Tagged: Beirut (band)

A triple treat making its KUNC Music debut this week. The indomitable John Hiatt, Jach Condon's third outing under the Beirut nom de guerre, and a Felice brother with his latest slice of Americana from the Catskills. Tune in for KUNC Music, 9a - Noon every Monday through Friday.

The story of Beirut, the sweetly melancholy musical venture of Zach Condon, is like something out of a movie. The New Mexico native dropped out of college in 2006 to focus on writing and recording music. He produced Gulag Orkestar, celebrating old-world weirdness and nostalgia with bawdy Balkan organ pumps and trumpets. The album sparked a meteoric rise for the young artist.

It was a long, dusty trail to the Tiny Desk. Beirut had just finished a show at Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn., where it had been a brutal 100-plus degrees outside. Without a chance to bathe between there and here, the band needed to be led to NPR's basement showers, at which point things began to look up. Zach Condon and company came up beaming, clean and ready to play — a bit exhausted, but with a handful of inspired new tunes.