Martin Buber, Ethnic Music Guide?

Art is an imperialist endeavor; it grows by annexation. Thus Zach Condonâ??s band Beirut, which fuses Balkan folk music with indie pop to create a new, happening sound with just enough foreign spice to suggest idiosyncratic genius without actually being all that original.  Like Paul Simonâ??s various world music explorations, the tracks on Beirutâ??s new album The Rip Tide mine world music for a rhythm here and a melody line there, then bleach them all out with a plangent melancholy and woozy beat poet nostalgia. â??Headstrong today, Iâ??ve been headstrong,â? Condon muses on â??Payneâ??s Bayâ? over the waltzing, smoothly produced Balkan brass. Itâ??s not a punk cry of stubbornness so much as a lament for his compromised aesthetic of compromise. When the tune ends on an off-beat tuba burp, you almost want to pat him on the head. Awâ?¦ you really are irrepressibly ethnic! Good for you!