After all that looking forward, time to cast our minds back, even if only briefly, to the end of last year, and to the Calexico tour that brought Beirut to the UK for the first time. If you've seen Beirut in this country it will no doubt have been in this support slot, as Zach Condon and Co's only headline show was cancelled because the main man was ill.
Anyway, there was a split 7 inch single released by City Slang to coincide with the tour. It was super-limited and is available pretty much nowhere, but thanks to the lovely people at Rough Trade, I got me a copy. It contains a song from each band, which to my knowledge, aren't available anywhere else at the moment. So because you'll have difficultly getting one, here are the songs.
Beirut's isn't their best tune, but has their trademark sound and is still well worth a listen. Calexico's is a bit of an nice oddity - covering The Clash's Guns of Brixton in their classic dusty country mariachi style.
Download: Beirut - Interior of a Dutch House
Download: Calexico - Guns of Brixton
Beirut and Calexico make a fine pairing really, even if the former used up all my excitement at the Roundhouse gig, leaving me unusually unimpressed by the headliners. I even left early, which meant I missed Beirut coming back on to join Calexico for a rousing encore of Crystal Frontier. Luckily, someone managed to film a bit of it. Maybe they should collaborate more.
Posts
3 comments:
You are a legend. I only just found out that this existed and have been completely unable to lay my hands on a copy.
I went to see Calexico a little while back. They were supported by Beirut, but I just couldn't get out of work and through to Glasgow from Edinburgh in time to hear them. Gah!
I don't know why this Beirut song has made the rounds as a 'new' release. He recorded it as a demo almost 3 or 4 years ago so obviously it's not going to be up to par in comparison with the rest of his work. Still, a worthy preview of what was to come.
Post a Comment