it's been a long time, long time now

i am really quite impressed with Beirut's Zach Condon.
a 20-something, Santa Fe native, high school drop-out...making Eastern European-Balkan-inspired-gypsy music, and becoming more well-known around...well, everywhere.

what impresses me the most about him - not his youth (well, relatively young-ish age)...
not the fact that he's from Santa Fe and singing Balkan-styles of music...
nor the fact that he started recording electronic-influenced music at the age of 15...
nor the fact that he also made a doo-wop-Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers-inspired record at the age of 16...

it's...his voice.
especially live (although, i have not had the pleasure yet of hearing him live, and in person - you know, like 10 feet away-type of deal)

but from these Take Away Shows that i love to watch now and then when there's a good or interesting band, he manages to sound almost perfectly in pitch.

the first song he sings, Nantes, struck some sort of emotional chord within...that i was practically on the verge of tears.
yes. i admit to it.

i think it's the perfect combination of melody, and his tone that really gets me, as he seems to have a very 'warming' quality to his singing voice. (okay. warming is not...the right grammatical way of putting it. deal.)

also for Zach, himself. he's energetic. he's fun to watch...as he's uber cute (!!!), but also fun to watch because (you can tell) that he loves to make music.
"Frail Zach, with his skinny yet magical arms."

as for his music, the two records that are out now (Gulag Orkestar, and The Flying Club Cup) are incredibly good to listen to if you do enjoy the East-European-Balkan-gypsy styles of music.
DeVotchKa come to mind first, Gogol Bordello is a bit too too punk, but still insanely great nonetheless.

go: more Beirut on the Take Away shows.

photo courtesy of: *Ethel on Flickr.

frank's wild years...

tee dubya.

so, if you do not know who i am talking about, then you must have been under some sort of large rock for quite some years. or...you just were not introduced to his music. sadly.

i am of course talking about mister Tom Waits. yes, indeedy.
here's a little run-down of who he is, for those who have not had the listening pleasure of his music:

1) known for his voice, described as follows: "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."
2) also known for his theatrics - in a good way...not negatively speaking here.
3) (for those who have seen it) Coffee & Cigarettes: the scene with Iggy Pop. a classic. (for those who have not seen this...i do recommend renting/borrowing it)
4) his music: so unlike anything that is out there...even in his earlier hey-days, he would be making music that was drastically different from the mainstream.

lately, i've been listening to a lot of his music - re-acquainting myself, let's say, as i haven't listened to his music in quite a while. (i tend to go in phases. listen to a lot of one particular artist for a span of time, then go on to another...then go back to the other artist for another span of time)
then, from an encounter with a friend, who happened to mention him, i've just been listening to mister tee dubya practically everyday now.

got my hands on some of his earlier stuff - coincidentally, those albums are titled The Early Years.
i was quite surprised to find that in his early music, he doesn't have that gruff voice that he has come to be known for - not just yet anyways. it was surprising because the voice that i was hearing did not sound a thing like the tom waits that i was first introduced to...and it sounded rather pleasant.

so, if you like acoustic-mellow-sounding music, take a listen to his Early Years albums...bound to be pleasing.
and then if you are so bold, take a listen to these: Blood Money stands out, Frank's Wild Years, Swordfishtrombone, and of course the 3-disc Orphans, Brawlers, Bawlers, & Bastards.

these are just a few of the albums that i am recommending...i could even just go ahead and recommend all of his albums ! if someone were to have the time to go and listen to them from start to finish...if they wanted to. (i wonder...hmm...)

*another tid-bit: if you watch Shrek 2, listen in for his song "Little Drop Of Poison", played in the 'bar' scene with Captain Hook playing the piano part*