ANDY HEDGECOCK is entertained by a playful novel that embeds a fictional game at its heart
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Beirut, O2 Academy, Leeds
Consummate delivery of indie-pop postcards from all over the world
Mariachi masters: Beirut
[Pitpony Photography/ Creative Commons]
Death comes for Liberals, entitled murder, Vatican hit squads, and fraternising with the Blitz killer
New releases from Public Image Ltd, William Basinski, and John Luther Adams
GABRIELE NEHER draws attention to an astoundingly skilled Flemish painter who defied the notion that women cannot paint like men
The Bard pays homage to Hull’s finest promoter and venue, and awards Douze Points to Laibach
KEVIN DONNELLY outlines how the bourgeois institutions inhibit our ability to to view art in revolutionary ways, and suggests some tactics to overturn it
A BEIRUT gig is the sonic equivalent of being gently hugged for 90 minutes. Soothing and reassuringly human in their tremulous detail, the six-piece have a wide-eyed innocence that makes them impossible to resist.
Their hopeless romanticism takes the wistfulness of Sufjan Stevens and the intimate grandeur of Arcade Fire as a starting point for songwriter Zach Condon’s itchy-footed road trip that imbues their indie-pop with Balkan-influenced accordion, folksy ukulele and mock mariachi brass.
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