Beirut

As per getting used to playing one of the best instruments ever, I've been checking out songs/bands that feature the ukulele, and lo and behold, Beirut is one of the most represented bands in the tab section of any ukulele website. Beirut recently released an EP entitled March Of The Zapotec & Realpeople Holland, a diverse and inspired 2-part EP. The first part of the EP consists of the familiar Beirut Balkan-folk-like songs, recorded in Oaxaca, Mexico with a local 19-piece band called the Jimenez Band and full of oom-pah-pah brass and horns, and the second half contains Zach Condon's dive back into electronic musings, as that was more of the style he worked with many years ago when he recorded under the alias Realpeople. The range of sound achieved in this latest release is full of warmth and great reflection of Condon's immense talent, but I almost wished he had gone so far as to make two whole albums, as the EP(s) seem to be to short to fully get into either. Still though, I'm going to enjoy playing "The Akara" on my uke.

The Akara - from March Of The Zapotec [mp3] (iTunes)
My Wife, Lost in the Wild - from Realpeople Holland [mp3] (iTunes)