Noble Beast

Ghosts_on_TV · Jan 21, 2009, 02:28 AM

Already, the best album of 2009. It is. Sorry Jenny. :-[ :o :( :) :D 8-)

Ghosts_on_TV · Jan 21, 2009, 02:31 AM

Anonaminal is already one of the best songs I've ever heard, ever.

tomEisenbraun · Jan 21, 2009, 02:32 AM

Fuh. King. A.

My dear Jesus this album is perfect. Completely eclipses Armchair Apocrypha in so many ways.

Ghosts_on_TV · Jan 21, 2009, 02:35 AM

QuoteFuh. King. A.

My dear Jesus this album is perfect. Completely eclipses Armchair Apocrypha in so many ways.

I concur. And I love Armchair. 8-)

tomEisenbraun · Jan 21, 2009, 02:54 AM

Quote
QuoteFuh. King. A.

My dear Jesus this album is perfect. Completely eclipses Armchair Apocrypha in so many ways.

I concur. And I love Armchair. 8-)

I actually had a real hard time with Armchairs, but I think it's because I loved the beginnings of so many of those songs in the intensely intimate environments they were played in, and it just felt somehow unfitting. Especially "armchairs" the song. The version from the Studio 105 session in French was so desolate and beautiful and incredible, and I was SO jazzed about the fact that he finally recorded it and it just died with the piano part before the vocals. Like it lost all of its flow or something. Don't quite know how to describe it, and I'm not an expert at all, but there were just a lot of songs there that never quite "did it" for me in their studio versions. I made an alternate cut of the album out of the bootlegs for that reasons. Love the songs (for the most part) just didn't love the flow and some of the production of the album.

Ghosts_on_TV · Jan 21, 2009, 03:08 AM

Quote
Quote
QuoteFuh. King. A.

My dear Jesus this album is perfect. Completely eclipses Armchair Apocrypha in so many ways.

I concur. And I love Armchair. 8-)

I actually had a real hard time with Armchairs, but I think it's because I loved the beginnings of so many of those songs in the intensely intimate environments they were played in, and it just felt somehow unfitting. Especially "armchairs" the song. The version from the Studio 105 session in French was so desolate and beautiful and incredible, and I was SO jazzed about the fact that he finally recorded it and it just died with the piano part before the vocals. Like it lost all of its flow or something. Don't quite know how to describe it, and I'm not an expert at all, but there were just a lot of songs there that never quite "did it" for me in their studio versions. I made an alternate cut of the album out of the bootlegs for that reasons. Love the songs (for the most part) just didn't love the flow and some of the production of the album.

I hear ya. I really do love that album, although you may have heard more live versions than me. I heard a bit from before the album came out, but not much. Thats always going to be a problem for musicians...to play or not to play, before an actual recorded, definitive version is out. I know that Damien Rice didn't want his shows recorded for a while before 9 came out, because he didn't want people to get used to the early versions of his new songs, because they were probably going to change a bit.

tomEisenbraun · Jan 21, 2009, 03:33 AM

The beautiful thing about Bird though is the way a lot of those songs had morphed over time. Dark Matter went all the way back, in some parts, to Sweet Breads which is at least five years old. We've all heard I from Weather Systems, and it's been through a few stages, adding the chorus and all the lyrics, having to strike out the bit that didn't sit well with Sesame Street. I think he really crafted a lot of those on his own, and suddenly had the ability to bring a band in and maybe it didn't sit too well at points because that's not how those were written. You can really feel songs like "Plasticity" and "Heretics" and especially "Simple X" in their recorded versions as those were most DEFINITELY written with collaboration in mind. Haha, there's versions of those songs that don't work because it's Andrew Playing them solo and they're missing components.

So there's a definite give and take with the material. I'd love to see Andrew climb into the silo and just take us through solo compositions of everything in the way he crafted them before bringing them into the studio. There's a lot of gold in watching him craft loops. I remember searching hard to find a recording of "Opposite Day" on archive.org and being totally blown away by the way he tracks so many parts so seamlessly and just all of a sudden has this massive wall of his sound at his fingertips. The same thing happens with "Armchairs" in the Studio 105 recording.

But that's enough of my yakkin'.

I might need to start the Andrew Bird muso thread. Anyone be opposed to or offended by that?

Ghosts_on_TV · Jan 21, 2009, 03:55 AM

Not at all. 8-)

BH · Jan 21, 2009, 09:35 AM

Do you guys have the instrumental album, useless creatures? I still haven't popped that one in. I will today....

getinthevan · Jan 21, 2009, 09:43 AM

I'm hoping to pick this up today. If I can't find a version that has Useless Creatures then I'll have to hold off because I really want to hear that.

ALady · Jan 21, 2009, 11:11 AM

QuoteDo you guys have the instrumental album, useless creatures? I still haven't popped that one in. I will today....

I will too. Let's convene this afternoon to discuss. :)

Ghosts_on_TV · Jan 21, 2009, 12:25 PM

QuoteDo you guys have the instrumental album, useless creatures? I still haven't popped that one in. I will today....

My record store didn't have the one with that. Boo, I say. Boo. :(

tomEisenbraun · Jan 21, 2009, 12:27 PM

Quote
QuoteDo you guys have the instrumental album, useless creatures? I still haven't popped that one in. I will today....

I will too. Let's convene this afternoon to discuss. :)

It's beeeeeeautiful. "You Woke Me Up!" and the "Carrion Suite" are probably my two faves, but it's so fun just to get to hear him jamming around crafting things together like that. I think making this alongside the album helped out the album, too, in an interesting kind of way.

ALady · Jan 21, 2009, 02:46 PM

"Carrion Suite" is the jam! As a violinist, it's really interesting to listen to from a technical standpoint; it sounds like he's playing with the back of his bow? I think there's a word for that technique, but I've long since forgotten what it is.

I was in a tax training the last few hours but I'm going to give it another listen now. On first listen it struck me as kind of world-music-y.

Coltrane · Jan 21, 2009, 05:26 PM

I love Andrew's voice. the man has perfect pitch!

Dosh's work on this record is pretty sweet too....

tomEisenbraun · Jan 21, 2009, 11:48 PM

Quote"Carrion Suite" is the jam! As a violinist, it's really interesting to listen to from a technical standpoint; it sounds like he's playing with the back of his bow? I think there's a word for that technique, but I've long since forgotten what it is.

I was in a tax training the last few hours but I'm going to give it another listen now. On first listen it struck me as kind of world-music-y.

DEFINITELY back of his bow. I dated a violist for a while and she played Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" and they had a part in it with that technique. Reeeally interesting sound that Andrew gets though, almost like a hammered dulcimer or something with the way he uses it. I need to give that one some repeated listens, too.

el_chode · Jan 21, 2009, 11:49 PM

Normally I wouldn't consider buying this album, but your reviews have piqued my interest. I checked out some samples and I definitely like what I hear, though I'm not sold.

Anyone want to tell me why I should part with my hard earned government loans?

tomEisenbraun · Jan 21, 2009, 11:56 PM

QuoteNormally I wouldn't consider buying this album, but your reviews have piqued my interest. I checked out some samples and I definitely like what I hear, though I'm not sold.

Anyone want to tell me why I should part with my hard earned government loans?

The compositions just stand superior. It's like he's come into his own now as an artist with a band behind him in a studio. The entire thing is beautifully written and there's not a single skippable track in the entire hour. Seriously. It's got my vote for album of '09 so far. It's going to take some serious work to edge him out.

Ghosts_on_TV · Jan 22, 2009, 03:37 AM

QuoteNormally I wouldn't consider buying this album, but your reviews have piqued my interest. I checked out some samples and I definitely like what I hear, though I'm not sold.

Anyone want to tell me why I should part with my hard earned government loans?

Because it's the best album thats going to come out in 2009. If it's not, then I can't fucking wait to hear the album that is....

tomEisenbraun · Jan 24, 2009, 02:59 AM

Quote
QuoteNormally I wouldn't consider buying this album, but your reviews have piqued my interest. I checked out some samples and I definitely like what I hear, though I'm not sold.

Anyone want to tell me why I should part with my hard earned government loans?

Because it's the best album thats going to come out in 2009. If it's not, then I can't fucking wait to hear the album that is....

Highly agreed, sir.