7 posts tagged “andrew bird”
Downloads:
- eMusic: http://www.emusic.com/album/Patrick-Watson-Wooden-Arms-MP3-Download/11443563.html
- iTunes (US): http://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=313783404&s=143455
- Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Wooden-Arms/dp/B0028JSDFA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1243605993&sr=8-2
You must buy this album. Patrick Watson (the band, lead by Patrick Watson, the singer) are the point at which Andrew Bird, Tom Waits, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, Antony & The Johnsons and Bjork all meet.
These are my favourite songs:
I haven't posted much lately. Here are some more songs I am in love with. All of them are from albums that deserve your money and already got mine.
This time, he had a backing band, but still managed to use his trademark layered looping to excellent effect throughout a set mostly comprised of songs from Noble Beast.
I downloaded this weeks ago, and other than one song coming on random, forgot to listen to it. A DOI. Really fucking good. There are bits that remind me of Andrew Bird and Final Fantasy, bits that remind me of Dntel and The Postal Service, and bits that remind me of Bjork (their programmer, Console, worked on Vespertine).
'One Step Inside Doesn't Mean You Understand'
'Consequence'
'Pilot'
It's been a good week.
With the launch out of the way, work has been less hectic. There were still bits and pieces to do on the sites we launched - some post-launch bug fixes, new features and responses to feedback. Other than that, I got to move onto my other project which - while also bearing an ever-looming deadline - I am comfortable about.
Tuesday was Jess' birthday so we went to our favourite Mexican place. As it was a special occasion, we had cocktails and dessert... and I'm very glad we did. Despite it being a girly drink, I love pina colada; and the weird ice cream things we had for dessert were very tasty. Jess really wanted to go to a Thai place, but given the distance, this was a perfect substitute.
Yesterday, I left work just after 5.30pm and got home around 6.15pm, despite having to take a detour to drop off our rent cheque. Considering last week I didn't leave work/get home until around the same time the following morning, it was nice. Jess was staying late at work, though, so I didn't know what to do with myself.
I did very little. I made myself a very simple and meat-free dinner, watched a whole disc of Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law then got into bed and played Solitaire on my swanky new phone. Somehow, I held off the sleepiness washing over me until Jess was home and in bed.
She had to get up early again this morning, leaving me to bum around. I spent my morning devouring another disc of Harvey Birdman, dicking around on the computer (it's amazing how much time you can waste looking at online galleries, Wikipedia entries and Amazon) and playing more Solitaire and Bubble Breaker.
My lunch was a bit more interesting - Jess had brought me home some steak, mashed potatoes and broccoli last night so I reheated that and downed it with copious amounts of Diet Coke. My dessert was Dairy Milk from our stash of imported chocolate.
I'm about to get a shower then head to meet Jess after work so we can pick up the last of her birthday presents. Despite two consecutive weeks of one of us working the weekend, things are calming down as the weather slowly (oh so slowly) picks up.
This week's calmer Dale is soundtracked by...
- One Cell In The Sea by A Fine Frenzy
- Deserter's Songs by Mercury Rev
- Armchair Apocrypha by Andrew Bird
- Logic Will Break Your Heart by The Stills
Show us your favorite local band.
Submitted by Soup.
There are a lot of local bands I like. My favourite is some obscure alternative rock combo...
... but I also like the following acts and artists who are from the Chicagoland area:
- Alkaline Trio
- Andrew Bird
- Cheap Trick
- Chin Up Chin Up
- Crucial Taunt
- Fun Club
- Headlights
- Liz Phair
- Miles Davis
- Sam Cooke
- The Shitty Beatles
- Wilco
Bonus points to anyone who spots the acts that shouldn't be on that list and what they have in common.
PS: In writing this, I discovered that Chicago, Styx AND REO Speedwagon are from the area. Josh paradise.
On Saturday, Jess, Josie, Josh and I went to see Brand New at the Congress Theatre. It was an... interesting night.
When we arrived, the queue of people waiting to get in snaked down the alley at the side of the venue and back out, all the way down the street. Conservative estimates put the crowd at 99% frequent patrons of Hot Topic, 1% people who through no fault of their own find catchy guitar music appealing.
I was (or at least felt like) the oldest person at the venue who was not...
a) A member of staff
b) A member of one of the bands
The Congress Theatre itself, in direct contrast to the Chicago Theatre the night before, is an absolute shithole. It was clearly once a great theatre, but now it was barely cleaner than a squat with everything in complete disrepair. The toilets had no soap, no toilet paper... heck, they barely had doors. Call me a girl, but I have basic standards of hygiene.
As for the main auditorium itself, though, it was a marked improvement over the Chicago Theatre in that you could sit on the balcony without the rapid onset of vertigo; and as old man-like as sitting at a gig is, I did not want to be stood amongst all the annoying little brats.
The first band on stage were mewithoutYou. I had seen them before, supporting Coheed & Cambria, and despite their ridiculous stage behaviour enjoyed them. On record, they are fucking great:
Sadly, they got more ridiculous since I last saw them - frontman Aaron Weiss is an unkempt, dirty meth smoking version of Michael Stipe, with all the comedy "dancing" that entails. It was unwatchable, and the muddy sound of the venue meant I could barely enjoy the musical side of it either.
The second band on stage were Thrice, another band I had seen supporting Coheed & Cambria. Their claim to fame is that they are one of the loudest bands around, and this is true... but Jess and Josie both surmised that the volume is to mask how fucking bland their music is. I don't know how you'd describe their sound without using the E word... well, other than "OH BROOOOOOTHER!".
The title of this post is actually inspired by Thrice. You see, they have a forthcoming album that is split between two sides. Fire is their usual fare - loud guitars with emo vocals, but Water (in predictable "guitar band experiments with their sound" shocker), features keyboards, drum machines and vocoders. And to really drive this point home, when playing songs from Fire, the lights were all reds and oranges; and when playing from Water, the lights were all bue and white. How clever!
For some reason, they were on stage for around an hour or so. About 59 minutes and 59 seconds too long.
Finally, a few beers worse for wear and utterly bored by Thrice, Brand New came on stage. Unlike the three Js, I am not a massive fan of Brand New, owning only one album. I actually enjoyed them a lot, especially when they played the two songs I like most by them - 'Millstone' and 'Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades' (named after a quote from Rushmore, one of my favourite movies):
Naturally, being the headliner, they felt they had to out-ridiculous the first two bands, and they managed this with aplomb.
First, there was the setup. There were two drumkits on stage (the second played on a handful of songs by a roadie), as well as a giant bass drum that their lead guitarist hit about five times on one song. Then on a couple of songs they had two people playing bass at once. On further songs, there were multiple guitarists. I believe on one song, they had two drummers, four guitarists and a bassist... or three guitarists and two bassists. It sounded great and all, but for the most part, their core four members could have coped just fine on their own.
Then there was the liberal use of a device Jess and I saw on stage only the night before - the sampler. Their idea of an encore was for the lead guitarist to come out and record a few phrases into the sampler, the singer/guitarist to add a couple more, then for them all to play over the top of it before shuffling off stage again. I mean, it sounded cool, but they dragged it out longer than necessary, and the three Js were still waiting for them to play material from their first album.
Overall, it wasn't a terrible night, but it certainly didn't compare to the genius of Andrew Bird the night before.
The Chicago Theatre is a beautful, ornate building with traditional theatre-style steep multi-level seating and French-style decor throughout. All seated, we were up at the very top of the theatre, right in the middle, with a perfect view of the whole stage (albeit anyone on that stage was barely distinguishable).
The opening act was Andrew Bird. I'd heard one or two songs before and went so far as adding his albums to my Amazon Wishlist, but with so many bands to listen to, I hadn't gotten to him yet. More fool me.
Unaccompanied, he managed to build beautiful, rich arrangements using two sampling pedals (which, gear nerds, I am reliably informed are Line 6 DL4 Delay Modelers). He plucked or played gorgeous violin parts into his sampler, layering them up, before playing guitar, singing, whistling (I'm not a fan of whistling, but his was pitch-perfect with a natural vibrato) and playing glockenspiel over the top.
The acoustics in the theatre were perfect for his music, I was pretty much entranced for his entire set. A couple of songs, taken from his most recent albums - Armchair Apocrypha and The Mysterious Production Of Eggs.
By comparison, Bright Eyes - while fantastic - didn't quite keep my attention. While Bird's sound spread out and filled the theatre, Bright Eyes' was muddied by the acoustics. Frontman Conor even alluded to weird acoustics when, halfway through a song on which he played piano, he cut off and had keyboardist Nate come take a look.
When not wrestling with sound, the band put on a brilliant set. I admit to a couple of vodka and Red Bulls, so my memory is hazy on the set list, but I definitely recall...
From Cassadaga...
'Four Winds'
'If The Brakeman Turns My Way'*
* (the song on which the piano malfunctioned)
From Digital Ash In A Digital Urn...
'Arc Of Time'
'Hit The Switch'
From Fevers & Mirrors...
'An Attempt To Tip The Scales'
From I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning...
'Old Soul Song (For The New World Order)'
'Another Travelin' Song'
'Poison Oak'
From Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground...
'You Will, You Will, You Will'
There was also a Tom Petty cover in there (I wasn't paying attention as we decided to duck out early to beat the crowds, Jess says it was 'Walls' or something) and another song Conor played on piano - apparently it was a cover of a song he wrote for another band, but I could barely hear him over the screaming fourteen year old girls.
The absolute highlight of the night, amidst all the great music, was when Conor recounted a story about his former tour manager.
"This is a selfish song. Our old tour manager had a joke:
'How does Bright Eyes warm up for a show? ME ME ME ME ME!'
I fired him!"
On record, they might sound like absolute Debbie Downers, but they certainly have a sense of humour about themselves.
