Beirut

March of the Zapotec and Realpeople Holland is Zach Condon's return after a year-long hiatus from Beirut. It's not a new album per se, but rather two EPs that couldn't be any more different. Zapotec, an uncharacteristic and all too experimental fusion of Mexican brass and art pop, is the product of a trip Condon took to the Oaxaca region, where he made several field recordings. Holland, meanwhile, is a collection of Magnetic Fields-inspired synth pop from Realpeople, Condon's pre-Beirut project.

The globetrotting adventures of Beirut — a.k.a. Zach Condon, indie-gypsy wunderkind —
are becoming harder to keep straight. Condon's new EP is a two-part affair: March of the
Zapotec features mostly Balkan brass-band-style tunes recorded in Oaxaca, Mexico, with a
19-piece local band; the second part, Holland, is five synthy songlets that were laid down
in Condon's Brooklyn bedroom (not the Netherlands). Together they highlight hi... More >