MY LIST: May

May’s Artist of the Month: Andrew Bird

I first heard of Andrew Bird through the author of dooce.com who was able to get a chance to see Bird live in Utah. Since then, Andrew has made a splash on the music scene with his high energy shows and eclectic, “outside-of-the-box”, violin driven (I kid you not) tunes. I may be hopping on the bandwagon a little late on this one as most people had an opportunity to catch Bird either at Lollapalooza or Bonnaroo last year, or on David Letterman. I should note that my collection of Bird’s music only consists of his two most recent albums: The Mysterious Production of Eggs and Armchair Apocrypha. However I did catch on before Armchair was released so I was able to appreciate both albums separately.

Harking from Illinois, Bird brings the looping styles of Keller Williams with the instrument variety of a Sufjan Stevens and backed with toe-tapping hooks to mesh songs into catchy singles and swaying ballads. Bird using both a bow and plucking style for his main instrument, the violin, but is usually accompanied by guitars, xylophones, keyboards, his own whistling, and backing strings to match the diverse and poetic lyrics that fill out his baggy-clothed songs. Imploring more of a spoken word style of sings, Bird’s voice is clean but limited in range. However, it nestles nicely into the grander scope of each song creating an interwoven and flowing call and response between the vocals and supporting instruments. On other tunes, vocals and guitar are synced to harmonize and highlight lyrics before separating like railroad tracks at a train-yard before returning again to the main line. Please check out the youtube video I posted to get the full effect. [New Feature!]

Songs that will change your life: Imitosis, Not a Robot, but a Ghost
Other tracks that you must listen to: Fiery Crash, Fake Palindromes, A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left, Plasticities
Hidden tracks: Tables and Chairs, Heretics, Darkmatter