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Armchair Apocrypha [Vinyl]
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Availability:
7 to 13 days
Price:
$14.98
$14.23*
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| Part No: | B000N3AVX0 |
| Manufacturer: | Fat Possum [Old] |
| MFG Part: | |
| Customer Rating: | 4.5 / 5.0 |
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Strip away the music of an Andrew Bird song, and you're left with brilliant prose ("across the great chasms and schisms and the sudden aneurysms"), vignettes about mentally fending off plane crashes, infiltrating characters like the kings of Macedonia and Lou Dobbs, and titles such as "Yawny at the Apocalyspe." It's hard to believe that, really, his music reigns, but when Bird adds understated acoustic guitars, Wurlitzer and Rhodes, and his own mesmerizing pizzicato violin, his songs take on a progressive mood all their own. The Chicago Bird's tenth album (and his debut for extraordinary Mississippi blues label Fat Possum) is perhaps his most diverse, expansive, and resourceful yet, catering to a half-dozen genres of music while exploring storylines that are naïve ("Dark Matter"), candid ("Fiery Crash"), and blatantly comical ("Armchairs"). Making no palpable effort to crack the conventional with overflowing melodies and love songs, Bird instead latches up the intellect to create tiny packages of literature that make always leave you thinking--and snapping your fingers at the same time. --Scott Holter
Filled with layers of violin, glockenspiel, vocal harmonies, guitar, piano, and the most amazing whistling, Armchair Apocrypha is the latest from Andrew Bird (Chicago, IL.). Bird enlisted his touring drummer Martin Dosh (a.k.a. Dosh) and several other musicians to create this melancholy collage of gentle pop songs. Primaily a violinist, Andrew Bird has pioneered his own distinct sound as an eclectic instrumentalist and songwriter."Violinist-guitarist Andrew Bird goes further, filling his richly ornamented yet understated alt-pop with allusions to actual lab work." - Jon Dolan - BLENDER
| Another Bird Masterpiece | 2010-03-09 | 5 / 5 |
| A master of not only music, but prose, Bird has again struck lyrical gold with 'Aprocrypha'.
While some of my days call for the hard core whiskey lyrics of Tom Waits or the techno edge of Laurie Anderson's "Big Science",the crash of Wilco's 'Bull Black Nova', (or, yes, my guilty secret - Jamie Bergeron doing "That Butt Thang") there is nothing better, in a thoughtful, introspective mood than the beautiful lyricism of Bird. And what other artist can make you actually smile by simply whistling? And a xylophone, of all things......
Bird is a master musician, but what I truly love is his skill with storytelling - prominent in his "Scythian Empire" and so very simply in "Spare-oh".
Progressive, mesmerizing, and wholly lovely, you will listen over and over. |
| Accessible science-inspired music: a largely untapped market | 2009-12-14 | 5 / 5 |
| | Another great album from Andrew Bird, and continues on the vein of combining science jargon with philosophical musings. As a student of science I really love his playfulness with the subject matter; too many people in the humanities are convinced science is a cold, heartless field where creativity is limited by procedure...when really, it is always within the limitations of procedure that true creativity can blossom. His music is accessible and inspires me to pull out my medical dictionary to explore my future field of expertise. What more can you ask for? |
| Bird in a tree | 2009-11-21 | 5 / 5 |
| There are some people who it seems music just flows through. Melody seems to come so easy that it is almost involuntary, evolutionary, like the bird singing in the tree. There are certain people who are able to write so prolifically and so beautifully that to comprehend you have to accept the fact that no person could hold that much beauty, talent or passion inside. Instead you are made to see that the beauty exists outside them, and their talent is their ability to channel it onto a page or through a speaker, and their passion is to project it at you. Andrew Bird is one of these people.
I imagine that he understood the violin before he picked it up for the first time, that the guitar began to play when he first laid eyes upon it, and that the song burst into flames no sooner than he had written it on the page; except that I know they all came into reality with his hard work. I would hope that Bird never stops making beautiful music, except that I know he can't. I just hope that he continues to project it at me, and that he never falls out from the branches of that tree. |
| From A Perfect Circle to Ziggy Marley, my musical taste expands over broad horizons. Therefore, let me say that even through my taste for metal, hip-hop, and classical, there is no CD that comes as close to perfection as this one. Andrew Bird has compiled a digital copy of brilliance and named it "Armchair Apocrypha."
I have a theory that a favorite song reflects where the listener is at in his/her life. The tempo, lyrics, and overall sound are all chosen at a deeper level then merely personal choice. I'm not really one for lengthy reviews, so just visit http://grooveshark.com and type in "Scythian Empires." That song is currently my favorite, trumping Diana Kralls soothing and smooth voice or Rage Against the Machines memorable riffs. I have no idea what "Scythian Empires" represents to me personally, so maybe the theory is bogus, but I do know when I listen to it I feel as though everything will be all right.
Listen to this song when driving home at night. It. just. fits. |
| REFRESHING TO HEAR MUSIC UNLIKE THAT YOUV'E EVER HEARD | 2009-05-18 | 5 / 5 |
| This guy, Andrew Bird, is a musical genius.
Seems like the bulk of popular music today is generated by a "music selling machine" that bombards us daily with growling voices all trying to sound like Nickelback or performers [I use the word loosely here] who do the American Idol "yodel" trying to hit as many notes in 2 seconds as possible. Be warned Nickelback imitators that just a few years ago another "different" voice was the rage. Creed topped all of the charts and within 2 years were dead and gone. Before that, Hootie and the Blowfish put out a "different" voice and they too went the way of the Dodo.
Bird is different. He fuses superb violin, both with bow and with finger picking, with his voice and other instruments and, strange as it may sound, whistling to create music that stands apart. Easy to listen to. Complicated but great. He is categorized in the "Indie Rock" genre. Perhaps that is where we should be looking for the next little while for really good music.
Buy it. |
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