It takes a certain kind of person to really be interested in Eastern and Central Europe. It’s cold, ridden with bad food and has more historical tragedies than can be counted on any number of appendages. Fortunately for music listeners everywhere, Zach Condon, the guy behind Beirut, seems to be one of them. On Beirut’s debut record “Gulag Orkestar,” Condon’s voice is the highlight, drifting just above the muddy marches and bright strings of his Balkan-tinged arrangements. “Postcards from Italy” is a highlight on the album; the melody grabs you and the triumphant-sounding brass buoys the tune along towards an end that seems to drift off into the air. Indie music seems to be trying to move away from irony without becoming melodramatic pap, often, as Beirut seems to, by taking bands like Neutral Milk Hotel and the Magnetic Fields as guides. With “Gulag Orkestar,” Beirut continues this trend in a distinct way, with a sad sound that’s somehow just right for today. (Seth Mayer)
For “Want” of a Change: A Preview of Rufus Wainwright at Ravinia Park Rufus Wainwright isn’t the first singer-songwriter to reinterpret earlier work through an orchestral lens. And much of Wainwright’s third and fourth albums, “Want One” and “Want Two”—whose twentieth anniversaries are the prompt for this new tour—is fully scored. But when Wainwright hits the Pavilion stage at Ravinia tonight, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will be behind him.
Brutal Finesse: A Preview of King Crimson at Ravinia There have been few new compositions from King Crimson these past two decades, but the live arrangements of songs from its catalog are often strikingly different than the recorded versions.
Cooling It: A Preview of Colleen Green at Cole’s Bar When Green strums power chords or chiming notes on top of her backing track, you might think you’re at Ramones karaoke night and Madonna is taking her turn.
