genius plus

the few of you who read this are probably aware of the words that i tend to fall back on for description: e.g. "incredible", "amazing", "awesome", "fucking". "thrilling" and "genius" don't make it in here so much. but those are exactly the words that come to mind after witnessing andrew bird in concert last night.

i'd been aware of bird for some time now but hadn't fully investigated his work. maybe it was the ani difranco connection, i dunno. but i finally woke up a couple months ago. his last couple of records manage to be catchy, nuanced, beautiful, and disquieting all at the same time. and while his violin playing is central to the proceedings, it's not a gimmick.

in concert, bird was supported by a pretty astounding drummer, but otherwise it was all him: violin, guitar, whistling (like a human theremin) and the occasional marimba. all while singing literate, witty songs about genetics and social deviancy. (there was one song which could be construed as a 'love' song, i suppose) i suppose he might come off like a bit of a freak if he didn't look like the lost wilson brother (as in luke/owen) and sing like fucking jeff buckley. through ingenuity and tape loops, the duo achieved an incredibly lush sound. the show was at the metro, and i don't think i've ever seen such a reverentially quiet audience at that venue before. i can't say for myself what my eyes looked like, but i'm thinking the 'saucers' cliche would be apt. i do know that my jaw very literally dropped at more than one point, because i kept self-consciously finding myself having to shut my yap. dude even played part of THE SCORE TO THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS.

so, in sum: andrew bird = THE HOTTNESS.

also, saw archer prewitt open. (KC pride!) unfortunately only caught one song, but it was a doozy. he even threw up his guitar pick when he was done! another ex-coctail backed him on bass.(KC pride!) they were happy, it was cute. that man never ages, i swear.

on the way in, they were giving away FREE tickets to a SPOON concert. when is this concert? 4 days before my first two finals. if you recall, in december they played a show about 2 blocks from my apartment at an equally bad time. what gives? of course, i'm seeing them in june, anyway.

otherwise, i've been party to some really interesting conversations and subject to some very stressful assignments, etc. but school awaits so i'll end here.