#Beirut Band

[wesleysniperking]

If I was young, I'd flee this town

I'd bury my dreams underground

As did I, we drink to die, we drink tonight

Far from home, elephant gun

Let's take them down one by one

We'll lay it down, it's not been found, it's not around

Let the seasons begin, it rolls right on

Let the seasons begin, take the big king down

[remelemmostmaraholdonlaksz]

[nonesuchrecords]

The Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt is on BBC World Service’s Music Life with Beirut's Zach Condon and Blondie's Debbie Harry and Chris Stein. They discuss artistic self-expression, the influence of location on songwriting, and what unexpected musical genres have inspired them. You can hear it here.

The Magnetic Fields, who just completed a European tour, will tour the US with 69 Love Songs next year for the album's 25th anniversary. Their 2004 Nonesuch debut album, i, was released on vinyl for the first time this past spring; you can get it here.

[chronivore]

2023

[bauerntanz]

Seit gestern: 20. Morgenland-Festival 2024

Seit gestern in #Osnabrück: Das 20. Morgenland-Festival 2024 und noch bis Samstag, 17. August.

Gestern Abend hat in Osnabrück das 20. Morgenland-Festival begonnen – in der Marienkirche mit einem ausverkauften Festkonzert von Mitgliedern zweier Ensembles, die im Rahmen des Festivals entstanden sind – dem 2009 gegründeten Morgenland Chamber Orchestra und der nur drei Jahre später entstandenen Morgenland All Star Band, also mit vielen langjährigen Weggefährten. Seit 2005 präsentiert das…

[prismravine]

1. dave matthew’s band - american baby

2. lil peep - dying out west

3. the used - buried myself alive

4. deftones - rosemary

5. rainbow kitten surprise - no vacancy

6. good hangs - bad luck planet

7. florence + the machine - heavy in your arms

8. nothing, nowhere - clarity in kerosene

9. the lumineers - where the skies are blue

10. blink 182 - down

11. joji - slow dancing in the dark

12. amy winehouse - back to black

13. him - disarm me

14. beirut - guyamas sonora

15. have mercy - alive

16. ekkstacy - it only gets worse, i promise

17. the smiths - this night has opened my eyes

18. glass animals - heat wave

19. the cranberries - not sorry

20. spanish love songs - losers

21. the used - blue and yellow

22. oliver tree, robin schulz - miss you

23. lil peep - fingers

24. the goo goo dolls - here is gone

25. slow joy - crawling

26. queen - teo torriate

[danishphoner]

Alex Turner talks ditching the 'naiveté' of the previous Last Shadow Puppets album

Alex Turner has made a name for himself in recent years as the slick frontman of British alt-rockers Arctic Monkeys. Though he looks the part when he strides in to meet with EW — perfectly coiffed hair, a bright turquoise suit, and a pristine white linen shirt unbuttoned to the chest — Turner isn’t promoting new music from his most popular project.

Instead, he’s joined by Miles Kane, the former frontman of the Rascals, who created the Last Shadow Puppets with Turner back in 2007, well before the Arctic Monkeys were rocking stadiums and Olympic stages. Kane and Turner have reconvened the group — which also includes super producer James Ford (Florence + the Machine, Haim) and string mastermind Owen Pallett (Arcade Fire, Beirut) — for the follow-up to 2008’s The Age of Understatement.

Where Understatement was a syrupy homage to the likes of Scott Walker, Kane and Turner introduce a more worldly sensibility on Everything You’ve Come to Expect, which includes raucous jams (“Bad Habits”), sly Brit-pop (“Dracula Teeth”), and serene ballads (the title track). Turner attributes the shift on the new album, which dropped earlier this month, to newfound maturity: “That naiveté we shared has long since gone the way of old flesh.”

Kane and Turner sat down with EW to discuss why they chose to resurrect the Last Shadow Puppets, recording at Rick Rubin’s studio, and whether they’ll release a third album.

Written by Eric Renner Brown Photography by Zackery Michael

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The Last Shadow Puppets haven’t released a record for nearly a decade. Why now? How’d you get the band back together? ALEX TURNER: In the last eight years, Miles and I have seen each other a lot, James and I have seen each other, those two probably bumped into each other now and again, but the three of us being together was quite rare. We talked occasionally, like, “Maybe we’ll do another [record]” but it started to seem like it wasn’t going to happen. Then there was this one night and we were all back in Miles’s flat. Some other people got talking about it and we were like, “Oh f–k, yeah, we could give it another roll of the dice.” We woke up the next day and were like “Oh god, we’re going to have to follow this through now.”

And so then, was it just immediately writing and recording demos? AT: Me and Miles had already been writing a little bit for what was possibly going to be next. We always thought “Aviation,” which ended up being the first track on the album, had the properties of a Shadow Puppets song, if there is such a thing. Then it became, “Alright, but it’s not enough to stay there. We’ve gotta try and explore other things.” I guess that’s what the next ten songs do. [Laughs]

Are there themes on the album that you’re exploring? Or did you guys just want to play together again? AT: The lyrical side of things was not discussed that much. But the musical side of it was like, yeah, we should definitely explore.

How did working with James Ford contribute to that? AT: Having him agree to do it again was integral. The moment you start discussing the reference material for too long, it becomes stifling to the creative process. One thing that working with [Ford] allows you is you don’t get stuck in that. He says, “OK, we’re going to push you in this direction as far as we can” but [knows] when to stop. That’s what you want.

What did Owen Pallett bring to the table? AT: Last time, we brought [Pallett] in after we [finished recording]. We met up with him once in a hotel room in Manchester — just the fact that we had anything [from him] on [the album] was blowing our minds. When we recorded that, it blossomed into something that we could never envisage before. This time we thought, “Let’s get Owen to do the strings again, but this time let’s get him to come down to the studio. If he’s there, we’ll be able to communicate better.” There was a piano in the other room and he’d kind of — MILES KANE: Whisk in. AT: Yeah, float in and out and then have an idea and shoot off there. Every time we’d be in the control room and the song would end you’d just hear [Pallett] shredding the grand [piano]. It was wicked.

How do you guys plan to take these songs on the road? AT: Last time, we had the orchestra every time. It’s difficult to do that and it’s f–king really expensive. And some rooms you play in, you stick an orchestra in there and it’s not even built for it. This time we’ll have a smaller [group] and adapt the arrangements accordingly. I won’t be doing that, but…

How have you guys changed since the last album? MK: My singing has changed — [becoming] not afraid to sing stuff, which is something Alex would help. Before doing this record, [I’d be] singing in a certain style thinking “Oh, it sounds too weak” or “It sounds too thin.” That door opened up for me [on this record]. AT: This, in the first place, was a chance to try something else. The first Shadow Puppets record was the first time that either of us had tried to really sing like that. The fact that we didn’t quite make the mark is almost one of the things that’s good about it. This time we’re more equipped to sing like that.

I saw that you guys recorded at Rick Rubin’s studio. Did he stop by to provide his wisdom from the couch? AT: He didn’t, no. There’s a machine in the control room where you can bring him up like a hologram, if you’re really stuck. But we resisted turning that knob. It would’ve been embarrassing for James, more than anything else.

It would hurt his cred. AT: How’s he going to take that?

You’ve said this is like the second in a trilogy of Last Shadow Puppets records: How do you see it fitting in with the context of your last one? Do you think you’ll do another? AT: That’s the dream: We’ve got this third one and we’ll tie up all the loose ends. This one, maybe there’s a few loose ends left and next time, sonically, we need resolution. And, you know, so does the world. [Laughs] Some Shadow Puppets resolution.

[akajustmerry]

Hi

1 love your blog and podcast

2 I’m really enjoying your weekly Palestinian film recs

3. Do you have more recommendations for Arab and Middle Eastern cinema ?

Thank you ☺️

helloooooo, thank you 🥰 I have a whole sideblog which I don't promote enough called @swanasource where I and my co-mod @thatidomagirl frequently post middle eastern/SWANA film and films made by swana filmmakers in the film tag here:

I myself am still on my journey of watching more swana films (and non-english and non-Western films) so I won't claim to be any sort of exhaustive expert. but here are some of my favourites!

Salt of this Sea (2008). Dir. Annemarie Jacir. Palestinian film about a Palestinian-American woman heisting an Israeli bank

The Persian Version (2023). Dir. Maryam Kershavez. Comedy about an Iranian-American lesbian who gets pregnant after a one night stand and so decides to learn more about her family history.

Kedi (2016). A calming and beautiful Turkish documentary about the cats of Istanbul

Ali's Wedding (2017). A rom-com about an Iraqi-Australian Muslim who falls in love with the Lebanese girl from his mosque who's helping him get into med school.

The Man Who Sold His Skin (2020). Tunisian thriller about a syrian refugee who agrees to let his back be tattooed and be part of a living exhibition by a notorious artist so he can get a visa.

Sirens (2020). A documentary about the queer Lebanese all-girl metal band, Slave To Sirens, set around the Beirut explosion.

In Vitro (2019). A short Palestinian sci-fi film about an elderly woman in an underground bunker trying to describe the world before to a young woman who's only ever known the bunker.

Cairo Time (2009). Dir. Ruba Nadda. Look, this film isn't perfect but It's about a white American woman who's husband is a UN worker in Egypt. She goes to visit him in Cairo, but her husband is waylaid so he sends his bestie played by the beautiful Alexander Siddig to take her around Cairo and oh my GOD the romantic tension of this movie keeps me up at night.

Butterflies (2018). One of my fave movies ever. A Turkish comedy about 3 estranged siblings who have to take a chaotic road trip to fulfil their father's last wishes.

[wesleysniperking]

Strawhats’ Band AU

- The Strawhats’ sound is akin to Beirut and Broken Social Scene.

Band Members and Instruments:

- Usopp: Bass guitar. (Engineer and Songwriter/Lyricist)

- Luffy: Lead singer.

- Nami: Keyboardist/pianist/synth player.

- Zoro: Drummer.

- Sanji: Trombonist. (Might play other hard-a** brass instruments). (Lyricist/SW)

- Chopper: Maracas, Tamborine, and instruments similar to those. (He can play the Kalimba and idiophone type).

- Robin: Harp. (Can play the Theremin too).

- Franky: Electric guitar. (Engineer)

- Jinbe: Percussion line.

- Brook: Violinist. (Composer)

Nami: Keyboard/piano prodigy exploited by corrupt talent scout Arlong. She tried to sue him for damages after her adopted mom passed away. She had a breakdown but returned to music with Luffy’s help.

Zoro: Dedicated and talented drummer with a slight drinking problem. His playing style is swift, intense, and controlled. Learned to play in the same style as a late friend.

Sanji: Talented trombonist who left a philharmonic orchestra due to politics and personal reasons.

Luffy: Former member of the marine band, sent there by his grandpa after attending military/marine school but managed to escape.

Usopp: Music college dropout who is haunted by his famous father, whom he never knew. His girlfriend passed away from cancer. He had posted YouTube covers and gained a following. His late mother was an indie artist who never achieved widespread success. It is uncertain whether she was a groupie.

(all EB5 were homeless or broke at one point before meeting).

Both Robin and Nami have had experiences similar to Kesha, involving exploitation in the music industry.

Usopp’s dad, Yasopp or “Chaser”, is a famous bassist, ranked as one of the best of all time by Rolling Stone.

Shanks or “Red Hair” is Luffy’s mentor. He is the famous lead singer of a Grammy award-winning band.

Red Hair Pirates - They are a famous Grammy award-winning band with a sound similar to War, King Harvest, Dire Straits, and Guns N’ Roses, depending on the era.

Usopp and the band have a falling out when they alter their sound and remove a fan-favorite song, "Merry," from the setlist.

Usopp leaves the band after a public feud with Franky and Luffy’s decision to remove "Merry" from the Water 7 music festival setlist, which is akin to Coachella or Lollapalooza.

Sabaody Groove Fest: This festival is similar to the controversial Warped Tour, with various allegations surrounding it.

Usopp modified Nami’s keyboard to have unique synth sounds, similar to the Climatact.

“Merry” was believed to be an ex of Usopp’s, but it’s revealed that the song personifies the band’s journey and dream towards success. The band is surprised by this revelation.

- Franky writes a successful song called “Sunny” that charts well, but fans believe "Merry" will become a classic.

Each bandmate will receive honorifics and titles in their 40s or 50s. Usopp will be ranked #1 or #2 on the best rock bassists of all time list, surpassing his dad.

Usopp also creates a musical collective with other Black artists, developing a following of 8,000+ fans.

The band’s (Strawhats) fandom name is Nakama or Sailors

- When not singing, Luffy plays the cymbals, fooling around when he’s not leading the vocals.

- Usopp returns at the Water 7 festival as Sogeking, playing a crucial bass solo riff, symbolizing his readiness to rejoin the band. Luffy pulls him on stage to finish the song with a cool bass riff.

The Strawhats might decide to make a political statement during a performance, similar to when Luffy told Usopp to shoot the flag in the show. This could involve revealing an anti-government poster or banner, which could then go viral. Alternatively, they might do something in support of Robin, who is in a dispute with her former record label.

I have a dirty little secret. I wrote a song about Merry to accompany the fic idea. It’s a little cringe but I recorded it and everything. I might share it one day. Lol!

This is what I mean by the band’s sound…

They’d pull something like this in public.

BSS lyrics are pretty raw and bombastic in a way I feel like the SHs would be.

Music video is basically about pirates (???) and it reminds me of one of Luffy’s moves.

[fiercynn]

queer short film: "beirut dreams in color"

queer short cuts is a biweekly newsletter where i share queer & trans short film recommendations. i'm featuring some of my favorite films on tumblr because why not

lebanon | 2022 | 28 minutes | documentary short audio in english & arabic; english subtitles available

beirut dreams in color, directed by michael collins, is not a happy film, but it is a beautiful and necessary one. the docu-short follows lebanese indie rock band mashrou’ leila, who have, since their inception, made their politics central to their music. their lead singer, hamed sinno, is heralded as the first openly gay rock star in the arab world, and mashrou’ leila played sold-out shows throughout the swana region (southwest asia & north africa) in the 2010s. the film weaves their story together with the tragic story of sarah hegazi, an egyptian queer activist, and with the story of helem, a lebanese lgbtq+ organization led by tarek zeidan, as their community in beirut faced a disaster in 2020. deepa's full review, including content notes at the end - highly recommend looking at the content notes

hamed sinno is on instagram @hamed.sinno. you can also read more about sarah hegazi’s legacy and the community that grieves her.

[escapedaudios]

as i was yet again rewatching another rp series for the 100000 time (New Jersey Rats), i kept rewinding at the end of episode 2 where the Intern and Jean are in his apartment singing and playing the ukulele (i rlly like that part i think about it often), i realized i always just kinda,,,, like,,,, assumed he started playing the ukulele while he was with Stacy or maybe after the break up to cope with it. IDK WHY OR HOW I CAME TO THIS CONCLUSION BUT IT WAS LIKE CANON FOR ME OR SMTH IDK. So when i was listening to the series i realized that was in fact not the case bc it was never hinted at that in any way

,,,,,,,so what was it that made Jean starting playing the ukulele in the first place?

Jean was just into ukuleles. His favorite band is canonically Beirut and his favorite song is Postcards From Italy, a ukulele song he wanted to learn to perform but could never get the hang of. I think based on the timeline I have for his pre-intern history he would have started playing ukulele about six months after his breakup with Stacy, I never thought those two events really had anything to do with eachother though.

[lostcauses-noregrets]

I just hope you know that Cardamom is easily one of my favorite fics i’ve ever read. like ever! as an arab, i was so excited to see it, and even more excited to see how you perfectly captured the most beautiful story with the most beautiful characters.

i was wondering if you had any music in mind when writing the fic, as i found myself associating it with fairuz really quickly (perhaps bc of the coffee… which i associate with mornings, which is the best time to listen to fairuz!) :)

Hello Anon, thank you so much for your kind words, and apologies for taking so long to answer your ask. I'm always deeply touched when Arab readers enjoy Cardamom and find they're able to identify with the story.

I definitely did have music in mind when I wrote Cardamom, I'm a huge fan of Lebanese music and I made a Cardamom playlist on youtube.

Fairuz really should be on there, but as you can probably tell from the playlist, the real soundtrack for Cardamom was Yasmine Hamdan and Mashrou' Leila. I've adored Yasmine Hamdan for years ever since I heard Tango by Soapkills, which is on the playlist. I was also lucky enough to see Mashrou' Leila perform in the UK twice, before the band split up. There's more than a little of Hamed Sinno, Mashrou' Leila's amazing singer, in Cardamom Levi.

There's also a subtle nod to Lebanese music in the fic, in chapter 14 Levi wears a LUMI t-shirt with the name of their song Don't fuck with my cat, and he has a poster for the 2006 Beirut Luna Park Music Festival on the wall of his flat.

I'm aware of the irony of answering this ask today at a time when Lebanon is once again suffering from Israeli aggression and horrific terrorist attacks. My heart goes out to all those who have lost their lives so senselessly over the last few days. It seems fitting to leave you with Yasmine Hamdan's hauntingly beautiful elegy for her home city, Beirut.

[kingbeeleth]

NOW! KILL 'EM!

call me BEELETH, HALBERD, 255, any name, or no name. nicknames are fine

refer to me with he/it/they or no pronouns.

im 21; minors can follow, but posts may be suggestive.

if mutual, ask for new tags; current: flashing, loud, clown, bug, unsanitary, apocalypse — bug is for realistic/descriptive bugs, unsanitary is for more descriptive/visual posts, and apocalypse is for world-ending scenarios.

if adult mutual/follower, message me about my adult art blog and i may share it privately

fat intersex asian guy with memory issues. give me a nudge if im not responding to your messages quickly enough.

art blog -> @halberdaswang (not regularly maintained)

current major interests are:

Pokémon - mostly BW/BW2 and PLA (I DO NOT TAG MAIN GAME OR POSTGAME SPOILERS FOR EITHER OF THESE ANYMORE!!!!!! sorry…. me eepy u_u)

Mononoke

Higurashi

Yoeko

DJ Technorch

rhythm games

vocal synths, mostly vocaloid and utau

my OCs — feel free to draw them or ask about them

i am also interested in Klonoa, Sonic, Kemono Friends, demonology, werewolves, media preservation, console emulation, and Nintendo homebrew among a billion other things. if i reblog something with a group of characters but only tag one of them, it's because i only tag my faves in reblogs (original posts are fair game).

list of more stuff i like under the cut ^_^

big list of smaller lists of things i like:

colors — #00FF00 (neon green) if it isn’t clear lol. also a huge fan of pastel pink, magenta / hot pink, and neon-ish purple

pokemon — purugly, incineroar, emboar, mega banette, regigigas, deoxys, beheeyem, arceus, jirachi, mega rayquaza

characters — volo, dark prince / satan, gakupo, kasane teto, both medicine sellers, popuko, king of sorrow, eggnog cookie, wario, santa claus (the real one), i m meen, the pyro, sakuya mitsurugi, marisa kirisame, patchouli knowledge, narciso anasui, king of all cosmos, beerus, tingle, goro, mion sonozaki, tsuchinoko, otacon, that one specific version of nekomura iroha in back street marionette

musicians/bands/etc — dj technorch, yoeko, hakushi hasegawa, shiina ringo, tv room, emamouse, hi-posi, gladde paling, capsule, susumu hirasawa, gong, oingo boingo, the sworn group, cosmo sheldrake, toriena, denkiqujira, that one utau person (+ similar artists), pilotredsun, beirut

foods — just about anything with chicken, pork, or mushrooms

drinks — mountain dew is my favorite drink (obvious choice)

animals — white tigers, lammergeiers, wolves, dogs, gorillas, cats

fonts — ms gothic, times new roman, really scary minchotai. huge fan of mincho/serif fonts and monospace fonts

my ocs — king beeleth, the portalkeeper, anvil, medusa, meow, root priest, cc, kors, lock

friend ocs — not listing creators because you know who you are. bugs, gwen, hildisvini, fileine, chaching, business dog, starcat, hooligan, quasar

vocaloids/utauloids/etc — gakupo, fuiro, gumi, meika mikoto, defoko, kasane teto, kasane ted, saigone kako, gakudan roco, waltt, speedy torane, pumpking, gekiyaku, kazehiki

rhythm games/series — osu! tatakae! ouendan / elite beat agents, muse dash, frequency / amplitude, taiko no tatsujin, guitar hero, a dance of fire and ice, rhythm doctor, mad rat dead, rhythm heaven, parappa the rapper / um jammer lammy, vib-ribbon / vib-ripple / mojib-ribbon, project diva, project mirai

aesthetics, motifs, etc — (i dont reblog all of these, they’re just things i like + i dont care enough to find the names of these.) anything black/green, the juxtaposition or blend of the holy with demons or machinery or the visceral, cute valentine-y stuff, neon on black and occasionally white, y2k-style robots and tech, literally any mecha stuff

other stuff — ao oni, lsd: dream emulator, yume nikki + yume 2kki, sonic, klonoa, death note, random internet weirdness/rumors/hoaxes (this house has people in it, tsuki project, tortureware, red room, kisaragi station, lhohq, yyyyyyy), fungi, roblox, touhou, hypnospace outlaw, wizards, robots, knights, fish, malware, lost media, abandonware, mythology and folklore, fashion. my knowledge on some of these interests is pretty surface-level or otherwise general but oh well

p.s. in case ur wondering about some of my non-fandom tags that probably arent really self explanatory, soapsmp tag is for a friend group smp, vljs tag is for a friend group lore setting thing, vast space tag is for my oc lore stuff, beeleth tag is for my oc beeleth, and 00FF00 is for green pictures

[anarchopuppy]

hi woxy! whats your favorite genre of music? any specific subgenres? artists? any genres you particularly dont like?

genre is an outdated and confusing way of categorizing music! i dont broadly dislike any particular genre, im willing to listen to most anything and im one of those freaks that keeps it all in one playlist of 500+ songs and plays it on shuffle

my favorite band is caravan palace, but i dont really like any other electroswing. lately ive been getting into more dreamcore, shitcore, hyperpop, and whatever tf femtanyl is doing that is able to ddos attack my brain. but my massive playlist also has lots of stuff like beirut, cake, tmbg, fleet foxes, etc. rly just whatever i enjoy listening to