Beirut (ballad, albums, orchestra, quote, songs)

Timorous Vince · 01-09-2007, 04:21 PM

I dislike them. They seem to rip-off Neutral Milk Hotel, minus the amazing lyrics.. I would probably like them if there was a more-competent lyricist. But anybody can mimic an eastern-European style and spoon-feed it to scenesters. Haha.

beat yr own KID · 01-09-2007, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timorous Vince

I dislike them. They seem to rip-off Neutral Milk Hotel, minus the amazing lyrics.. I would probably like them if there was a more-competent lyricist. But anybody can mimic an eastern-European style and spoon-feed it to scenesters. Haha.

Wow did you copy/paste that from pitchfork?

Timorous Vince · 01-09-2007, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beat yr own KID

Wow did you copy/paste that from pitchfork?

No, do they dislike him, too?

beat yr own KID · 01-09-2007, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timorous Vince

No, do they dislike him, too?

It sounds like their kind of response and I think that may be where I heard that comment before. I have heard it somewhere. I don't really hear the compairison to NMH though.

4ZZZ · 01-25-2009, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timorous Vince

I dislike them. They seem to rip-off Neutral Milk Hotel, minus the amazing lyrics.. I would probably like them if there was a more-competent lyricist. But anybody can mimic an eastern-European style and spoon-feed it to scenesters. Haha.

What an astonishing comment

. I realise that this was posted a fair while back and the individual making the comment has no doubt disappeared but Beirut sound nothing like Neutral Milk Hotel. What would make anyone think that? I am seriously intrigued.

As to the lyrics, I see that someone replied and said that this was based on various critics making comments about the lyrics being childish. Really? I think that the critics I have read are talking nonsense. I have found the lyrics to be more than competent and suitable to the general tone of the recordings. allmusic also make this comment

Quote:

The lyrics, it must be said, are the album's most obvious flaw, clearly the work of a young, romantically inclined teen who has never been to Europe but has seen a lot of foreign art films about, like, Gypsies 'n' stuff.

I have a lot of respect for allmusic who generally get it right but they on this occasion are wrong. From what I have read Condon made trips to Europe as a 16 year old. And they are romantic! So what! Does every lyric have to dark and foreboding just to be excepted as "art"?
In fact to take the lyrics and their complexity a bit further I found a site that that discussed the lyric from A Sunday Smile from The Flying Cup Club. I quote again

Quote:

In a book called History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France by William Francis Patrick Napier, I read about an assault on a place simply called the White Church. I believe this song assessed this event, or a soldiers thoughts during his attack on the White Church.

“What’s to say for the days I cannot bare.”

I believe here he is preparing to introduce what in his head he imagines when he is having a hard time in the war.

“A Sunday smile, you wore it for a while. / A cemetery mile, we paused and sang.”

He thinks of her smile on a specific day, this day being spent in (or by) a cemetery. Even surrounded by death, the two of them were frightfully happy. I believe he thinks of this because now as he is surrounded by death, he is unhappy.

“We burnt to the ground, left for you to admire / with buildings inside church of white.”

I think here he is proclaiming that his acts in the war will be something they can look back on. From the aforementioned book: “Heated shot were however thrown at the White Church with a view to burn the magazines; …”

“We burnt to the ground, left a grave to admire. / And as we reach for the sky, reach the church of white.”

He is trying to find good in his acts, thinking that maybe lovers will somebody walk by the cemetery he created and be able to dance. Also, he describes reaching for the white church. They never actually succeeded in destroying it. I think this represents the hope. He reaches for the sky, the same way he fully believes in his relationship with his girl back home. It’s what keeps him going. And yet they didn’t burn the White Church down. So what does this say about everything?

If the individual who wrote that considers the content of that lyric alone worthy of appraisal then what the hell are Pitchfork and allmusic carrying on about? I would suggest that they a being pretentious and trying to look important to a younger readership.

The final comment by the OP "But anybody can mimic an eastern-European style and spoon-feed it to scenesters" is one of the more absurd things that I have read in a while. Good grief! The whole of the music world consists of artists wearing their influences on their sleeves.

lieasleep · 02-20-2009, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4ZZZ

What an astonishing comment

. I realise that this was posted a fair while back and the individual making the comment has no doubt disappeared but Beirut sound nothing like Neutral Milk Hotel. What would make anyone think that? I am seriously intrigued.

i understand how people could think that after his first LP "Gulag Orkestar" and many people did think that. i remember reading a lot of comments about the album referring to Zach Condon as "the new Jeff Mangum" and it is almost understandable considering they share the balkan folk influences, the good use of horns, etc. it is even more understandable considering that these influences are rarely used in an even half way digestible, Americanized way.

When listening to Beirut as a whole the differences become much clearer. it is obvious that the original comment was made by someone who just judged beirut far too quickly. i wish more bands would follow the leads of beirut and neutral milk hotel because the mixture of horns, strings, and vocals that these two bands use produces some of my favorite music.

EDIT: March of the Zapotec is a real solid EP and i am looking forward to the release of the full LP. Condon seems to be taking a bit of a direction change and pulling it off in fine fashion. different upon first listen but it gets greater when listened to again.

4ZZZ · 02-22-2009, 06:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lieasleep

i understand how people could think that after his first LP "Gulag Orkestar" and many people did think that. i remember reading a lot of comments about the album referring to Zach Condon as "the new Jeff Mangum" and it is almost understandable considering they share the balkan folk influences, the good use of horns, etc. it is even more understandable considering that these influences are rarely used in an even half way digestible, Americanized way.

I still don't buy it though. I do not think that Gulag Orkestar is anything like NMH. I get a bit frustrated at the music press to be honest. A nice new sound appears and they try and down grade it by pompous comparisons. I look forward the day when these hacks get a life and enjoy music for the sake of listening to it and not trying to have Freudian analysis of an aesthetic value.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lieasleep

i wish more bands would follow the leads of beirut and neutral milk hotel because the mixture of horns, strings, and vocals that these two bands use produces some of my favorite music.

Have you heard A Hawk and A Hacksaw? Might just be right up your alley.

lieasleep · 02-22-2009, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4ZZZ

I still don't buy it though. I do not think that Gulag Orkestar is anything like NMH. I get a bit frustrated at the music press to be honest. A nice new sound appears and they try and down grade it by pompous comparisons. I look forward the day when these hacks get a life and enjoy music for the sake of listening to it and not trying to have Freudian analysis of an aesthetic value.

Have you heard A Hawk and A Hacksaw? Might just be right up your alley.

I agree entirely, my only point is that I can see where they are coming from. And I have heard of them, i have a few of their albums actually. they take that whole balkan/ eastern european orchestra idea to an extreme but do it really well. i got into them when i was going through my whole, "find any and all music that came out of Neutral Milk Hotel and/ or the Elephant Six collective." though, i am still going through that lol. i've been really into Julian Koster's The Music Tapes, great ****.

but to get back on topic, Beirut is awesome.

swim · 01-19-2007, 04:22 PM

well, i'd hit it, y0

beat yr own KID · 01-19-2007, 04:33 PM

beirut @ bonnaroo!! wooooooo

01-09-2007, 04:21 PM	#1 (permalink)
Timorous Vince Skin That Smokewagon! Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Southern California Posts: 118	I dislike them. They seem to rip-off Neutral Milk Hotel, minus the amazing lyrics.. I would probably like them if there was a more-competent lyricist. But anybody can mimic an eastern-European style and spoon-feed it to scenesters. Haha. __________________ me him her God

01-19-2007, 04:22 PM	#9 (permalink)
swim dontcareaboutyou Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: North Carolina Posts: 5,145	well, i'd hit it, y0 __________________ http://nakednaps.bandcamp.com/

01-19-2007, 04:33 PM	#10 (permalink)
beat yr own KID Music Addict Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Fort Washington MD Posts: 904	beirut @ bonnaroo!! wooooooo __________________ I was dead. This was hell. There were no demons, no hellfire or brimstone, just a deep, complete feeling of darkness and hopelessness. This was the never-ending void. Not at all how I had imagined it, but worse than I thought that it could have been.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode