Before the indie rock blogosphere creamed itself for Zach Condon and his lil' Balkan experiment, Beirut, the 19-year-old Brooklynite wasn't aware of daily-destination-mp3-depots like Stereogum and Music for Robots. “I was never much of a computer or Internet person to begin with,” confesses Condon. “Most I ever used the computer for was Pro Tools, when I recorded the album.” Beirut's Gulag Orkestra—a modest record that's eaten up nearly as much bandwidth as the hyped-to-death Whatever You Say I Am, That's What I'm Not—is a modern approximation of Russian folk and Balkan brass music. For the Ottoman-impaired, that means the same magical, gypsy charm of Neutral Milk Hotel's pretty passages (in fact, Beirut features former NMH-member Jeremy Barnes).
“Our first show was a disaster,” Condon laughs. “When we got on stage everything just started bending out of tune, and I realized I'd been working my entire life with the cheapest of equipment.” Nowadays, Beirut's playing on better stuff, but its frontman still doesn't pay much attention to the bloggers, who'll undoubtedly be out in full force at Northsix this week in Brooklyn. “I still don't use the Internet so much,” he says. “I stop by a few blogs from time to time to check out what they thought of our live show, but that's about it.”
June 20. Northsix, 66 N. 6th St. (betw. Kent & Wythe Ave.), Brooklyn, 718-599-5103; 8, $20.
