Andrew Bird's "Anonanimal"

Andrew Bird doesn't make a ton of videos, so when he does, it's kind of event...umm, if you really like Andrew Bird. Which I do.

Check out the freaky-cool video for "Anonanimal", a pretty song from Noble Beast, Bird's most recent album. Unfortunately I can't embed it, but you can see it if click on the pic or go to the following link:

http://www.andrewbird.net/aviary/index.php

Andrew Bird's Noble Beast

This is a review I should have written weeks ago, but better late than never, I guess. I say "should have" because anyone who looks at this blog even occasionally knows that I can't say enough about Andrew Bird. Noble Beast, released last month, is finally getting the Bird Man the attention he deserves. There's been a veritable media blitz--NPR loves him to death, I've been seeing and hearing interviews with him left and right, and I believe he's playing Leno tonight. For a guy who's songs you'll probably never hear on the radio, this might be as good as it gets.

But I digress. The only unfortunate thing about Noble Beast is that it came out so early in 2009 that I'm concerned it won't find a home on people's top 10 lists at the end of the year. I think I can safely say that won't be a problem for me. Bird is easily one of my favorite artists of the last decade, and Noble Beast places a close second behind Mysterious Production of Eggs for his best album to date. From the infectious opening whistle of "Oh No" right on through to the end, there is nary a weak spot.

Maybe I'm a sucker for whistling, or a little violin plucking, or big words, or all of these things put together, but this is definitely good stuff. The melodies that were stuck in Andrew Bird's head for years as he crafted the songs for Noble Beast will get stuck in your head. The words in his lyrics, whether you know what they mean or not, will stick in your head like a poppy seed in your teeth. From Bird's recent NPR interview (there's lots of links to streaming concerts and songs through the NPR site, too): "Bird's lyrics often feature archaic language — words such as radiolarian, plecostomus, dermestids, coprophagia — which he chooses mainly for their sound, but not at the expense of their meaning....'I guess I'm attracted to more archaic words because they can be imbued with more meaning, because their definition is elusive. And sometimes my use of words is a bit reckless. I'm aware of that.'"

Reckless or not, it works. I could probably do a post for every song on this album, but I'll stop here and just encourage anybody reading this to check out Noble Beast. If you're already an Andrew Bird fan, get the Deluxe Edition, which features a bonus instrumental album, Useless Creatures. It's a bit more experimental and weird, but still a great listen.

EJP's Top Irregular Albums of 2008

I had a post like this last year, so I figured I better get the ball rolling with this post. Actually, I'm not going to be quite as ambitious this year with the end-of-year lists. I leave for Germany in a week and have metric buttloads of stuff to do before then. I'll be condensing things a bit this year, and no way will there be a top 30 like last year. Sorry...as it is, I'm up way past my bedtime tonight.

Best 2006 album that wasn't purchased until 2008: The Dodos - Beware of the Maniacs
I already raved about this album extensively much earlier this year, so I won't really go into any details here. The Dodos got some good press in 2008 with the release of Visiter, their followup to this album, but I have to say I think BofM is the better album. It's more of a fun album, in any case, and it's still getting a lot of play time with me.

Best Reissue 2008: Andrew Bird - Music of Hair
This one wins by default because I think it's the only reissue I purchased this year. No, that's not true...I got something by Mission of Burma and hated it. It's no secret that I'm totally crushing on Andrew Bird's music, so this pick should not come as a surprise to anyone who reads this blog. That said, Music of Hair is not for everyone. In Bird's own words, "It is sort of a relic from the time before I got my conceptual shit together.” That sounds about right. The styles of the songs are spotty and the singing (what little of it there is) is fairly weak. There's little if any of the trademark whistling--the album is all about the violin. Lucky for me I enjoy the violin in nearly any style, so I found the album a great listen. I haven't had it for very long, so I can't really say I have a favorite track. I'd say it's a nice album to have playing in the background while preparing a Sunday dinner.

Best EP of 2008: Ben Kweller - How Ya Lookin' Southbound? Comein...
I also didn't get many EPs this year, but I'm glad I picked this one up. Generally when a rock artist "goes country", the result is pretty disappointing. But Kweller pulled this one off with aplomb. I genuinely liked every track on this EP, and I would go so far as to say that "Things I Like To Do" and "Sawdust Man" are two of BK's better songs as of late. This EP definitely whet my appetite for the upcoming LP. I'd say it was a must-have for any Ben Kweller fan, and even a should-give-a-listen to nonfans, though it's not really representative of his previous work.

Best Soundtrack of 2008: ???
I think the only soundtrack I bought this entire year was Juno's, which technically came out in 2007. I suppose that it'll have to count, but if anyone has any other recommendations, let me know. Not that the Juno soundtrack was bad, but I'd rather heap praise upon Kimya Dawson for...

Best Children's Album of 2008: Kimya Dawson and Friends - Alphabutt
This is a new category for me, and it's actually pretty competitive. My son listens to plenty of my music, but he's also got a growing collection of kids' albums, all carefully selected by me (which means no Rafi). Alphabutt won this one hands down. It has very, very little educational value, and let's face it, Kimya Dawson can't sing worth shite. But guess what? Kids don't care. These songs are fun and delightfully immature. There are several songs about farting, and I'm totally down with that. Farts are funny. My son might not appreciate this album much now, but he will. This'll be the CD we can only play when mommy's not home, because she loathes it. This is not to say die Frau isn't fun, but unlike me, she is usually unable to regress her sense of humor back to age 7. Oh well, more fun for the boys...

There Will Be Snacks

So for the first time since we started this blog, EINR and I have seen the same artist on the same tour, but in two different places. The other night I saw Andrew Bird on the tail end of his solo tour--EINR saw the first stop on that tour.

I won't go into a lot of details since there was such a recent post (with a link to another decent concert review within that post), but I really can't stress enough how good A.B. is live. His albums are great and I listen to them a lot, but the energy and virtuosity he showcases live make him one of the best performers I've seen in the past decade. During one of his songs, he looped at least three violin tracks, a whistling track, hand claps, a sound he made with his mouth that sounded like brushes on a snare drum, a cooing vocal with which he would later harmonize, and then he picked up his guitar and started singing the actual song. And set it all up withing about 1 minute. Sitting back and listening to this wall of sound, it's easy to forget that one man just produced all of that music in a very short period of time, and he's keeping it all in his head as he continues to modify his loops. As I told my sister (who awesomely got us center seats in the second row for this show), the next couple times she sees a guy just singing and strumming a guitar, she's going to be a bit disappointed. Andrew Bird has way more talent than any one person should have, but I won't begrudge him for it. I'll just enjoy it. A lot.

For once, I actually found the playlist for this one:
1) Intro (Il Conformista Prelude, I think it's called) 2) Sovay 3) Why? 4) A Nervous Tic Motion 5) Natural Disaster 6) Water Jet Cilice 7) Spare-Ohs 8) Plasticities 9) Anonanimal 10) Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning 11) Skin Is, My 12) Tables and Chairs ENCORE: Action/Adventure and Some Of These Days.

Pretty similar to the set in Chapel Hill, with a few change-ups. A.B. explained what Spare-Ohs was all about, which was an interesting story to say the least. Throwing "Action/Adventure" into the encore was also a nice bonus.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the excellence of the venue. Even Bird himself said he'd been playing a lot of lovely theaters during his current tour, but The Music Hall "[took] the cake." It is beautiful, and has some of the best sound of any venue I've ever been in. Sure, the new lobby looks like Tim Burton just created a set for Munchkin Land, but it's still pretty cool. Please go see a show there if you ever get the chance. Portsmouth is already a pretty cool city, but The Music Hall ups its cool factor considerably.