Night Out

WARNING: This post is link heavy. Prepare your mouse for a workout.

Kevin and I went to a concert this weekend, our first in almost a year: Andrew Bird with special guest St. Vincent at the Kalamazoo State Theatre. I went into this totally unfamiliar with St. Vincent, knowing only that the singer was a woman and there would probably be some expiremental jazz involved.

Andrew Bird, who Kevin has been fairly obsessed with lately, primarily plays violin and whistles. I know: Weird, right? Every time he opened his mouth to whistle last night, I thought about the episode of 10 Items or Less in which Leslie releases a CD of himself whistling well-known songs, and then plays it in a loop over the store's PA system.

Anywho. . . Andrew Bird played 80% of the show solo. He records loops of himself singing, whistling, clapping, and playing violin. He has this elaborate system of foot pedals that he taps, once he's pulled off his shoes and is comfortable in red socks. Once all this is done, and it only takes a minute or two, he plays along live, either with his violin or a guitar. He's (dare I say it?) a one-man band. See for yourself:





This song, "Sweet Matter," was probably my favorite of the night. It's a combination of two songs, "Sweet Breads" and "Dark Matter," and pretty much any song that mentions neurons is going to be a hit with me.