Listened: Wednesday July 14
I loved Gulag Orkestar as soon as it came out, since I was getting swept away in the gypsy music tide of the day. The horns, accordions, and tambourines are so pretty and catchy. Beirut has the distinction of being one of the only bands of American origin doing this sort of gypsy mashup. All the others (Balkan Beat Box, Gogol Bordello, etc) have members who were born outside of America.
It was also impressive that Zach (the bandleader) was so young when this came out – about 22 or so. An American kid immersing himself in another country’s style of music and reinventing it as his own like this is inspiring.
Emily's Albums A to Z 
[…] Gisland is an EP more gypsy love from Beirut, in the Gulag Orkestar vein. It’s been more than a year since Beirut has released their last EP, March of the […]
[…] albums for free. Having visited Croatia and the Balkan region before, and being a fan of the neo-gypsy music craze, I jumped at the chance to get Music of Croatia for […]
[…] you like the gypsy-chic music that has become popular in the last couple years (see Beirut and Gogol Bordello) you will like […]