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Beirut

First Avenue, Rose and Cabooze Presents:

Beirut

Little Scream

Sat, July 21, 2012

6:00 pm

$25.00

Sold Out

This event is all ages

Beirut
Beirut
While it may sound like an entire Balkan orchestra playing modern songs as mournful ballads and upbeat marches, Beirut is largely the work of one New Mexico native, Zach Condon. Horns, violins, cellos, ukuleles, mandolins, glockenspiels, drums, tambourines, congas, organs, pianos, clarinets and accordions are staples in his music, which builds and breaks the melodies under Condon's deep-voiced crooner vocals, swaying to the Eastern European beats that sound like they're being brought to you by a 12-member ensemble.
Little Scream
Little Scream
LITTLE SCREAM'S MUSIC is-like her moniker-full of perfectly satisfying contradictions. It is at once familiar and completely distinct; effortlessly absorbing multiple genres into a sparkly and cohesive landscape. From her early days performing with a battered acoustic guitar through a cigarette amp, to her current multi-layered solo act typically combined with a rotating band of all-star musicians; one thing remains true for Little Scream: things are always done in her own weird and wonderful way.

Born in Iowa and raised along the Mississippi River in an 'Addams Family meets 700 Club' home, Little Scream, aka Laurel Sprengelmeyer, learned violin and piano as a child. 'When my parents divorced, all my mom got out of the deal was a green Chevy pick-up truck. When that truck was dented up in an accident, my mom used the insurance money to bring home a Washburn banjo and the black Fender La Brae I still sometimes play at shows. I spent the following months locked away in our root cellar learning guitar tablature. Mostly Aerosmith'.

Little Scream 'escaped to Montreal as an exile of the spirit' where she went to University and 'majored in getting a Canadian work visa'. She emerged onto Montreal's music scene at her own pace, appearing and disappearing on stages alongside the likes of Atlas Sound, Stars, The Sea and Cake, and Handsome Furs; all the while slowly crafting the sounds that would become her debut full length: The Golden Record.
Co-produced with Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire, Bell Orchestre), The Golden Record features Little Scream on guitar, vocals, violin, and keyboard. In typical Montreal fashion, it showcases a healthy slice of local talent including Richard Parry, Mike Fuerstack (Snailhouse), Becky Foon (Silver Mt. Zion), Patty McGee (Stars), and Sarah Neufeld (Arcade Fire, Bell Orchestre). The National's Aaron Dessner also contributed guitar to the first single, "Heron and the Fox".

The title refers to the 1977 Voyager Space shuttle time capsule recording that contains sounds, language and music intended to represent earth. In Little Scream's words: 'It is a poignant if not futile gesture of communication with some form of sentience that might intercept it in the distant future when we are the distant past'. The otherworldly cover of The Golden Record is one of Little Scream's own original oil paintings. Watch out for the Spring 2011 release of The Golden Record.
Venue Information:
Cabooze Plaza
917 Cedar Ave
Minneapolis, MN, 55404
http://www.cabooze.com