50. Super Tarantas- Gogol Bordello
WonderlustKing

49. Return to cookie mountain- TV on the Radio

48. Pixel Revolt- John Vanderslice

TranceManual

47. Beirut – The Flying Club Cup
Nantes

46. Emotionalism- Avett Brothers

45. Sung Tongs- Animal Collective
LeafHouse

44. Vespertine- Bjork

43. Andrew Bird and the mysterious production of eggs- Andrew Bird
TablesAndChairs

42. Quiet is the new loud- Kings of Convenience
IDon’tKnowWhatICanSaveYouFrom

41. Michigan- Sufjan Stevens

40. ( )- Sigur Ros

39. Yellow House- Grizzly Bear
Easier

38. Hazards of love- Decemberists

37.Extraordinary Machine- Fiona Apple

NotAboutLove

36 Broken Social Scene- Broken Social Scene
7/4Shoreline

35. Antics- Interpol
NextExit

34. Eraser- Thom yorke

33. Lifted orthe story is in the soil- Bright eyes
LoverIDon’tHaveToLove

32. Boxer- The National

31. Everything all the time- Band of Horses
TheFuneral

30. Visitor- Dodos
RedAndPurple

29. Illinois- Sufjan Stevens
Chicago

28.Apologies to the queen mary- Wolf Parade
YouAreARunner

27. Plans- Death Cab for Cutie

26. You forgot it in people- Broken Social Scene
AnthemForASeventeenYearOldGirl

25. Neon Bible- Arcade Fire
AntiChristTelevisionBlues

24. Sea Changes- Beck

23. Feels- Animal Collective
PurpleBottle

22. Mignonette- Avett Brothers

21. Is this it?- Strokes
Someday

20. 3 rounds and a sound- Blind Pilot
OneRedThread

19. Hissing fauna, are you the destroyer?- Of Montreal
HeimdalsgateLikeAPrometheanCurse

18. Fold your hands child, you walk like a peasant- Belle and Sebastian
There’sTooMuchLove

17. Alligator – The National
AllTheWine

16. Dear Science- TV on the Radio

15. Armchair Apocryphia- Andrew Bird

14. Chutes too narrow- The Shins
KissingTheLipless

13. Kid A- Radiohead
NationalAnthem

12. Sharpen your teeth- Ugly Casanova
ThingsIDon’tRemember

11. Fleet Foxes- Fleet Foxes
WhiteWinterHymnal

10. Turn on the bright lights- Interpol
NYC

9. Hail to the thief- Radiohead

8. Give up – Postal Service
SuchGreatHeights

7. Takk- Sigur ros
Hoppipolla

6. Yoshimi battles the pink robots- Flaming Lips
FightTest

5. In rainbows- Radiohead
HouseOfCards

4. Moon in Antarctica- Modest mouse
3rdPlanet

3. Funeral- Arcade fire
RebellionLies

2. For emma, forever ago- Bon Iver
ForEmma

1. I’m wide awake, it’s morning- Bright Eyes
FirstDayOfMyLife

Phoenix

Thanksgiving. For years it’s brought people together to feast on turkey. In honor of this joyous American holiday, 20 Watts has decided to elucidate you, fine reader, on the many bands named after a variety of fowl. We bring you our very special Thanksgiving 20, based on artists named after a variety of avian creatures.

So what’s the very best of bird-themed music? 20 Watts’ STAFF has the answer in our tenth 20 installment. Watch for new 20s each Thursday, only on 20 Watts, and check out our previous 20s below!

Here are a few albums that were all huge for me these 10 years. These are more personal favorites, albums that influenced my overall musical taste since college.

5. Yo La Tengo: And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out

4. The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

3. The Black Keys: Rubber Factory

2. The Books: Lost and Safe


1. Andrew Bird: Weather Systems

…and some honorable mentions

Sufjan Stevens: Illinoise
Okkervil River: Don’t Fall in Love with Everyone You See
Radiohead: Hail to the Thief
Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion
Fela Kuti: The Best of Fela Kuti
Lyrics Born: Same !@#$ Different Day
Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs

It’s almost Thanksgiving!!!  It’ll be good to head back to Philly and take a break…although something tells me I won’t.  In the meantime, check out these bands for the soundtrack to your holiday season.

Eluvium – I was totally in the headspace last week for monotonous slow building epic orchestral ambient music and Eluvium aka Matthew Cooper is the KING at this shit.  Check it out.

Philip Seymour Hoffman – Don’t let the name fool you.  It’s actually a band that has nothing to do with the actor of the same name.  Lo-fi experimental pop similar, but inferior to Dan Deacon.

Brit & The Calvary – St. Vincent meets Andrew Bird  (that’s funny since they just toured together) with Grace Potter female rocker twist.  Her studio tracks don’t do justice to her live show, which I got to see a few days ago.

Junior Boys – Electro rock with hint of hip-hop and corny, but cool 80’s vibe to it (aka heavy on the synths).  Look forward to seeing them do a DJ set on Saturday with RJD2 and Lotus at Terminal 5.

Tristan Clopet – I wasn’t really sold on Tristan until I saw this video a few months ago, but for this and that, never added him until now.  Jason Mraz meets Jeff Buckley with a dash of funk (although this video is solo acoustic with a waltzy vibe to it).  Also, check out his cover of Bon Iver.  Note:  I would be lying to myself if I omitted that he’s a client, but I’m adding him for artistic reasons.

Twice a week I put on headphones and listen to music for several hours while I complete my math homework. Although the semester is winding down, I’m starting a bi-weekly series of posts dedicated to the music that makes my most dreaded subject enjoyable. Today’s song of the math hour is:

Andrew Bird – Fiery Crash

These albums are my favorites for 2009. I’ve listed them in no particular order, because all of them are awesome! I’d like to thank Ryan Richter for introducing me to DAWES, and Doug Lloyd for St. Vincent. Good calls, boys! Click on an album above to view in iTunes.

1. Wilco – Wilco (The Album)

2. Band of Skulls – Baby Darling Dollface Honey

3. DAWES – North Hills

4. The Bird and the Bee – Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future

5. Woolfy – If You Know What’s Good for Ya!

6. Richard Swift – The Atlantic Ocean

7. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

8. Andrew Bird – Noble Beast

9. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

10. Obits – I Blame You

11. St. Vincent – Actor

12. Michael Giacchino – Up Soundtrack

13. Melanoid – Asleep in the Wake

14. Tijuana Panthers  – EP

15. Here We Go Magic – Here We Go Magic

16. Justin Grennan – Things I Should Have Said

Mr. Bird

Sinds ik vorige week Andrew Bird live aan het werk zag in de Vooruit vertrek ik elke dag al fluitend naar mijn werk en ik kom elke dag al fluitend terug naar huis. Zelfs toen ik deze middag als een verzopen waterkieken de strijd met de rukwinden aanging bleef hij mij moed inzingen en vergat ik bijna dat ik tot op mijn blote vel nat aan het worden was. Zijn indrukwekkende live performance heeft een diepe indruk op mij nagelaten. Wat een artiest, wat een charismatische verschijning! Ik vrees zelfs dat ik een heel klein beetje verliefd ben geworden toen ik hem daar op de vierde rij van de theaterzaal zat te aanschouwen. Jaja, ik zou wel weten wat gedaan moest Mr. Bird langs mijn kassa passeren…

Luister- en kijkmateriaal voor de geïnteresseerden:

• Oh No (album versie)
• Anonanimal (album versie)
• Why? (live)
• A Nervous Tic Motion Of The Head To The Left (live)

1. Paul Simon – Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
2. Slow Club – Come on Youth
3. Andrew Bird – Nomenclature
4. The 1900s – When I Say Go
5. Sleater-Kinney – Good Things

A banda veio da Carolina do Norte, Estados Unidos e é formada por James (Jimbo) Mathus, Katharine Whalen, Ken Mosher, Tom Maxwell, Don Raleigh, Stuart Cole, Chris Phillips, Stacy Guess, Je Widenhouse, David Wright, Reese Grey, Tim Smith e Andrew Bird [SIM! Senhor Andrew Bird]. O grupo é bem irreverente e toca músicas mais cômicas ainda, com letras rápidas, dançantes no limite do folk e sarcasticas. Uma coisa bem casual e informal que pode lembrar um filme de época ou uma festa no campo. Aqui para download o álbum The Inevitable      Download

1 – Lover’s Lane

First term at the new job is wrapping up: I’ve finished the requisite chapters in the book I’ve been teaching from in each class, and that gives me leave to “play” a little in the last classes. We’re still doing the boring-as-water-boiling review session (and they’ve got final presentations), but I do want to pause a moment from my earlier frustrations and give you a peek into the classroom.

For mid-term presentations, the students had to present on either their most difficult day or an emergency (that’s what the book says, boss). I’ve really been digging this autopilot thing, it’s quite nice, even though we often go off on tangents as I try to update the colloquial sections and inform them of new idioms. Anyhow, presentations:

Wael, a man of about fifty, presented on how a man high on hash T-boned the taxi that he, his pregnant wife, and his daughter were in somewhere outside of Green Plaza Mall, and how he couldn’t tell his wife that their daughter needed an 80 grand-surgery to fix her hips.

Mohamad Hafiz, who works for Al-Salaama Hospital in Azarita, told us how, when he was living in the middle of nowhere in Saudi Arabia with his parents at the tender, impressionable age of 10, saw a family of ghosts living downstairs and couldn’t sleep or eat for two weeks. Apparently, while watching television late one night, Mr. Hafiz saw one of the doors open and the lights flick on; in drifted a man in a white galabiyya and his children. They stood their and watched him watching TV. Then, they drifted out, the doors closed behind them, and the lights shut off. Years later, he said, his father and mother said they had a similar encounter. Spooky.

Hassan told us how, when he was sixteen, he got drunk and flipped his motorcycle over a car when he was riding with his gang — his MOTORCYCLE GANG. On the Corniche. His friend riding behind him apparently had to get a metal plate in his head.

Reem, who has three children (and looks fantastic, I might add), told us of how her last son was born prematurely due to her pregnancy too soon after her caesarean section, and had a kind of birth defect that shut off oxygen to his brain when he was breastfed. A month of struggles in the hospital, and he was okay afterwards. She said it was one of the happiest days of her life when she could take him home.

Mina apparently has a kind of nasal polyp fungus in her lungs that has prevented her from breathing properly as a child. When she underwent surgery, the doctor discovered it was much more widespread than initially anticipated, and that she might have to undergo a disfiguring surgery to remove more polyps from her sinus passages. He closed her up and prayed. When he had finished praying, he brought her out of anesthesia and sent to a specialist in Cairo, where she underwent fiber-optic surgery instead. No disfigurement — but gosh, the girl kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time she was telling the story.

At the end of the class, I was drained. So many stories. And the entire time, everyone was laughing! It was as if the dragon had been defeated (it had), and that the valley had been cross (it was), and there was nothing more to fear from the story itself. And while I my heart was breaking for them, they kept saying, “Why are you saying you are sorry? You didn’t do anything!” I suppose it is an odd expression.

Last night, same class: I decided (since so many of them are asking me anyway) to give them a musical education. I played them a sample of country music, punk, some jazz, some metal…and let them assess the state of Western music beyond Celine Dion.

The biggest hit? Andrew Bird.

No, I’m not kidding. Half the class was begging me, “What is this? This is beautiful! What is the song called? Do you know the lyrics? Who is he?”

I nearly cried with joy.

in the spirit of it being sunday night. and since i can’t sleep. i’ve decided to share with you a couple of songs and most importantly what they remind me of.

listening and singing along to this song on repeat every night after i found out my mum had bone cancer, or cancer of the bone, and crying.

walking to school the day after he told me he didn’t want me anymore and trying to tell myself it would be alright.

and to end on a cheerful note:

waking up in the middle of the night, because it is raining against my window and not being able to fall asleep again, getting up to listen to this song and falling asleep on the floor.

Que é praticamente o mesmo que Kermit, o sapo, cantava no original It’s not easy being green. O marreta deste tema é presença constante nesta página. O sempre genial Andrew Bird.

[O original pode ser encontrado facilmente no youtube.]

I hate times like this, when the new sink installed separates from the piping underneath – great plumber. Now I have to call. I’m in the car on the way to the City and the XX??DDA in front of me stops short, the camera goes flying (digital, of course) and I hear a crack. I’m trying to check its’ function as I drive, and I realize that’s risky in City traffic, but a digital box keeps blinking and I’m thinking this digital baby is dead, or dying. I would not worry so much if it’s my film camera, which sits happily on the seat next to me, an old Mamiyaflex that kept its’ balance.

CD: Andrew Bird. All his cd’s have merit, and I’m liking him very much and I hear the sweet crooning and think of Jeff Buckley

DVD: Murphys Law, Season One. I love the Brits series, and so far like this one.

DVD: Wire In The Blood. Complete Sixth Season. Did not know this was even coming out, stumbled upon and I love this creepy series. Big fan of Robson Green, who has played many diverse, interesting characters and is oddly enough, a well known singer in Britain.

Fifteen years ago last night, Any Major Wife and I were chilling out on a Friday night, awaiting news of the induced birth of the baby of friends of ours. The mother was my AMW’s bridesmaid, so we were quite excited. Our baby was due around Christmas. Where bridesmaid’s baby was in no rush to emerge cryingly into the cold, cruel world, our baby exhibited the first signs of a characteristic common to both its parents: impatience.

To cut a long story short, before we received news of bridesmaid’s labour endeavours, AMW was in the maternity clinic. At 5:30am on November 19, just as I glanced out of the window to see the dawn of a beautiful early summer’s day, Any Minor Dude popped out. Because he was five week’s premature and showed signs of breathing difficulties, he was immediately put on oxygen in an incubator — before either of his parents could hold him. In fact, it’d be a couple of days before we could hold him.

Perhaps it was because the vital postnatal mother-child bonding moments were skipped that he presented his Dad with those first milestones which babies more commonly reserve for their Moms. His first smile, on Christmas Day, was at me (well, the first we saw anyway). His first word was “Dada”. And he took his first steps in my direction, on Boxing Day 1995, albeit set off on his way by his mother.

Any Minor Dude, before his second birthday

Any Minor Dude and I have maintained an excellent relationship. I have enjoyed every stage of his life, much as I miss those that came before. I treasure the moments of dancing and singing him, then three, to sleep to the music of the Righteous Brothers, or hearing him singing You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling in the bath. I treasure the memory of him walking Venice flat with us all day when he was four, not once complaining but participating in the fun of being a tourist (he’ll make a great traveller). I still laugh at some of the silly games we used to play, like hiding under the blanket and identifying nonsensical places where Mommy putatively was looking for us in vain (in the microwave oven, under the bath plug) — the beginning of a shared appreciation of the absurd. And how lovely the moments of lying in his bed when he was a Grade 2 or 3 pupil, reading Asterix comics or Pippi Longstocking books together, in funny voices. And, as I have written on several occasions, rarely was I so proud as when Any Minor Dude, then 10, told his guitar tutor that he wanted to learn to play the music of Johnny Cash.

Only rarely was there a need to discipline the kid. Three token smacks on the bottom was the extent of violence ever visited upon him. Among our friends, my threat to buy the then 3-year-old a “cap with ears”, like the hood of his new-born cousin’s babysuit, is legendary. Of course, Any Minor Dude didn’t want to be a baby. Around that time, he emphatically announced after due reflection that he was “not a baby anymore” and, indeed, “finished to be a baby”.

Today, at 15, he defies most of the teenage stereotypes, other than a tendency not to do any more schoolwork than is strictly necessary and getting embarrassed at whatever the parents do or say. Only occasionally does a door slam.

Any Minor Dude, last year

If TV drama shows are any indicator of reality (yeah, right), expectant parents tend to panic about whether they’ll be “good parents” and whether they’ll be to blame if their child turns out to be psychopath. I don’t know whether history books will be lavish in their references to our refined parenting capabilities, but I do know that Any Major Wife and I have produced an intelligent, responsible, balanced, fair-minded, loyal, non-bigoted, kind, funny, respectful, even-tempered and very handsome young man who supports the correct football team and loves the Beatles. The alert reader may sense that I am very proud of my son.

As for the bridesmaid, her daughter finally deigned to exit the womb at 11:30pm. Born six hours before Any Minor Dude, she is a day older.

To celebrate Any Minor Dude’s 15th, here are a couple of birthday songs (and look, Ma, no Beatles or Stevie), plus a very funny comedy routine from 2007 by Patton Oswalt.
Andrew Bird – The Happy Birthday Song.mp3
Abra Moore – Birthday Song.mp3
Altered Images – Happy Birthday.mp3
Bright Eyes – Happy Birthday To Me.mp3
Patton Oswalt – You Are Allowed 20 Birthday Parties.mp3

Here’s our old pal Sam Brownback, current darling of the Senate right-ists, vroom-vrooming his way all the way to the governor’s mansion in Topeka. Somehow, he just doesn’t pull it off.

There seems to be little that Kansas liberals can do to stop Brownback’s ascension to the top of the Topeka heap — even if his campaign web site is pretty much the definition of “underwhelming.” So we’ll see how that goes.

***

I guess the weather was crummy again today. Or cold, at least. But it was a good day for KC, with the Greinke thing and all. Good for him. Good for the Royals. Good for Ink’s Monica Watrous, the dean of Royals fans and one of KC’s best writers. Thanks, as always, for reading. And remember that we’ll fight for your music halls and dying cities.

Justin Cox, friend and member of Public School, has another rad poster he’s giving up for grabs! In fact, there are 3 posters available. Justin recently designed this poster for Andrew Bird’s Milwaukee show with St. Vincent. In order to snag this free poster just reply to porch_mystics on twitter! The 1, 3, and 5 RTs win!

[ Posters are 18 x 24, four color overlay on white, artist proofs. ]

:::  DOWNLOAD > Andrew Bird – Hot Math  :::

Wonderful Noise is lucky enough to have gained a brand new member of staff – photographer, the Wonderful Georgia! She managed to get some great shots of Andrew Bird at the Union Chapel for us and we’re delighted to offer a selection for your delectation. We’re looking forward to working with her again and making lots more of these photo features for you. Enjoy!

(As usual, take without asking and I will break your fingers…)

It’s no secret how much Wonderful Noise adores the Wonderful Andrew Bird. He’s probably one of the most innovative and exciting performers out there at the moment and it’s almost impossible to get over the thrill of seeing him create full-blown melodic miasmas all by himself, armed with only a looping pedal, violin, guitar and glock (and you can trust me on this – I think I’ve seen him 8 or 9 times now and the novelty is yet to wear off). His London gigs are now regularly selling-out, and his two-night stint this week at the lovely Union Chapel was no exception. Full details after the JUMP!

The Chapel was an ideal location for a performer whose audience often watches in a reverential hush – so much so that on Tuesday Bird confessed that he was unnerved by the lack of heckling. The room’s acoustics, which wrapped sound around the audience much like a rather sophisicated surround-sound system, complimented his multi-layered compositions exceptionally well and made sure that anyone watching was as fully immersed in the music as they could possibly be without climbing inside Bird’s violin.

By all rights Andrew Bird should be insane, or at the least intolerably arrogant, as a result of his total genius, but not only does he come across as neither of these things, he could even de described as rather bumbling. Dressed once more like Oliver as he tripped out of stage he frequently botched the beginning of songs and twice even completely forgot his lyrics during the seldom-performed MX Missiles - but instead of casting a pall over his performance, these idiosyncracies seem to only make the audience love him more and present him as a charming, fumlbing and ultimately shy man, unaware of his own talent.

The setlist was an interesting one, with few of the Bird stalthwarts bar the always performed and always unique rendition of Why?. Instead we were treated to a couple of new tracks around a nautical theme and some older, original versions of tracks such as Noble Beast’s Natural Disaster. Instead of sounding like a cop-out, this fascinating resurrection of retired material showed a Bird who was both brave and comfortable enough with his audience to wander off the well-trodden path and challenge them with previously unheard and unfamiliar tracks. Though this may have been a disappointment to some audience members, Bird has been so loyal in frequently visiting the UK over the past few years that it feels as if he deserves to select material on his own terms at this point.

Bird’s always a solid, fascinating and beguiling performer – and this gig only served to reinforce this impression. When he comes back to these shores, we’ll be the first to let you know and really can’t recommend him enough.

1 Oh No
2 Masterswarm
3 Fitz And The Dizzyspells
4 Effigy
5 Tenuousness
6 Nomenclature
7 Not A Robot, But A Ghost
8 Anonanimal
9 Natural Disaster
10 Confess
11 Souverian
12 On Ho!

Download

Procrastination has made its match in my dear friend, Doranne’s killer stare.. So here I am finally penning (typing) down my very very first entry!

As I patiently await with bated breath for all the awesome gigs that are coming to our shores (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Cat Power, The Killers!, Muse, Kings of Convenience, and Andrew Bird), I have been very vigilant to to ensure I am going to be at all the abovementioned.

As I steadily prepare for  my musical odyssey, from “Maps” to “Greatest”, I stop at Muse and ponder over the playlist. With my mood (very discouraged at the moment) dictating my choice, I decide that “Invincible” is beckoning to me.. to recoil and recall the sensory (orgasmic) experience my angel of music, Matt Bellamy, gave us back in 2007.

For all who has read this and dismiss it as ramblings of a crazed fan, you are absolutely right.

To Yun who witnessed with me the awesomeness that is Matt Bellamy, as I listen to “Invincible”, I can still remember how we screamed along to Matt’s beautiful and haunting vocals.

And for all of you, who just like me, is feeling very discouraged lately, let us all youtube “Invincible” to consult Matt for some advice…

Tonight we can truly say, together we’re invincible.

p.s. Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Catpower concert tix are currently selling out fast on Sistic, Muse concert tix out on 16 Nov 09, and The Killers concert tix on 23 Nov 09

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Cat Power

Muse

The Killers

Kings of Convenience

Andrew Bird

And this is exactly how I am feeling about these exciting gigs!!!

Signing out,
Fiong

There’s no much music in here and since it is an important part of my life I think it is time to change this… So last Friday we went to see a concert at the Casino de Paris and since then I cannot stopped playing Moriarty and Andrew bird…

So here is a video clip of Moriarty ; Private Lily

And a live video from the genius Andrew Bird :

Enjoy

I haven’t listened to anything new lately. I’ve just been chilling with Andrew Bird’s Noble Beast and a ton of random Grizzly Bear. Their stuff will never get old. I got a CD by The Antlers, but it hasn’t quite grown on me like I thought it would.

I also have a couple Animal Collective CDs, but they are just out of my freaky cool range. They are a little too expiremtial for me at times. I do like one of their songs, although I can never remember the name of the track.

I let my AP Chemistry teacher borrow my They Might be Giants CD and he loves it. I can’t say the same for the rest of the classes that he has. I’ve managed to get Roy G. Biv stuck in about 65% of the high school students heads. XD

I just recently saw St. Vincent and Andrew Bird again after seeing them at Bonnaroo over the summer. They are all absolutely phenomenal musicians. Here is a shirt design I made:

<3