A music post (bitter-sweetly excited about large music festivals)

I really like the band "beirut". Mostly I like them because, as much as I like traditional use of brass and accordion, I especially enjoy the use of those instruments in non-traditional roles or accompanying post-80's (non-traditional) music styles. So anything new and balkan-inspired tends to please my ears (see "gogol bordello" or "Balkan beat box" for more examples).

Beirut has more going for it than just the implementation of less-common instruments. They also have a fantastically unusual voice in their lead singer, who moans more than sings the lyrics though not in an unpleasant way, reminiscent of the lead singer Antony from "Antony and the Johnsons". Beirut, or whoever is doing most of their writing, doesn't fear exploring non 4/4 signatures as well as mixing it up within a song. They manage to give the illusion that different instruments are playing in different keys, yet still harmonizing, which allows for the same song to either lift your spirits or depress you depending on how you choose to hear it.

Late last year the band recorded a series of very low budget but clever music videos for each track of their newest album. You can find those on this metafilter post. My favorite is the one for the lead track "nantes" recorded in a seemingly-decrepit stairwell somewhere in Brooklyn.