First Avenue and SMA present ANDREW BIRD
On sale: Friday, October 1st, 2010 at 11am
ANDREW BIRD
Chicago-based film score composer, multi-instrumentalist and lyricist Andrew Bird picked up his first violin at the age of four and spent his formative years soaking up classical repertoire completely by ear. As a teen Bird became interested in a variety of styles including early jazz, country blues and gypsy music, synthesizing them into his unique brand of pop.
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Since beginning his recording career in 1997 he has released 11 albums, garnering a devoted following with his early band Bowl of Fire before venturing out with his first solo record, 2003's Weather Systems. It was with this release that Bird began using a looping pedal to combine densely-layered symphonies onstage and revealed his unearthly talent for whistling. Bird has gone on to record with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and perform at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Most recently Bird composed his first ever film score for the movie Norman (hailed as “a probing, thoughtful score” by The New York Times; available now on Mom + Pop), contributed to the soundtrack of The Muppets and collaborated with inventor Ian Schneller on Sonic Arboretum, an installation at New York’s Guggenheim Museum and Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Andrew Bird’s much-anticipated twelfth album, Break It Yourself, is out now on Mom + Pop.
ALPHA CONSUMER
If you’ve checked out Dosh, Andrew Bird, Fog, Fat Kid Wednesdays, Happy Apple, The James Buckley Trio, or about a dozen other local bands, chances are you’ve heard at least one member of local quasi-supergroup Alpha Consumer. Jeremy Ylvisaker and Michael Lewis have logged some serious miles this year in Andrew Bird’s backing band, and J.T. Bates is a drummer for several Twin Cities projects, but the trio’s first passion is this loud, cocksure rock band. [Jake Mohan, AV Club 2009]


