thoughtcrumbs

The mysterious production of sound

Saw Andrew Bird play at the Three Rivers Arts festival last night. He has the yummy, ethereal wailings and hushed, conversational disclosures of Jeff Buckley. And he composes his pieces like a Bach fugue, layering violin, electric guitar, xylophone, and whistling with a looping pedal, playing layers back against themselves. His lyrics reference Pynchon, Carly Simon, and the game Operation. And his latest album has some of the most beautiful liner art I've ever seen. Goofy, charming, colorful sketches of nonsensical worlds.

On a related note, thisishappening's user profile page has a checkbox so you can receive announcements about Math Rock shows. And CDBaby has a whole section devoted to it. (And wikipedia, too.) This genre of unusually complex metered rock should not be confused with songs about math. On that front, Tom has declared Jonathan Coulton's "Mandlebrot Set" to be his favorite song for May. We've come a long way from My Hero, Zero.