Matthew Houck, though live he usually has company). Tickets go on sale Friday, July 17th at noon.

A track from Phosphorescent's latest, To Willie, is also posted above. Their most recent NYC shows took place in Prospect Park and in Bruar Falls.

Check out a video of Merill at Trophy Bar during the Northside Festival (with Zach Condon of Beirut, a band that Tune Yards has opened for, and who are also on 4AD, in the audience) and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "tUnE yArDs signs to 4AD, playing MHOW w/ Phosphorescent"

DOWNLOAD: Team B - On My Mind (MP3)

Team B @ Union Pool in November (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Team B, the band fronted by Kelly Pratt -- a horn player who's spent a good portion of the past two years touring with Arcade Fire and Beirut -- will be headlining a week-long tour in June. Accompanying them will be New Numbers (featuring Josh Abbott and Mike Fadem of Jealous Girlfriends, the latter who also drums for Team B).

Their tour includes a show at NYC's (Le) Poisson Rouge on June 27th. Tickets are on sale now.

The band's self-titled debut record, which features members of LCD Soundsystem, Arcade Fire & Beirut, hit iTunes in May and is out now on CD through Tonacity Recordings.

The band played its first show in November 2008.All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Team B (Kelly Pratt of Beirut) - 2009 Tour Dates, album out"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Japandroids - Young Hearts Spark Fire (MP3)

Beirut @ Coco 66 (more by Ryan Muir)

More bands were recently added to the previously announced lineup of the 2009 Pitchfork Festival. The annual fest is taking place Friday, July 17th to Sunday, July 19th in Chicago's Union Park. Tickets are still on sale.

New acts include Beirut, DOOM, Frightened Rabbit, Lindstrøm, DJ/Rupture, Ponytail, the Mae Shi, and Dianogah.

From those new bands, Frightened Rabbit is also on the bill for NYC's Siren Fest. The annual, free Coney Island concert is scheduled for Saturday, July 18th.

DJ/Rupture is also appearing at the NYC event for Barcelona's Sonar Festival on May 12th.

Another act on the Pitchfork bill, DOOM, will be performing his first show since the news broke in 2007 that he'd been allegedly lip-syncing and/or sending stand-ins to take his place at live shows. A few months after that, canceled DOOM shows spurred rumors that the rapper was in the hospital, addicted to crack, too lazy to show up...basically anything you can imagine or post on a message board.

DOOM somewhat addressed those questions in an interview with HipHopDX in April. His response started like this:

I'm a director as well as a writer. I choose different characters, I choose their direction and where I want to put them. So who I choose to put as the character is up to me. The character that I hired, he got paid for it. There's no impostor.

He went on to say that maybe it was really him, he just lost a lot of weight (one fake rapper in question was noticeably skinnier than the hefty DOOM). He closed his answer like this:

But I'll tell you one thing, if you're coming to a DOOM show, don't expect to see me, expect to hear me or hear the music that I present. And it's gonna be a unique experience every time. So that's all I have to say about that.

In short, expect the "DOOM Experience." P4k Fest is his only current date, but we think there will be more announced at some point this year.

DOOM's latest, Born Like This, came out in late March on Lex Records. Radiohead's Thom Yorke recently remixed that album's "Gazillion Ear." That remix is out now as a bonus track on iTunes. A YouTube rip of the song is below.

Japandroids

Japandroids are on the schedule for Pitchfork as well. The pair were scheduled to play two New York City shows this week at Pianos on May 6th and Public Assembly on May 7th, but the band had to cancel those and other dates because of singer-guitarist Brian King's "emergency surgery for a perforated ulcer," as reported by Pitchfork. Luckily, he'll be well enough to head out a tour that starts at the end of May. Japandroids' two rescheduled NYC dates will be Friday, July 10th at Brooklyn's Cameo Gallery and Saturday, July 11th at Pianos. Tickets for the latter are on sale.

Other summer fests for Japandroids include Sasquatch Music Festival on May 24th, Calgary's Sled Island Festival on June 25th, and Seattle's Capitol Hill Block Party on July 24th. They also have tour dates across North America, posted below.

Japandroid's Post-Nothing is out now on Unfamiliar Records. An MP3 of "Young Hearts Spark Fire" from that record is posted above; a video of the guys playing "Heart Sweats" live, below.

All videos, updated Pitchfork Festival line-up, and Japandroids tour dates below...

Continue reading "Pitchfork Fest's updated lineup w/ DOOM, Beirut, Frightened Rabbit & updated 2009 JAPANDROIDS tour dates "

"M.I.A. gave the main stage at Coachella her best shot. It just didn't work out.

After a strong start, a few hiccups, and a somewhat listless finale, the Grammy-nominated new mom declared at the end of her hour-long set in the desert that "next time I'm back in the tent."

"I want to be in the sweat," she said.

M.I.A. had performed twice in smaller tents at the music festival, in its tenth year and one of the nation's most prestigious.

She noted earlier, "I really don't know how to bring it on the main stage." And her live show staples--climbing on speakers, dancing body-to-body with the crowd--didn't quite fit the new digs. When she tried to bring some of the audience onstage Saturday night, security guards thwarted most fans.

M.I.A. ended up on a platform above the crowd performing "Bird Flu," and asked when it was over: "Can we get some order in the place? My baby's waiting." She gave birth to a son in February, a few days after the Grammys." [Times Standard]

Plenty of fans did get on stage too - security was definitely not happy about it though. M.I.A. was playing in Amy Winehouse's place last night. The show didn't seem as bad (on the stream) as the above review makes it sound. Then came the Killers (still streaming as I type this actually) and Day Two of the three-day festival was over. Earlier in the day Glasvegas cancelled their set. What I saw of Beirut's performance on the stream sounded great.

Friday night Paul McCartney played "a two-and-a-half-hour performance of solo hits from the '70s, new songs released by his alter-ego the Fireman, plus 20 Beatles classics". Morrissey and Leonard Cohen played the same day.

Sunday is my favorite day. We'll have lots of pictures soon. In the meantime, below are more stills from the M.I.A. stream...

Continue reading "Coachella continues - M.I.A. played (some pics), day 3 today"

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Grizzly Bear

Thursday night (2/26), Sufjan Stevens and Shara Worden joined members of The National (Clogs) and Arcade Fire (Bell Orchestre) on stage with the Brooklyn Philharmonic at BAM.

Two nights later (2/28), members of the National joined Grizzly Bear (headliner) and Final Fantasy (opener and sometimes member/contributor to Arcade Fire) on the same stage with the same orchestra. Nico Muhly, who contributed arrangements to the show and to Grizzly Bear's new album, was on stage playing piano during both sets as well.

Members of Beirut, who played their own two shows at the same venue a few weeks earlier (but with their own orchestra), could be spotted in the indie-rocker heavy audiences at both the Clogs/BO and FF/GB shows. All this collaboration and support between the current group of popular "indie" artists is commonplace (especially in Brooklyn), and there's no better representation of that than the recently-released National members-curated Dark Was the Night compilation which pretty much everyone mentioned in this post so far (except the Philharmonic) contributed at least one song to. I'm still anxiously awaiting more news of the ultimate live representation of Dark Was the Night in the form of a concert at Radio City Music Hall. Speaking of which, that's where Dark Was the Night contributor David Byrne was playing for the 2nd night in a row on the same night as Grizzly Bear.

Final Fantasy

So, how was Saturday night? I thought It was great. Final Fantasy opened the show....

Mr. Pallett, who hails from a classical background, was in his element, if not his comfort zone. Many of his songs reflect orchestral dimensions, including "Horsetail Feathers," which required little reinvention, and "Arctic Circle," which led to a coda packed with chromatic suspense. The two newer pieces that closed his set were marked by pungent but graceful touches: a suggestively smudged viola part, a twitchy line for violins.

Usually, though, Mr. Pallett practices an art of accretion, looping his own violin and keyboard parts to create chamber-pop arrangements in real time. Without that hint of sorcery, his performance felt almost ordinary. And because he isn't a forceful or particularly magnetic singer, he sometimes sounded overwhelmed by the pomp... [NY Times]

Grizzly Bear came up next and even impressed the people who had never heard of either band that were sitting all around me ("Grizzly Bear can sing!") (BAM subscribers?). Grizzly Bear played a mix of old and new songs, some for the first time live, and many of them with the orchestra. Ed Droste and Daniel Rossen have such different voices, and write such different songs, but somehow they mash it all together and it becomes Grizzly Bear. More than ever it seems the two front-men are collaborating - singing at the same time, or back and forth. Ed also seems to be letting his voice out in a gothier, Depeche Mode/Dead Can Dance/Antony-like direction that I liked a lot. I can't wait to hear the new album. More pictures, a video and the setlist from the show, below...

Continue reading "Grizzly Bear & Final Fantasy w/ The Brooklyn Philharmonic @ BAM - pics, setlist, video"

photos by Natasha Ryan

Beirut thrives on the indie-rock circuit playing music that has little to do with typical rock sounds or rhythms. On Friday its nearly all-acoustic lineup included accordion, trumpet, trombone, bass fiddle and drums; Mr. Condon switched between rotary valve flugelhorn and ukulele. Beirut rarely uses a standard rock beat; more often it has the sputtering snare drum and occasional bass-drum thuds of waltzes, tangos, polkas and Balkan dances.

On Friday night Beirut was backed for part of its set by the three dozen musicians of the Vassar Orkestar -- on strings, reeds and horns, with arrangements by Beirut's trumpeter Kelly Pratt -- who added elegant pizzicato parts and put more oomph in the oompah. Mr. Condon beckoned the audience out of the opera-house seats, to throng the stage as if the Brooklyn Academy of Music were just a bigger club. [NY Times]

Beirut played four shows in Brooklyn in two weeks. It started with a secret show at Coco66 in Greenpoint on January 27th. Then on February 4th came Music Hall of Williamsburg, and finally on Friday (2/6) and Saturday (2/7) came the two shows with the Vassar Orkestar at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Kaki King opened those last two. Beirut also appeared on Letterman Friday night. Video from that, and more pictures from the last BAM show, below...

Continue reading "Beirut played Letterman (video) & BAM w/ Kaki King (pics)"

Little Boots @ Knitting Factory during CMJ (more by Chris La Putt)

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Tunde @ the Stone
* Little Boots @ Studo B
* Kria Brekken @ the Stone
* Beirut & Kaki King @ BAM
* Valient Thorr @ The Shank
* Cat Power @ Apollo Theater
* The English Beat @ Irving Plaza
* The Giraffes @ Mercury Lounge
* Murder By Death @ Bowery Ballroom
* Final Fantasy & Matt Smith @ the Kitchen
* Andrew W.K. & Cheeseburger @ Santos Party House
* Project Jenny / Project Jan @ South Street Seaport
* Woods, Blank Dogs, WAVVES, Nodzzz & Gary War @ Market Hotel
* The Black Keys, Lucero & The Heartless Bastards @ Terminal 5
* These Are Powers, Bird Names & Hearts of Darknesses @ 92YTribeca
* These United States, Rural Alberta Advantage & Wynn Walent @ Union Hall

There is also a Dark Was the Night listening party tonight.

This weekend is NY Comic Con.

Beirut will also be on David Letterman tonight.

Franz Ferdinand will be on the late show with Craig Ferguson tonight.

TVOTR are playing SNL Saturday.

What else?

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Last night's show (2/4) at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn was a solid bill from start to finish begining with headliner Beirut playing after Inlets who played after Tune Yards...

For musician Merrill Garbus -- whose one-woman band Tune-yards features ukulele, voice, and found sounds filtered through a hand-held digital voice recorder and then sent to her laptop for mixing -- self-releasing her debut Bird-Brains was all about empowerment. "Bird-Brains was very intentionally done all through 'free' media, i.e. the digital-voice recorder, my laptop, free Audacity software -- and all by me. I was very much in a feminist frame of mind when I chose to use those as my limitations," she says. "As a woman musician, I'm in the world of men a lot. I catch myself, even, assuming that women musicians don't record, produce, or even write their own stuff." [Venus Zine]

Like at the recent show at Coco66, Beirut played a mix of old and new. Unlike at Coco6, Beirut played a cover of "Brazil", an Ary Baroso/Ed Russel standard that Arcade Fire also covered and released.

Beirut's current band incarnation isn't as large as we've seen in the past. Friday and Saturday night at BAM it will be bigger than ever. More pictures from last night below...

Continue reading "Beirut, Inlets & Tune Yards @ MHOW, Brooklyn, NY - pics"

Headliners Paul McCartney, The Killers and The Cure are among the 130-plus acts set for the tenth COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL (APRIL 17, 18 AND 19) at the beautiful Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA, the same grounds where the COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL debuted in 1999. Other artists confirmed for America's most critically acclaimed music festival include Morrissey, Amy Winehouse, Franz Ferdinand, My Bloody Valentine, Leonard Cohen, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Thievery Corporation, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (the complete line-up is listed below).

This marks the first ever U.S. festival appearance for McCartney who is currently supporting his latest release ELECTRIC ARGUMENTS.

"I have heard that Coachella is one of the greatest festivals in the world. I'm really excited to get out there and rock!" McCartney says.

Tickets for COACHELLA go on sale Friday, January 30 at 9:00 AM (PT) at all Ticketmaster locations.

Throbbing Gristle and the rest of the full (real) line-up (as of 1/30) is below:

Continue reading "Coachella 2009 - OFFICIAL lineup announced (My Bloody Valentine, Leonard Cohen, Paul McCartney, Morrissey, The Cure, Antony, Amy Winehouse...) - tix on sale"

photos by Ryan Muir

Beirut played a last-minute, free (though some were charged at the door?), secret show at Coco66 in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn last night (1/26). They stuffed as many people as possible into the small bar - many packed right into the adjoining rooom, and Beirut played for an hour, took a short break, and then played for another 30 minutes. I'm not sure it's fair to complain about anything at this show... They played new songs, many of which they're still rusty at, but that's probably why they scheduled the show - as a warmup for the much more important performances they have coming up at Vassar, BAM and MHOW. So far there are some complaints in the comments though - most related to Zach getting his drink on, and at least one by someone who misheard what Zach said about his ukelele. They're not all bad though...

"zach was drunk. but no drunker than anyone would be playing to a bar full of drunk youngens on a monday night. i was right up front and thought the sound, for a place whose acoustics are far from outstanding, was pretty decent. definitely nothing to complain about (and I enjoy complaining about bad sound). really see no reason to hate on this show. no it was not life changing, but it was definitely better than staying home on a Monday night watching reruns of man vs. food." [mcg]

Where you ended up standing probably had a lot to do with how good it was. Regardless, people in attendance were cheering loudly throughout the show (especially when they played the hits). People are working on the setlist in the comments of the last post. More pictures and a video below...

Continue reading "Beirut's secret show @ Coco66, Brooklyn, NY - pics & video"

March of the Zapotec and RealPeople Holland

Beirut's two new EPs (pictured above) are out in February.

Beirut is playing Coco66 in Greenpoint (again) TONIGHT, Monday January 26th, at 10PM. It's free. Good luck.

Beirut also has Brooklyn shows coming up at BAM and MHOW, and one at Vassar.

Team B @ Union Pool (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Team B will be playing Friday 1/23 at the 92Y Tribeca. We will be joined by our friends Freetime (Jason of Team B's band) and Lame Drivers. I know I promised special guests last time and didn't deliver, but this time watch out! You can buy advance tickets here for $10.

In other news, you can buy our record on iTunes now. Also, stay tuned for some possible upcoming show and tour info....

That message is from Team B member Kelly Pratt who also plays in Beirut with Jon Natchez, Tracy Pratt, and Jason Poranski who are also all in Team B. So far they've only played one other NYC show.

They'll all also be playing with Beirut at Vassar, BAM, and Music Hall of Williamsburg. Check out the short Team B documentary below if you haven't already...

Continue reading "Team B (members of Beirut) playing 92YTribeca, on iTunes "

Inlets & Zach Condon in a loft (more by Ryan Muir)

Hello all,

Happiest of newest years.

A note that Inlets will be opening for our friends Beirut on February 4 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY. If any of you already had plans to attend notwithstanding Inlets's participation, please know that you can expect our attendance as well.

...Inlets continues to assemble an album, grain by grain, like the bottom of the slowest hourglass... or something. But you'll be able to hear bits soon, and the hibernation will cease.

Inlets

Beirut's Zach Condon recently played trumpet with Inlets in a Brooklyn loft.

The Vassar Orkestra is playing with Beirut at BAM and Vassar.

Beirut, in their first tour since last spring, is making Vassar their first stop!
Come see them perfoming live with the Vassar Orkestar!

The concert will be held in the Vassar Chapel, starting at 8pm on January 31st.
Tickets will be FREE for students holding valid Vassar IDs and limited to 1 ticket per ID.
The free ticket giveaways will be on January 26th (Monday) at 10am and 3pm with a limited run of 350 tickets per time.
Tickets will go on sale to the public at 3pm on January 26th. (Ticketweb.com)

Questions:
Q: My friends have class at both of those times! May I bring their IDs with me to get tickets for them?
A: Yes! The tickets are 1 per ID. Please bring their IDs with you so they don't miss out!

The Vassar Orchestra (Orkestar) will also be performing with Beirut at both of the sold-out shows at BAM. The orchestra will not however be with the band at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Inlets will be at Music Hall though. Many more Vassar FAQ's, and info about the orchestra, below...

Continue reading "Vassar Orkestar playing w/ Beirut @ BAM & Vassar (tickets)"

by Andrew Frisicano

Julian Koster & friends in a NYC apartment

The European-folk-music-influenced duo of ex-Neutral Milk Hotel drummer Jeremy Barnes and violinist Heather Trost, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, is set to play two upcoming NYC shows - January 10th at Mercury Lounge (tix), with Great Lake Swimmers, and January 11th at Union Hall (tix).

Barnes didn't turn out for the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise tour earlier this winter, and so far these are A Hawk and a Hacksaw's only announced 2009 dates.

With H&H, there's always the possibility of a Beirut-related appearance, as they've worked & toured together, and are on the same label (Badabing. There's even video evidence of previous collabs (see below). Zach Condon recently appeared unannounced at an Inlets show, and Beirut are playing three NYC shows in February (ahem, for now).

In other NMH-stalking news - a while back BV reported that the Music Tapes Caroling tour would be making its way north from Georgia through New York to Maine playing living rooms and houses along the route. Fans were encouraged to invite "Julian and his friends" to their house. I [Andrew] did so, and strangely enough, on December 13th, Julian, Rudolph (dog) and Badger (musical saw) stopped by at my place with a few other friends in tow for a set of saw-sung carols, fantasical stories and a couple Music Tapes banjo tunes - all performed solo next to the Christmas tree. Even with the show's short notice - I'd just gotten an email that morning with details - about ten to fifteen fans showed up for the event. After the set, Julian paused for a few snapshots (see above) and left as quickly as he had came - I unfortunately wasn't able to follow the traveling party to the next apartment. Jesse Jarnow, contributer to the Voice, attended and wrote up the event on that blog.

Julian was recently featured on NPR's Morning Edition, which commented that The Singing Saw at Christmastime's layered saws "capture just a bit of bone-chilling terror -- just right for these uncertain times." On Christmas day, Julian and friends gave an interview and performed live for NPR's World Cafe. If you missed it, you can listen to it now at their site.

In addition to the date above, Great Lake Swimmers are also playing the Bell House in Brooklyn January 9th (tix) with Haley Bonar & Daniel Martin Moore, and a Feburary 7th date in Guelph, Ontario, near their home base of Toronto, for the Hillside Festival.

Video of Beirut playing with Hawk & A Hacksaw, and all dates, below...

Continue reading "Julian Koster came caroling, A Hawk and a Hacksaw & Great Lake Swimmers are playing shows "

words and photos by Ryan Muir

DOWNLOAD: Department of Eagles - Balmy Night (live @ the Bell House) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Inlets - Pictures of Trees (MP3)

Inlets

Last Saturday, December 13th, I found myself at an intimate loft party in Williamsburg to see Sebastian Krueger's sad-pop song writing project, Inlets. The show was a pretty low key affair. People sitting on the center-of-the-room-staircase made the place seem full and active, but i'd be surprised if there were as many as 100 people there. The bartender was friendly and served complimentary beer and wine. Everybody seemed conversational and friendly and space didnt seem to be that much of an issue.

Fred Nicolaus of Department of Eagles played only a couple of songs (including one Dept of Eagles song), and Angel Deradoorian of Dirty Projectors also played a short set. It seemed to take a long time for the third band Glass Ghost to get set up and then I didn't really enjoy their set as much as the people around me seemed to.

Inlets was a very nice professional step up in sound and presence. The arrangements at times were very full and accomplished, but also sounded appropriately sparse as well-- in some songs band members would drop out completely as the set went on.

Favorite moments were the toy piano melodies on one of the later songs, and when Beirut's Zach Condon watched from the upper balcony and joined on trumpet for the last song of the evening. Overall a pleasant and mellow show that was well-suited to the well-manicured loft space.

Zach Condon

Beirut has three Brooklyn shows coming up. Department of Eagles are touring in January. Dirty Projectors are playing New Years Eve at Knitting Factory. More pictures from the loft party below...

Continue reading "Inlets (w/ Zach Condon), Fred Nicolaus, Deradoorian & Glass Ghost @ Whisk and Ladle (a loft party), NYC - pics"

BAM is now confirming the 2nd Beirut date, but their online ticket system is down. To quote drewo, "Gotta do it the old fashioned way, by phone: 718.636.4100. Good seats for 2/7 available."

UPDATE: you can now also buy tickets online

BAM night one is sold out (2/6). MHOW sold out instantly (2/4). Monday there will be a third Brooklyn show on sale (2/7). Stay tuned.

Beirut @ MHOW (more by Ryan Muir)

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for Beirut's upcoming show at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Beirut is back, with a double dose of EP goodness for your listening pleasure!

Entitled March of the Zapotec, the first EP consists of songs written by Beirut and recorded in Mexico with the help of Oaxacan march masters The Jimenez Band. The second EP, Holland, showcases Zach's latest bedroom-style recordings under his former moniker Realpeople, including the previously released "Venice" (in the 2007 Believer music issue), and "My Night With the Prostitute From Marseille" (on the Natalie Portman curated Big Change charity album). Taken together, the two EPs proudly display the scope of Beirut's work over the last year.

Keep an eye out for a February release on Zach's own Pompeii Records, distributed by Revolver in the U.S. and Forte in Europe.

Beirut is also back with random Brooklyn shows popping up one by one. First there was the February 6th show at BAM, and now February 4th at Music Hall of Williamsburg. $20 tickets for the latter go on sale Friday at noon.

Beirut also has a song on the new Dark was the Night comp coming out in February.

Beirut's last show at MHOW was in May of this year.

Tickets are on sale @ noon for the upcoming M. Ward show at the Apollo Theater.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the upcoming Passion Pit show at Bowery Ballroom.

Tickets are on sale for the Beirut / Kaki King show at BAM.

Tickets are on sale for the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah / Chairlift show at BAM.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the upcoming Modeselektor show at Bowery Ballroom.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the upcoming Black Lips show at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the upcoming Black Lips show at Music Hall of Williamsburg too.

Tickets are on on sale (@ noon) for the upcoming AC Newman show at Bowery Ballroom. AC Newman is also playing the Bell House.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Ben Kweller show at Town Hall.

Tickets are on sale @ noon for the Pretenders show coming up at Roseland Ballroom.

Robbers on High Street are playing the Guilt By Association party at Music Hall of Williamsburg on January 31st. Tickets are on sale (@ noon).

Tickets are on sale for Antony's upcoming shows at Town Hall.

A bunch of shows also went on sale Thursday.

DOWNLOAD: Beirut - Elephant Gun (MP3)

Beirut @ Sasquatch 2008 (more by Chris Graham)

Sounds Like Brooklyn Music Festival is a borough-wide celebration of Brooklyn's musical talent, comprising mainstage events at BAM (performances by Beirut, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Kaki King, and Chairlift), music in BAMcafé, off-site performances at thirteen Brooklyn venues (The Bell House, Bodega, bushbaby, Le Grand Dakar, Frank's Lounge, Goodbye Blue Monday, Monkey Town, Pete's Candy Store, Solomon's Porch, Sputnik, Southpaw, Union Hall, Zebulon), and a BAMfamily event (featuring Guy Davis).

BAM Executive Producer Joseph V. Melillo commented, "Sounds Like Brooklyn Music Festival demonstrates BAM's continuing commitment to celebrate the borough's vibrant music scene and its wealth of talent. We're thrilled to partner with many of Brooklyn's most dynamic clubs and venues, and we're excited to present exceptional artists in our own house."

Tickets are now on sale for Friends of Bam only. Public sale begins Friday December 12th. More dates and details below...

Continue reading "Beirut, CYHSY, Kaki King & Chairlift playing Sounds Like Brooklyn Music Festival @ BAM"

"What a fitting day to announce the complete list of artists involved with our upcoming album DARK WAS THE NIGHT - the February 17th 4AD release that will benefit the Red Hot Organization. It's World AIDS Day, and in honor of that, we bring you the exciting news."

More info on the previously mentioned comp below...

Continue reading "Dark Was the Night - full 4AD comp artist list, cover art, etc"

Team B @ Union Pool (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Everything (ok, maybe not everything) you need to know about Team B in the video below...

Continue reading "a 6 minute Team B/Beirut/Kelly Pratt documentary (video)"