[brungeman]

Starting out as a side man and supporting character for a little band of the 90’s “Squirrel Nut Zippers” may be the only way some may ever contact the name of Andrew Bird. His style is as unique as his mastery of many instruments. His stage show is like watching an epileptic juggler as he dances between whistling, plucking out rhythms on his violin that are recorded and looped before picking up the guitar to layer one more sound and if you thought that is about all one person can do, he starts in with the lyrics while playing the glockenspiel! His voice is an instrument in and of itself, reminiscent of melancholy crooner Jeff Buckley.

Tonight I was treated to a free show as part of the Pittsburgh Arts Festival. I took a few pics but in general was just dumbfounded by how much beautiful sound he and his drummer Martin Dosh could produce! It looked at times like the two of them were racing to see who could play more instruments at once!

Whistling a little tune!

Andrew and Martin

here is just one selection I think may give an idea of his style.

 

[brungeman]

bump for the morning crew!

 

[N8 v2.0]

Nice!!!

 

[stosh]

Someone should do They Might Be Giants.

 

[stosh]

PS. did you get my PM?

 

[McGRP01]

Andrew Bird has come up a lot in conversations I've been having lately. His music is getting noticed a lot these days. Good stuff!

 

[Tame Ape]

He's great! I found a couple of live shows of his on the interweb and he really benefits from having a drummer up there with him. He's signed to Righteous Babe Records, aka Ani DiFranco's label in upstate NY.

 

[Tame Ape]

PS. did you get my PM?

send a PM n00b!

 

[brungeman]

PS. did you get my PM?

yep back at you!

 

[TreeSaw]

I like his stuff

Stosh - I just saw They Might Be Giants again (I've seen them several times over the years) and they were missing something...wasn't the best performance I have heard them do

 

[brungeman]

Andrew Bird has come up a lot in conversations I've been having lately. His music is getting noticed a lot these days. Good stuff!

yep I have been hearing more and more buzz (which is great). I have been into his stuff since he went solo with the "Bowl of Fire" as a backing band, which is more rockin than his newest stuff. I will say that he played a new song (on an upcoming release) last night that was fvcking amazing... I think it was called "plasticities" or some variation.

PS you never answered beer pref. on the N.E. Monkeyfest thread!

He's great! I found a couple of live shows of his on the interweb and he really benefits from having a drummer up there with him. He's signed to Righteous Babe Records, aka Ani DiFranco's label in upstate NY.

yeah the drummer was amazing. I am a drummer myself, and was trying like hell to figure out how he was sampling, layering, and playing all of this stuff at once, it was really hard to wrap my head around it. I didn't know that he was going to be on RBR... he said something about a label out in Seatle picking his next record up! but cool none the less. I think it is great that a person with such a "strange" (by mass market standards) sound is getting the attention he deserves.

 

[Tame Ape]

yeah the drummer was amazing. I am a drummer myself, and was trying like hell to figure out how he was sampling, layering, and playing all of this stuff at once, it was really hard to wrap my head around it. I didn't know that he was going to be on RBR... he said something about a label out in Seatle picking his next record up! but cool none the less. I think it is great that a person with such a "strange" (by mass market standards) sound is getting the attention he deserves.

Thats cool. In an interview he said he wrote the last album in his barn, pretty much solo too. I think he lives in the UP in Michigan?

 

[bluebug32]

Thanks, Brunge. I like SNZ. They had a great sound.

 

[brungeman]

Thats cool. In an interview he said he wrote the last album in his barn, pretty much solo too. I think he lives in the UP in Michigan?

he could, he just lives a couple hours ouside of Chitown!

 

[Tame Ape]

he could, he just lives a couple hours ouside of Chitown!

There is a pile of his live stuff on Archive.org but their UI is all messed up making it super hard to find anything properly. The more you listen to him, the more you'll see the value of him working with a drummer.

 

[brungeman]

There is a pile of his live stuff on Archive.org but their UI is all messed up making it super hard to find anything properly. The more you listen to him, the more you'll see the value of him working with a drummer.

cool, I will check it out.

 

[brungeman]

bump for the night crew!