Customer Reviews

March of the Zapotec and Realpeople Holland

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First of all, it is not an album but two EPs joined together.
Maybe it is not exactly what you might have come to expect from this enviably talented young American artist.
The first half features a Mexican funeral band and delivers oompah-ish brass and a strong dose of mariachi horns (featuring real Mexicans!).
"It's a charmingly woozy picturesque postcard Mexico: full of inconsolably grieving mothers, carnivalesque town squares, bitter wives and death by bayonet"... like Jason Schwartzman in the "Darjeeling Limited", traveling across India, but seemingly locked within the world of "Where Do You To My Lovely?", the fixed-point at the heart of it all remains Condon's richly romantic, melancholy croon". - Uncut
The second EP, "Holland", recorded by Condon under the moniker Realpeople (an early pre-Beirut alias) was recorded at home but seems like a great, reveals his more sombre Seventies synth side, featuring entirely unrelated, gently synthesized beats and keyboards and is significantly more successful.
Two of the tracks from Holland have surfaced prior to this release - "My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille" appeared on a digitally released charity affair while "Venice" featured on a compilation given away by uber-hip US monthly "The Believer".
"Venice" has a ghostly beauty, which makes you wish that Condon had fleshed out this group of songs into a whole album.
And then there is the oddly uninspired, bizarre, inconsequential Euro-pop of "No Dice", upon which this collection unfortunately closes, which disappoints.
This is a little weird, but it certainly shows a different aspect of Zach's musical personality and talent.
It's happy, sad, intriguing and different.
After repeated listenings, it will grow on you.
And you will come to like it.
The Flying Club Cup

I've read 10 reviews of this album, 6 critics liked it, 4 didn't. Below is my attempt at aggregating all those reviews.

This album is actually a double EP. The other EP is Realpeople's (Zach Condon's pre-Beirut name) Holland.

Zach Condon (leader of Beirut) is starting to come across as a musical tourist. He goes someplace new, soaks in some music, becomes inspired and then writes his own music. March of the Zapotec was born from Condon's trip to Oaxaca Mexico where he heard some Mexican funeral music and ended up recording six songs with a local 19-piece band.

Holland on the other hand is some lo-fi electronica that drew comparisons to the Magnetic Fields and Boards of Canada.

The element that holds these two EPs together is Condon's voice. It's amazing. And strangely almost always described as a "croon", but whatever. Ultimately, it's solid work from an amazingly talented singer/musician. It could use a little more focus on writing songs instead of creating atmosphere. Also the critics who didn't like the EPs thought that it was uneven. And I get the feeling critics will really start ripping him if he doesn't settle on a style sooner or later.

Reading blogs and reviews that tear Zach Condon apart for his foray into electronic music on the second half of this EP makes me wonder why people are so desperate to hear the same sound from their artists. I'm more than impressed that someone with such an old-world style and sensibility can turn around and produce electro-pop that is just as joyful or melancholic as his full band productions are. I can't wait for more from this very talented young artist.

March of the Zapotec (and Realpeople: Holland) is comprised of two extended players spliced together to make one long player. This long player may or may not stand as Beirut's sole musical statement this year and it's a strange one. The first 6 tracks (or March of the Zapotec) are basically in indulgence of accordion harmonics with occasional structure (such as the outstanding "The Akara"). Beirut may be the only person making music in the popular sphere that can make the accordion (or something that resembles it) sound good but juxtaposing arrangements drenched with it next to a more immediate set of songs is a jolt and it makes for uneven listening. Those that appreciate strangeness will find value in the first set of arrangements but it'll be difficult to fairly compare them to the last group of songs on this album. The Realpeople: Holland songs (as far as listening pleasure) are the superior section of this EP suture. "My Wife, Lost in the Wild", "Venice" and "The Concubine" are three of the best songs Beirut has ever released and suggests deftness with electronic arrangements that was only hinted at on his first two albums. Frankly, this album was weighed back into excellent territory because of the strength of the last half and releasing the EPs together ensures more saturation of some of his best work, so this album was a good idea and it's a download that can stand next to his proper releases. Beirut's ambitious, that's for sure and his understated genius is hard to find elsewhere, that's why he caught on so generously a few years ago. He proves that musical vision is the key and not just trendy music equipment.

Frankly I do not understand this CD, nonetheless it is quite enjoyable. The first half features songs punctuated by wheezing brass horns, with heavy emphasis on the tuba no less. Then the second half of the CD abruptly cuts over to a pronounced techno pop sound. One minute the listener is entranced in a sleepy sunny plaza somewhere south of the border, and then suddenly whisked off to a disco in Amsterdam. Why the discontinuity in the music ? Why not make two CDS ? Who knows, but somehow it works and is kind of cool in the juxtaposition of sounds. This listener enjoyed the second musical alter ego a little more. The lyrics hovering in and out, over electronica, are seamless and rather haunting.

If there's one thing that's gauranteed to put me in a good mood, it's the music of Beirut. This album does not dissapoint.

For the record, "March of the Zapotec/Holland" is not an album. It's two EPs.

For that matter, it's not really Beirut as you know it -- apparently Zach Condon has been going to Mexico and diddling around with some electronic instrumentation. Not many artists could smoosh together Eastern European rhythms with Latin instrumentation, and then top it off with a dash of the Postal Service. But fortunately Condon pulls it off.

Apparently "March of the Zapotec" was influenced by a recent trip to Oaxaca, and as a result the gypsyish flavour of the music is tinged with some Latin colour. After the styles clash in the opening "Zocalo," Condon's band sways into the languid brassy "La Llorona," and the gloriously Spanish-flavoured "My Wife."

After that, it's into the melancholy trumpets and dancy grandeur of "The Akara" ("So long to these kite strings/so long since I've been saved... tasting more, wasting more..."), and the twisting meandering "On A Bayonet," which sounds like an excuse to exercise the horns. And the first part finishes with "The Shrew," a more sprightly little tune that wouldn't sound out of place on a Decemberists album.

But wait, there's more!

On the other hand, "Holland" is done under Condon's pseudonym "Realpeople," and it's pretty obvious why -- he's going into Postal Service territory. "My Night With the Prostitute from Marseille" is a sparkling peppy little electronic number, but it manages to retain the warmth of Condon's other work. That electronic vein runs through the rest of the album -- darting trip-hop waves over soaring vocals, a couple gypsyish melodies tied up in thin threads of electronica. Only "No Dice" goes too far with the electronic thing, sacrificing melody for the funky techno explorations.

After diddling around European-inspired pop for a couple albums, Beirut's sound is starting to branch out into unexplored territory.Given that it's almost completely made up of experimental stuff, "March of the Zapotec/Holland" is a pretty enjoyable little collection of songs, and Condon manages to pull it off with rare style, and hints at other directions where he may go in future musical journeys.

He uses the usual array of Eastern European instrumentation here -- drums, mournful horns, rattling cans, accordion, some strings -- and the same sense of melancholy suffuses his songs. But the collaboration of the Jimenez Band gives it a spicier sound and a sprightlier pace, although his explorations of the electronic soundscape sometimes go over the top. They're at the best when they complement the acoustics (as in "My Night With the Prostitute..."), not replace them.

Condon's voice is that of a young man looking out at the world after his second or third excursion into it -- experienced, yet able to appreciate its wonders. And his rich rolling voice are well suited to the lyrics ("And now outside/I see your eyes meet the sky/and I, I won't lie/I kept you here tonight... and I believed her then").

Beirut's double EP dabbles around in Latin music and electronica, and for the most part, "March of the Zapotec/Holland" gets it very, very right.

I liked some of music on this cd, but not as much as one of his more recent cds. it's still good to have as part of your collection.

The incredible thing about the music of BEIRUT is its combination of the lachrymose with the life-affirming. If you're going through a break-up, "March of the Zapotec" is the sound for you.

Since picking up Flying Club Cup and subsequently every other release by Beirut, I've almost burned myself out on these records. For those of you who can't stomach excessively wordy music nerd reviews, this guy (Zach Condon a.k.a. Beirut) is simply an incredible talent. Really. I bet that when he breaks wind, somewhere in the world a rainbow is born. So there were probably many rainbows around during his visit to WA-HAKA, where he recorded the first disc. While this latest release is very good, it does feel a bit unfinished. With both discs coming in at about 35 min. total, it seems like each disc is 1/2 of 2 separate albums. I still gave it 4 stars. People seem to be too liberal with the 5 star rating. In any case, looking forward to the next release. If you dug the foray into electronica on Realpeople Holland (disc 2), check out the latest from Alaska in Winter (Holiday). Zach plays ukelele and performs the vocal on the last track. On a completely separate note, if you haven't heard " The Supreme Genius of King Khan and the Shrines", check it out. It's AWESOME.