In the 1970s, Cher--finally free of Sonny--had a string of cheesy hit singles that included the infamous "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves." The lust-filled TV star sang, "At night the men would come around and lay their money down." OH!

The hit song by way of a (supposedly) morally corrupt ethnic group has a long and sordid history in American pop music. Dion DiMucci, once of the Belmonts, would've never penned "Abraham, Martin and John" if his fans knew he was a much feared Italian (they're all mobsters, right?). Or was that Greek? Speaking of Greeks, Cat Stevens became a huge teen pop-throb after changing his Greek name from the impossible Steven Demetre Georgiou to the wily "Cat."  Similarly, Jamaican born DJ/toaster William Maragh changed his name to Super Cat, resulting in '80s/'90s dancehall hits from New York to Kingston. You get the picture, and it's repeatable. Musical innovation typically comes from the bottom up. But does it count when the artist in question is simply slumming?

Albuquerque teen Zach Condon, aka Beirut, would seem an unlikely choice to revitalize a music style that has been banished to the ages. That's right: GYPSIES!

You've heard gypsy music all your life, you just didn't know it. Think back to some old black and white movie, the scene where a dramatic, heavy browed woman wearing gaudy earrings and a flowing dress is accompanied by wheezing violins and a slightly off key trumpet. This is music of the earth, music to mourn death and celebrate life. Gypsy music was once heard all over Eastern Europe and the Balkans, in the alleys and byways of Vienna, Prague and Budapest, and throughout the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.  Quixotic Gypsy melodies have inspired the operas of Franz Liszt, Johann Strauss and Béla Bartók. But except for Cher's classic track, the music has sadly lost its hip cache in our "only new will do" culture.

Zach Condon dropped out of high school at age 16, traveling to the Balkans where he was influenced by the intricate, delicate instrumentals of the area's folk and Gypsy musicians. That experience influenced his 2006 debut, Gulag Orkestar. Like a lost treasure from the Smithsonian, the album sounded like an old spirit mixing up ancient tales with Emo laden pop.  Condon tends to mumble his vocals, but his song's imaginative arrangements, bittersweet melodies and unusual instrumentation (trumpets, tambourine, upright piano, bassoon, weirdly slack guitar) resemble nothing from the mind of a typical, culture corrupted US teen.

Beirut's The Flying Club Cup (Ba Da Bing!) is equally daft and nostalgic for ancient cultures on the run, Condon tremulously relating tales from his weepy wellspring of Gypsy style. The eight member orkestar could be a band of samples, their Gypsy soundclash a freak thing, indeed. Condon soars over their mournful music like a humble narrator, aware of the power of his songs but never overreaching his mission. "A Sunday Smile" dances the Gypsy polka, Condon and a group of barroom brothers recalling the good times. What? Like Condon has good times to recall from his pre-20 something existence? Ahhh. He is an old spirit, after all.

 

Beirut
"A Sunday Smile" (mp3)
from "The Flying Club Cup"
(Ba Da Bing!)

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Beirut
"Postcards From Italy" (mp3)
from "Gulag Orkestar"
(Ba Da Bing!)

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Thurston Moore and the search for the ultimate pose: As the only music journalist with the nuts to say,"Thurston Moore and Sonic Youth are charlatans," I offer this track as proof. Oh, it's from his new solo release, Trees Outside The Academy. Thurston still looks the same (like a whiny teenager), still plays the same (he can't), and my, isn't that a snappy title! But really, what musical value can you assign to Sonic Youth? Free from punk rock? No, they don't have a groove. Experimental East Village futurists? They are laughable in comparison to Coltrane or John Cage, artists to which they aspire. What then? You tell me. If you can stomach this wretch. "Frozen Gtr" is so 1986.

Thurston
"Frozen Gtr" (mp3)
from "Trees Outside the Academy"
(Ecstatic Peace)

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