Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream

First, listen to him live on your computer as he twangs it up with a Charley Patton song, “I’m goin’ home” (4.37/5)
Tonight, watch (and listen) to him live on your t.v. as he performs on Conan O’brien
Also, check out the CSV archives on Andrew Bird:
– Listen to the mp3 of his Dr. Stringz performance
– Read the album review of Armchair Apocrypha
– Read about and see pictures from his performance at Northwestern University (plus hear “11:11″ live)

Andrew Bird is a hero. He doesn’t don a cape or fly around in pants that are too tight for his build–he’s a different kind of hero. He’s the kind of hero that is able to make his greatest weaknesses work for him. He’s the kind of hero that went to Northwestern University. He’s the kind of person that just said “to hell” with all the preconceived notions he had about himself and his image. The result is simply golden.

It used to be that His Birdness did not want to identify with his birdness. His last name is so strikingly accurate in describing his affect, that it seems odd that he didn’t embrace it. Until now. Try to put aside the haunting whistling of his, or the way his voice flutters over each song, or how his violin seems to flap its wings from string to string. You can’t. But try. Then have a look at his album cover: the back of a the head of a Budgerigar (often confused with a parakeet…there’s a difference I guess). It’s the prevailing theme that His Birdness makes on the whole album–that his identity was so close this whole time but he never had time or never wanted to embrace it.

But I’m sure glad he has now. Armchair Apocrypha is full of the unique Birdisms that I find simply irresistible. On “Imitosis”, he sings “We were all basically alone / Despite what all the studies have shown / What was mistaken for closeness was just a case for mitosis”. And with the added stylings of Martin Dosh (drummer), Armchair has a certain full-band quality to it. In fact, the album as a whole plays out more like a full band, which suits Bird’s style of music much better than his strictly solo approach prior to this effort.

On Armchair, His Birdness rarely misses; it’s tough to find a song I don’t think is strong. But enough of the negative side. Have a listen to “Simple X” (written by Dosh actually), and try not to sing along to the infectiously delicious track. With a great drum rhythm section and an electronic piano laying down a delectable beat, “Simple X” is a favorite. Or take “Scythian Empire” which actually appeared on Fingerlings 3, but now has some studio production to really make this song a classic. At about the 2 minutes mark, his whistling chimes in with the chorus that features what I can only describe as pop cans singing. Yes, soda (for you easterners) cans are singing. I could go on forever, but this review is already too long. So with that…

Buy Armchair Apocrypha. Go on. Get it.
Listen to “Imitosis” (5/5)
Listen to “Simple X” (5/5)
Missed Dr. Stringz? Check out the Andrew Bird as Dr. Stringz.

I’ve got some great bands to tell you about, but there have been a couple of things that have gotten past me over the past couple of weeks that I really want to cover.
Here I go:

1) Feist!!! As you may know, we are huge friends of Feist (note: Monarch and Let It Die…seriously, buy these if you don’t have them), and we were delighted to hear that her upcoming album The Reminder will be released May 30th. And in honor of the announcement, her record company has released one track to signal her coming. The song “My Moon, My Man” is a glitzy, piano-fluttering rock disco ditty (have I gotten your attention yet?) that features Feist ever loving jhai voice. I don’t know what it is about Feist, but she has got one of the most incredible aesthetics I’ve ever experienced. Enough.
Get the track: My Moon, My Man.

2) Much ado has been made over the Andrew Bird appearance as Dr. Stringz. And for good reason. What a great guy! Even better in concert, I might add. Well, the video on youtube was short lived, but I managed to scrape off a pretty darn good quality video for those that haven’t seen it yet (That’s all you guys from elbo.ws). And for those of you who have still seen it but just need to bask in the Bird-ness a little bit more…
Andrew Bird as Dr. Stringz.mp4
Yea for us!

3) Okay, let me get it out of the way. We were on VH1 Best Week Ever’s website again for covering The Softlightes. Check it out here: We are Rockstars.

4) Good Weather for Air Strikes had a great post the other week about a song called “Thou Shalt Always Kill”. It’s great. Check it out.

In keeping with CSV’s Chicago artists posts, I couldn’t help but share this one will all of you. As you may know, Andrew Bird (one of CSV’s favorite artists) happens to be from a certain city that starts with a C, ends with an O, and in the middle has “hicag”. That’s Chicago for those who are spelling impaired.
Andrew’s new album Armchair Apocrypha is due out March 20th. I’m sure the album has leaked by you wouldn’t want to screw over Andrew, now, would you? How about pre-ordering? Also, the cover art is phenomenal.

Well, Andrew Bird recently appeared on Jack’s Big Music Show on the Noggins children’s TV network. I’ve never heard of it, but I think they’re on to something. Andrew Bird appears as a magical Mr Stringz–he can repair any broken stringed instrument. And boy has he got a song for you. Actually, the song he wrote for it is quite excellent. What you won’t find anywhere else but at CSVMAD (an exclusive) is the ability to actually download the .mp3 file of the song (that is, if you like it).

Head on over to Youtube to check out the video: Andrew Bird as Dr. Stringz.
And if you want the .mp3 file of it: Dr. Stringz