Last year was a great one for boy-wonder Zach Condon, known by most as the brains and braun behind the beautiful Balkan beats of Beirut. Gulag Orkestar was one seriously powerful debut and hopefully its shoes aren't too big for Condon to fill with a follow-up. Contrary to what some of us might like to believe, he didn't just luck out and construct a brilliant debut on his first go-around. Like many aspiring musicians, Condon dabbled in cassette demos and solo electronic ponderings before his Beirut days, which is hard to believe considering his young age. And what's even harder to believe is that he actually was in a band, and they actually did record an album...all the way back in 2001.
One of the remarkably few joys of my inbox is the occasional surprise it offers...and this week's might be the sweetest surprise of them all: Zach Condon's debut, his real debut: The Joys Of Losing Weight, a collection of 21 untitled songs released under the moniker The Real People. Here's a snippet of the note that was attached to the email:
"This album has never been released, is not available for sale, and has never been seen or heard by anyone other than a handful of people who have personally received a copy of this record. It pre-dates all of his work with Beirut and does not bear any influence of the Balkan/Eastern Gypsy sound that he has become reknowned and critically acclaimed for; however, it's a highly precocious album that's steeped in amazing melodies draped against a backdrop of synthesized electronica: imagine an entire electronic/experimental album in the style of Scenic World with Zach's distinctive vocals and the occasional appearance of his famous brass instrumentation."
I couldn't have thunk of a better description myself. Here's a little taste, courtesy of the wonderful world-wide web:
[MP3] The Real People (Beirut) - Track 4
[MP3] The Real People (Beirut) - Track 5
[MP3] The Real People (Beirut) - Track 7 (highly rec'd)
Yes, the rest of the album is as good as those three tracks. If you want to hear more the album's floating around on the internerd in all the right places, you just gotta know where to look (Google helps). What do you guys think?
32 comments:
i know i dont need to say this but HOLY FUCK thanks for this post
THANK YOU!!! I downloaded the album immediately. If you know where to look, there's a lot of early Beirut floating around the internet, and this just added to my collection!
WOAH rad. This will be on my show on Thursday on ErrorFM.com.
-allison
Thats pretty cool, different style, same voice, kinda wierd. I'm off to find the rest of the tracks.
His voice was just as beautiful at age 15.
I love these tracks, thanks.
I was hoping to hear more of this wonderful stuff after you posted the really fabulous song "Interior Of A Dutch House" some time ago! Thanks so much!
"If you know where to look, there's a lot of early Beirut floating around the internet" - I don't know where to look, no one else has mp3s on blogs. Any help?
effing christ.
1)go to google.
2) type "the real people the joys of losing weight"
Actually you should search "the real people" "the joys of losing weight"
I wish these tracks had names cuz then they would scrobble right. Lets come up with names for them!
fucking awesome. i've been itching to hear his real people tracks ever since i read on wikipedia he recorded a magnetic fields-inspired album. much thanks
i love love love it.
and hey, look out for a beirut music video soon for "elephant gun"
i was in it last week. we all had elephant noses and danced around with zach.
then afterwards he played a new track for his follow-up album. from what he told me, it should be out by september.
a couple pictures from the video shoot:
http://apu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027819&id=56905565
enjoy!
connor, you are my hero of the week. this is awesome. I've just finished listening to the whole album, and I'm gonna post on it tonight...maybe upload a few other tracks. YOU ROCK!
im actually more of a fan of track 4, not gonna lie. i love this guy. seriously. he can have my babies any day. thanks connor!
fabolous discover
Music to lose weight with! Awesome!
Wow. Zach = lovely.
Eugene said "I wish these tracks had names cuz then they would scrobble right. Lets come up with names for them!"
I'm in the process of doing that. It's fun!
You should try it! Or check out my names for the songs so far:
http://www.last.fm/user/jukeboxsound/journal/2007/05/23/431523/
this is super good.
thankyou.
i found the whole album here:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/3lftud.
has any managed to get hold of or hear any of the doo-wop album?
did he make an actual album of the doo-wop stuff? whoa that would be amazing
yeh acorrding to wikipedia he supposedly did. I wanna hear it!
Very interesting!
i´m just curious...how did some of you get in his video? was there a contest or what?
greetings from denmark,
sophie
by video i mean beiruts "Elephant Gun" video
i feel as though if i don't get names for the songs on the album my life will forever remain incomplete.
oh and there's the full album on mininova for those wanting it.
the entire album is posted online at http://indiechristoph.com/music/The%20Joys%20of%20Losing%20Weight%20%7bThe%20Real%20People%7d.zip
sorry but i can't find the entire album and the link doesn't work
quite a few songs are posted on www.myspace.com/zachcondon
I dont understand if this is his myspace or a fake one, but the songs are there allright..
thanks for you sharing !!good post!
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hi was unable to hear the tracks on this page... i read the content and the feed back sounds really good, will google it and visit my space to check it out thanks....
Yeah sweet as go the real people
cool blog here you guys rock, googled the real people....
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