Lon Gisland EP
on Ba Da Bing! records

"As a stopgap before his next record, Zach Condon brought his eight member orkestar into the studio and recorded these songs. If you've seen the band live, you've heard some of these songs, including "Elephant Gun" and "Carousels." Also included is a full band rendition of "Scenic World" and some other fine surprises"

Buy it from Ba Da Bing!

Gulag Orkestar
on Ba Da Bing! records

"While it may sound like an entire Balkan gypsy orchestra playing modern songs as mournful ballads and upbeat marches, Beirut's first album, Gulag Orkestar, is largely the work of one 19-year-old Albuquerque native, Zach Condon, with assistance by Jeremy Barnes (Neutral Milk Hotel, A Hawk and a Hacksaw) and Heather Trost (A Hawk and a Hacksaw). Horns, violins, cellos, ukuleles, mandolins, glockenspiels, drums, tambourines, congas, organs, pianos, clarinets and accordions (no guitars on this album!) all build and break the melodies under Condon's deep-voiced crooner vocals, swaying to the Eastern European beats like a drunken 12-member ensemble that has fallen in love with The Magnetic Fields, Talking Heads and Neutral Milk Hotel"

buy it from Ba Da Bing!