Beirut
BEIRUT – Stream New Album ‘A STUDY OF LOSSES’
20 April 2025
American singer-songwriter Zach Condon‘s musical project BEIRUT
just released his 7th longplayer, named A STUDY OF LOSSES .
Press info: “The album originated in spring 2023, when Viktoria Dalborg, director at the Swedish circus Kompani Giraff, reached out to Condon, asking if he would be interested
to provide the music for their next project, a show based on an adaptation of a novel by German author Judith Schalansky.
The main themes in Schalansky‘s book and in the adaptation for the circus show deal with the concept of loss and the impermanence of everything known to us: from extinct animal species, lost architectural and literary treasures to more abstract concepts of loss through the process of aging.
A Study Of Losses, turned into a rather unexpected piece of music-at 18 songs and nearly an hour long, it is by far the largest album Beirut has ever done, and amongst some of their most beautiful work to date.”
Pitchfork: “For Zach Condon to write music for a troupe of acrobats might seem a little too on the nose, given his roots. But the results are the most effortless and surprising Beirut album in ages… A Study of Losses is an example of the peculiar magic that can happen under seemingly absurd circumstances.”
SINGLE
ALBUM
JUKEBOX 2025 – Week 8 – Five New Rad Tracks Added Twice A Week
In order to not miss a beat TURN UP THE VOLUME scans the musical
horizon daily, for 10 years now, to pick ace tracks and add 5 new
ones twice per week, to the one and only JUKEBOX that matters.
For a couple of years now TUTV added 10 new tracks every 7 days.
This year we will put 5 new ones in the Jukebox twice a week.
ALL TOGETHER
.
The 5 fresh ones.
TRACK BY TRACK
Band: VAZUM (Detroit, Michigan)
Who: Zach Pliska and Emily Sturm. Their musical project started in 2017.
They describe their sound as deathgaze, combining the raw energy of
deathrock with the depth of shoegaze. So far the duo released six
albums and a handful of singles and EPs.
Track: PRETTY BRUTAL
It’s the title song from the duo’s forthcoming album due later
this year. It follows last year’s acclaimed Western Violence LP.
Vazum rock out with urgent panache and puissance.
Fast-forward is the direction from the first chord on.
Emily Sturms‘ sensory vocals add a sense of seductive
mysteriousness. Striking stroke. Again.
.
Instagram – Facebook
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Band: MELVINS 83
Who: The side-project of Melvins hairy legend Buzz Osborne ,
drummer original Melvins drummer Mike Dillard, along with
Void Manes and Ni Maîtres.
Track: VICTORY OF THE PYRAMIDS
Single from album Thunderball. .
Out on 18 April. More info here.
Be ready for a 9+ minute metallic
trash and slash roller coaster.
A nasty brain-breaker. Prepare your
speakers for the upcoming havoc.
Instagram – Spotify
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Artists: PSYCLON NINE
Who: US cult act formed in 2000 and led by Nero Bellum
melding elements of Industrial Rock, Metal, Deathcore, Trap
and Ambient.
Track: DEVILS WORK
A new piece from the upcoming, new album
And Then Oblivion, which lands on 21st March.
More info here.
Imagine NIN and Linkin Park have a demonic
decibels fight with Nightwish as referees.
Menacing, nightmarish and dark, very dark.
I see Satan there in the corner, enjoying
this sick stunner.
Instagram – Bandcamp
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Photo credit: Paul Stevenson, Visual Hybrid
Artist: PHONSECA
Who: Synth-pop duo from Bristol, (UK) who released
their debut album Between A Dream back in 2019.
Track: When Night Equals Day
From the upcoming LP ‘Everything Lasts Forever’
out via Old Habits Label on 21st March.
An unflinching song about relationships, capturing a sense of disbelief, when
a spark you saw in someone has long faded. The song is full of heart on your sleeve emotions and a wistful melancholy. It’s ultimately though, a song of strength and independence.
Entrancing, mesmerizing, and luring tune.
Sparkling synth/piano play. Crystalline
vocals. One spin and you’re hooked.
Linktree – Spotify
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Artist: BEIRUT
Who: Moniker of seasoned American
singer-songwriter Zach Condon‘s musical
project.
Track: GUERICKE’S UNICORN
Preview from his upcoming album A Study Of Losses
A musical interpretation of German author Judith Schalansky’s
2018 novel Verzeichnis einiger Verluste (English: An Inventory Of
Losses).
Condon: “Guericke’s unicorn is a supposed reconstruction of a fossil unicorn which was actually created from the bones of a bunch of different animals like the wooly mammoth
and a narwhal. It’s worth looking up the image. I’ve always been fascinated by these kinds of bizarre chapters and odd side notes of history, and I wanted to reflect the unorthodox, eccentric madness of that ‘unicorn’ in a more playful song that is somewhat disjointed from the rest
of the album.”
New album artwork
Trippy and bouncy tune, accompanied
also melancholic and yearning vocals.
Undeniably Beirut.
TURN UP THE VOLUME
SUNDAY 1 September 2024 – BEIRUT Smiles On The 7th Day
ZACK CONDON And BEIRUT Deliver Their 6th Album In November – Hear The First Sepia-Colored Single ‘SO MANY PLANS’ Here
New striking strokes
31 August 2023
(press photo)
BEIRUT, the musical project/band of ZACK CONDON just proclaimed the arrival of
their new – 6th – album, named HADSEL. It’ll see the day of light on November 10.
Pre-order info here.
Hadsel is a Norwegian city where Condon stayed
for 2 months during the first lockdown in 2020.
Along with the announcement, we get the first single, titled SO MANY PLANS.
Condon: “The song was written during the first lockdown in 2020, just when I came back from a two months long period of writing and recording in northern Norway. A friend’s lament on their many plans that had to be put on ice became the initial inspiration for this song’s title. That phrase still stuck in my head, I sat down in my attic studio with my newly rediscovered baritone uke and started playing the first chords to the song. I then added pump organ and some french horn to it, which became somewhat of a triptych for the record. I finished it off with bass and percussion from the modular synth, my big obsession at that time. During the writing process the simple sentence that had started the song came to mean much more than its original intent.”
Condon has one of the most moody/melancholic voices I ever heard and it fits his moody/melancholic music like a glove. So Many Plans is a very familiar-sounding Beirut
lullaby. Sepia-colored as usual, and again flavoured with mourning Mexican trumpets.
BEIRUT: Facebook – Instagram
BEIRUT – Another Taster From Upcoming Collection ‘ARTIFACTS’
18 November 2021
Band: BEIRUT
Who: The musical project/band of ZACK CONDON
Active: Since 2006 / 5 studio LPs so far
New album: ARTIFACTS
What: A double-album collection of
unreleased tracks, EPs, and B-sides
Release: 4 March 2022
Order info: here
Track: SO SLOWLY
Condon about the song: “I had a few years where all I wanted to play was the Wurlitzer for some reason. I actually first wrote this song on a white baby grand piano that was surprisingly cheap. Apparently white pianos lost their popularity as a status symbol in the thick carpeted living rooms of the 70s. I was particularly proud of the conch shell “brass section” I arranged behind the first vocal parts, using a self made horn from a huge conch shell my parents had picked up in Key West when they were still young and wild, before me and my brothers were born.”
Shuffle your feet and sway with your hips…
.
BEIRUT: Facebook
BEIRUT – Here’s First Single ‘FISHER ISLAND SOUND’ From Upcoming Unreleased Material Collection
New striking strokes
23 October 2021
Band: BEIRUT
Who: The musical project/band of ZACK CONDON
Active: Since 2006 / 5 studio LPs so far
New album: ARTIFACTS
What: A double-album collection of
unreleased tracks, EPs, and B-sides
Release: 4 March 2022
Order info: here
Condon: “When the decision came to re-release this collection, I found
myself digging through hard drives looking for something extra to add
to the compilation. What started as a few extra unreleased tracks from
my formative recording years quickly grew into an entire extra records
worth of music from my past.”
First single: FISHER ISLAND SOUND
“This song was written while staying in band member Ben Lanz’s old family
cottage on the coast of Connecticut, on the Fisher Island Sound. I played with
the lines for years before trying to record version of it… I, however, struggled
in those years to put vocals on the songs and ended up scrapping a lot of
the music from that era in this part of the collection due to fear, stress,
and self-doubt.”
Familiar sound, familiar voice, familiar magnetism…
BEIRUT: Facebook
3 Albums Released 15 Years Ago – RHCP – BEIRUT – SCOTT WALKER
Back in time…
10 May 2021
Band: BEIRUT (US)
Album: GULAG ORKESTAR – debut LP
Released: 9 May 2006 – 15 years ago
AllMusic: “Ignore the clunky lyrics — easy enough to do since Condon is an
unexpectedly appealing singer with a rich, mellifluous voice that, no kidding,
recalls the great bel canto crooners of the pre-rock era (along with a little
Nick Cave) — and Gulag Orkestar is an infinitely more appealing album.”
Stream here…
.
BEIRUT: Facebook
Artist: SCOTT WALKER (US/UK)
Album: THE DRIFT – 13th solo LP
Released: 8 May 2006 – 15 years ago
“The sound and subject matter for the album is unrelentingly dark
and unsettling, often juxtaposing quiet sections with sudden loud
noise to induce discomfort in the listener. Subjects include torture,
disease, 9/11, Elvis Presley (and his stillborn twin brother Jesse Garon
Presley), and the Srebrenica massacre.”
Stream here…
.
SCOTT WALKER: Facebook
Band: RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS (US)
Album: STADIUM ARCADIUM – 9th LP ( a double one)
Released: 9 May 2006 – 15 years ago
Los Angeles Times wrote: “They’ve never sounded this good as musicians.
The use of analog tape lends a raw, organic touch to the whole album and
the Chili Peppers come off more assured and confident than they ever did
back when they made a career out of bragging.”
Stream here…
.
RHCP: Facebook
‘Gulag Orkestar’ – Debut LP By BEIRUT Released In 2006
Old and new albums to make your day…
19 January 2020
Band: Beirut (band of Santa Fe native and singer/songwriter Zach Condon)
Album: Gulag Orkestar – debut LP
Note: The Gulag was a Soviet government agency administering forced
labor camps, while orkestar is the Serbo-Croatian word for ‘orchestra’.
Released: 9 May 2006
AllMusic wrote: “Condon is an unexpectedly appealing singer with a rich,
mellifluous voice that, no kidding, recalls the great bel canto crooners of
the pre-rock era (along with a little Nick Cave) and Gulag Orkestar is
an infinitely appealing album.”
Album in full…
.
BEIRUT: Facebook
Back sleeve…
BEIRUT Returns With Brassy And Hearftfelt Title Track From New Album – Here’s ‘CALLIPOLI’…
New sonic impulses…
BEIRUT‘s musical maestro Zach Condon announced new, fifth album, entitled GALLIPOLI
a couple of days ago and here’s the charming title track. Condon revealed the story behind the delightful fresh song in a press statement: “We stumbled into the medieval-fortressed island town of Gallipoli in Italy, one night and followed a brass band procession fronted by priests carrying a statue of the town’s saint through the winding narrow streets behind what seemed like the entire town. The next day I wrote the song entirely in one sitting, pausing
only to eat.”
Here’s the brassy and heartfelt beauty…
.
BEIRUT: Facebook
Album CALLIPOLI out 1 February 2019 – more info here