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The Flying Club Cup |  | Artist: Beirut
Label: BA DA BING
Category: Music
List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $9.24
as of 9/10/2010 03:44 PDT details
You Save: $4.74 (34%)
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Seller: -importcds
Rating:  28 reviews
Sales Rank: 5055
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.3
UPC: 600197005521
EAN: 0600197005521
ASIN: B000UJ48XG
Release Date: October 9, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | A Call To Arms | | • | Nantes | | • | A Sunday Smile | | • | Guyamas Sonora | | • | Le Banlieu | | • | Cliquot | | • | The Penalty | | • | Forks and Knives (La Fete) | | • | In The Mausoleum | | • | Un Dernier Verre (Pour la Route) | | • | Cherbourg | | • | St. Apollonia | | • | The Flying Club Cup |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Beirut's second LP purportedly takes inspiration from French chanson of yesteryear (as opposed to the Balkan folk of yesteryear). Bandleader Zach Condon has found a new home in Paris, and a new muse as well, quickly absorbing fodder from the likes of Francois Hardy or Jacques Brel. The music remains quite recognizably Beirut--in all its oom-pa glory--but the production value is stepped up a notch. It's through the dense arrangements that it reaches new heights, this without question being the fullest offering yet. The band appeared on Owen Pallet's (Final Fantasy/Arcade Fire) new album in exchange for the use of Arcade Fire's Masonic church studio, along with the exotic pile of instruments within. Pallet ended up contributing several string arrangements and the band made full use of the studio. The result is a truly orchestral take on the simpler gypsy stomp of Gulag Orkestar or the straight-up eight-piece live band of the Lon Gisland EP. Opener "Nantes" features a perfectly broken organ and introduces the wealth of percussion that continues throughout the album, as well as some samples of French TV or radio (the most explicit Franco-features are these sampled tidbits). Waltzing glockenspiels give way to a celebratory, raucous chorus on "La Banlieu." "Un Dernier Verre" features a skittering, jazzy piano bit (in 3/4 time, natch). The Flying Club Cup lacks the immediate hits that made Gulag Orkestar explode (like "Postcards from Italy" or "Mount Wroclai"). It works as an album rather than just a collection of songs. It's a more pensive presentation--dare I say it: more mature. Beirut remains mind-boggling work for a 21-year-old, and it's exciting to watch Condon's musical palette expand as he gathers the life experience to match his voice. --Jason Pace
Product Description
Since the release of Gulag Orchestra in May of 2006, Beirut has done a tsunami of interviews, photoshoots and features. This great fervor developed around an album conceived and constructed in a teenager s New Mexico bedroom. Six months of recording has led to The Flying Club Cup, an homage to France s culture, fashion, history, and music. Two years ago, Zach Condon immersed himself in Balkan folk, absorbed sounds, scales, styles, and the sonic joys of a skeletally structured, cacophonic ensemble and moved west. Soaking up the likes of François Hardy, Charles Aznavour, and, most notably, Jacques Brel (a huge influence on both Scott Walker and Mark E. Smith), Condon has been articulating his conversational French. Most of the album was created at a nondescript Albuquerque office space, a.k.a. A Hawk and a Hacksaw s practice room; Heather Trost plays violin and viola on three songs. Engineering and production assistance came from Griffin Rodriguez (A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Man Man). He helped separate the many instrumentalists involved in recording, as opposed to Gulag s largely solo flight. The orkestar, which has solidified into a core group of eight members, has grand plans for replicating the album live, and is now an integral part of Beirut s identity. Additional recording was done with Owen Pallet (Final Fantasy) at the Masonic church studio owned by The Arcade Fire.
Album Description
Since its release in May of 2006, Beirut's internationally celebrated Gulag Orkestar album has soundscanned more than 45,000 copies, and the band has done a tsunami of interviews, photoshoots and features (including NY Times, Spin, Pitchfork, Urb, and Village Voice). This great fervor developed around an album conceived and constructed in a teenager's New Mexico bedroom. Six months of recording has led to The Flying Club Cup, an homage to France's culture, fashion, history, and music. Two years ago, Zach Condon immersed himself in Balkan folk, absorbed sounds, scales, styles, and the sonic joys of a skeletally structured, cacophonic ensemble - and moved west. Soaking up the likes of Francois Hardy, Charles Aznavour, and, most notably, Jacques Brel (a huge influence on both Scott Walker and Mark E. Smith), Condon has been articulating his conversational French. Most of the album was created at a nondescript Albuquerque office space, a.k.a. A Hawk and a Hacksaw's practice room; Heather Trost plays violin and viola on three songs. Engineering and production assistance came from Griffin Rodriguez (A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Man Man). He helped separate the many instrumentalists involved in recording, as opposed to Gulag's largely solo flight. The orkestar, which has solidified into a core group of eight members, has grand plans for replicating the album live, and is now an integral part of Beirut's identity. Additional recording was done with Owen Pallet (Final Fantasy) at the Masonic church studio owned by The Arcade Fire. Within the spectacle and intimacy of The Flying Club Cup, you can hear a love letter to the joie de vivre that defines our existence. Listen closer, and you also hear the emergence of a singular musical talent - Mr. Zachary F. Condon, at present living in Paris - unbounded by cultural borders and by where his heart travels.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 28
 What melody will see him in my arms again? October 8, 2007
E. A Solinas (MD USA)
29 out of 36 found this review helpful
Beirut have always been all about Europe. Ever since Zach Condon started mingling electronica and indie-rock with traditional East-European music, his little band has been redolent of the old world.
And though "The Flying Club Cup" has a more modern flavour to some of its songs, the feeling of wistful, melancholy nostalgia still hangs heavily over these exquisitely orchestrated pop tunes. Think early twentieth-century France, as seen through sepia photographs and a band's sad tunes.
It opens with a haunting chorus of wailing horns, before switching to the smooth, swaying melody of "Nantes." Condon sings mournfully, "Well it's been a long time/long time now/since I've seen you smile/and I'll gamble away my fright... and in a year, a year or so/this will slip into the sea..."
It's much the same throughout the remaining songs, which tend to be bittersweet in tone, with a backdrop of horns and stately pop rhythms. Mellow dance tunes, Eastern European marches, mournful accordion-piano ballads, and pretty folky tunes. Not to mention, of course, combinations of all of the above.
In the second half, we're even graced with some upbeat songs -- the twittering violin and swirling melody of "In The Mausoleum." And the sprightliest music on the album is "Un Dernier Verre (Pour La Route)," a peppy pop tune that sounds like something Snoopy would dance to as the World War I flying ace.
If I were to compare Condon and Beirut to any other artist, it would probably be Sufjan Stevens -- polished, multilayered music with rich vocals. But the music of "The Flying Club Cup" is all nostalgia, bittersweet and weariness, mingled with a rich, over-the-top quality. It's so much BIGGER than Beirut's past work -- in sound, in scope, in feeling.
Not to mention that the sound here is a bit less Balkan -- think electro-indie mingled with vintage pop melodies, then filtered through an old French radio. Lots of mellow accordion, mingled brass, rattling drums and tambourine, an acoustic guitar, some twittery fiddle melodies and a nimble, energetic piano. Here are there, a gentle layer of keyboard is laid over it all.
Condon's voice is the clincher -- this guy is not only a great musician, but he has a smooth, rich voice that slides through the music like a satin ribbon. And his songs are evocative and stirring ("A plague on the workhouse!"), with plenty of feeling ("what melody will lead my lover from his bed?/What melody will see him in my arms again?").
Beirut's second album is a stunning artistic triumph, draped in classic melodies, exquisite songwriting and sweeping instrumentation. "The Flying Club Cup" flies on its own.
Homesick, fully grown children March 21, 2008
David Munns
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is their second LP release, and by far their best release to date.
Critics are quick to say Beirut's sound is Euro-stylized by influences like Jacques Brel and François Hardy. They're eager to compare the band's frontman, Zach Condron, to Scott Walker. It won't be long before they liken Beirut to the Tindersticks had Stuart Staples turned queer.
But "The Flying Club Cup" proved Zach Condon has developed a musical style beyond compare.
Whereas "Gulag Orkestar" showed that the self-ordained small time American band could meld Macedonian folk sounds with romantic classical European music stylings and bourgeoise bohemian sophistication, "The Flying Club Cup" uses this melded sound as the departure point toward a far more striking occurrence: style defined without subculture.
Timeless, ageless, genderless, cultureless, songs like "Cliquot" and "The Penalty" make "The Flying Club Cup" an album that could have come out of almost any place in the world at any point in history.
But it's not just universal in those senses. Perhaps because of frontman Zach Condon's sophisticated, mature air and voice, it was refreshing and unexpected to hear him sing such honest lyrics about love. It was, well, sweet. Better yet, it is why I think "The Flying Club Cup" is nothing short of genius.
In sum, "The Flying Club Cup": Beirut's balkan-gypsy-folk-french-euro-pop music style renowned in their first LP release, made even better with more mature lyrics for the young at heart.
Another excellent album March 7, 2008
Mickey Callaghan (San Diego, CA USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I absolutely fell in love with THE GULAG ORKESTAR when I was first introduced to it a little over a year ago. The beautiful Balkan melodies, the sad, nostalgic sense the songs gave you (especially the first half of the album).
When I listened to the LON GISLAND EP next, I was somewhat disappointed. It didn't have anywhere near the same power, the same emotional effect Condon's former album did. I fell out of touch. Finally, I was reintroduced a month or so ago by a friend, who gave me a copy of THE FLYING CLUB CUP. I'm hooked. This is one hell of an album. In many ways, it is even better than GULAG; it is sonorous and melodious and full of those same complex emotions that made the first album so enchanting.
Condon has really done something great here. This blend of European and American sounds is truly fresh and beautiful!
Great Music August 12, 2009
James Bauhs (Houston, TX)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Listening to The Flying Cup Club crystallized an old memory from my undergraduate college days (long, long ago). I was taking a philosophy course on aesthetics. On the first day, the professor asked: "What separates animals from people?"
Some of the class resorted to an answer that relied on biology, which was the same thing as answering "nothing." Some said tool use was a distinctive trait of people. This was just plain wrong. They had forgotten watching chimps on nature documentaries use grass stalks to fish termites out of their mounds. I also didn't have a good answer. Class dismissed without a valid response. Only while walking away from class that afternoon did the answer occur to me: art. Art is the one activity that differentiates humans from the rest of the living world.
The work of Beirut is a monument to humanity's claim of singularity. It conveys a deep sense of longing that transmutes a morning commute in a used sedan into a beautiful event. It draws inspiration from a reality that claims civility as a virtue and talent as the key to success. It is a reality we need. Go buy it.
Still Brilliant October 11, 2007
Madame M (Massachusetts)
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
If you're first hearing about Beirut because of this album, please, do yourself a favor and buy the others. I hesitantly bought this album, worried that the brilliance of the first would not continue...you know, the whole second album slump thing. But when I heard Nantes (track two), I was pleasantly suprised. After listening to the album numerous times, purchasing it electronically, and then actually buying the physical album (Gasp!), all I can say is I can't wait for the next one to come out.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 28
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