BuzzSugar

Song of the Day: Andrew Bird, "Imitosis (Four Tet Remix)"

BuzzSugar — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 06:30:00 -0800

As we reflect on the year's best everything, I'm dragging out all of the CDs that are likely to make my best of 2007 list, including Armchair Apocrypha by Andrew Bird. In addition to being the most handsome and sharply dressed multi-instrumentalist of 2007, Bird makes some of the most surprisingly danceable music around, despite the fact that violin is one of his primary instruments.

That fact hasn't gone unnoticed by the electronica wizards behind Four Tet, who remixed Bird's "Imitosis" to very fun effect. It's a must-listen if you're a Bird fan, or if you just want a little something to get you shakin' in your seat, so read more

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Music Video: Andrew Bird, "Imitosis"

BuzzSugar — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 16:35:48 -0700

Back in March, I guessed that Andrew Bird's Armchair Apocrypha could end up on my year-end best albums list, and so far, it's holding up quite well. So I was thrilled when Pitchfork tipped me off to the new video for Bird's "Imitosis," one of the tracks from the album that's most likely to be wedged in my head at any given moment.

From his lyrics, Bird has often seemed to have a fascination with science and experiments, and so it didn't surprise me too much that this video takes place in a classroom or laboratory of sorts, with charts and graphs and electrode hook-ups. Bird looks smashing playing the violin in his striped socks, but the real stars of the video are the bejeweled bugs, which look like they crawled out of my grandmother's brooch collection circa 1953. To watch the video for yourself, read more

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CD Review: Andrew Bird, Armchair Apocrypha

BuzzSugar — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 12:15:05 -0700

In the din of hype surrounding the new albums by Arcade Fire, Modest Mouse, and the forthcoming Wilco and Bright Eyes, you might miss the quiet genius of Andrew Bird's new release, Armchair Apocrypha. But after spending a few weeks with the album, which hits stores today, I'm already willing to say it's likely to end up on my year-end best list.

The hippest thing ever to happen to the pizzicato violin, Andrew Bird is just as adept at crafting string-laden pop songs as he is writing rhymes so sing-song, it takes you a moment to hear the words. In his definition of pop music - and the extremely catchy folk-inspired tunes are undoubtedly pop - plink-plunks of strings and winds combine with twisty, turning electric guitars for melodies that carry you right to the edge of chaos, but not quite. For more details and to hear one of the album's best tracks,

Whether he's chronicling stolen moments or engaging in cheeky wordplay, Bird always manages to floor me with his lyrics. It might be a sliver of brilliance, as on the album's standout track, "Heretics": "You're making mountains of handkerchiefs / where the mascara always runs." But most often, Bird is offering veritable prose poems set to song. On the arresting ballad "Armchairs," he idly sings "I dreamed you were a cosmonaut / of the space between our chairs / and I was a cartographer / of the tangles in your hair" before jolting us into an aggressive chorus. Not matter how he engineers his collisions between words and melody, I manage to hear something new almost every time I listen.

You can hear live versions of several songs performed by Bird at SXSW, or to hear "Heretics," just hit "play" below.