Britt & Dom strike again! Enjoy their uproarious recap of the gig below.

Britt: Okey, I’m really embarrassed by what I’m listening to right now

Dominik: Your farts?

Britt: That’s less embarrassing.

Dominik: Richard Marx’s farts (i.e. his albums)?

Britt: Still better. STAIND.

Dominik: Ouch!

Britt: Yeah, I don’t know. It’s been a while, since I could look at myself straight, since I could say I’m sorry…

Dominik: Don’t. Just-

Britt: Since I’ve seen the way candles light your face.

Dominik: Don’t.

Britt: I’m gross.

Dominik: This is the worst Andrew Bird review ever.

Britt: Ok, Mr. Coughsalot.

Dominik: I know, as if last night couldn’t have been magical enough, when I had my coughing fit and ran out of the theatre, I couldn’t believe there was a giant Ricola Lozenge Center ™ in the frickin’ lobby! Best birthday present ever Britt, you really went all out.

Britt: Baby knows how to treat you right, lozenges and all. I have a theory that quiet concert halls are all filled with some lung-clogging dust (like, say, asbestos) and that as soon as everyone’s quiet, the AC kicks in and blows it into the audience thereby starting massive coughing fits.

Dominik: I’m pretty sure that’s true. Did you like the show?

Britt: Yes, I loved the show. He has such a charming on stage presence.

This review continues AFTER THE JUMP…

Dominik: Totally charming and he super quiet and shy. It makes me think he doesn’t masturbate. Like he’s better than us. But he probably doesn’t tell people that. He’s Andrew Bird, he probably doesn’t even talk about things like that. But I don’t think he does. I think I got lost somewhere…

Britt: I think his form of masturbation is holing up in his studio and playing by himself and making melodies all by his lonesome. He strikes me as a perfectionist.

Dominik: I recently saw Matt & Kim at MHOW, and Matt was so excited to be headlining there, he couldn’t stop talking about it. I got the same vibe from Andrew Bird, but it was just implied. And his parents were there. That was cute. Yeah he’s got one of those long perfectionist faces. I cannot believe he played like the entire new album – everything but “The Privateers”. I do wish he pulled a little more from his back catalog, some stuff from the Mysterious Production Of Eggs woulda been nice… “A Nervous Tic Motion Of The Head To The Left”.

Britt: Speaking of his face: I noticed he would begin a song say by plucking a few notes and his eyes would be shut trance-like and he’d shake his head like saying “No, I can’t believe this feels so good and sounds so good”.

Dominik: That’s the little metronome that lives in his head. It was shaking the beat back and forth.

Britt: Ha.

Dominik: Because those little picked parts need to be precise, otherwise the entire song disintegrates.

Britt: Of course.

Dominik: It’s amazing he was able to do that so many times so flawlessly.

Britt: Well, he’s a classically trained violinist. The look on his face was of abject pleasure though.

Dominik: Although, and maybe I imagined it, because I was trying to tuck my lung back down my throat, but one of his noodly beginning plucked loopy parts didn’t work, right? Like he was working on it, and it was falling apart and he just stopped it and went right into “Fitz & Dizzyspells”.

Britt: I thought he stopped and restarted and said, “Imperfection. Yeah”.

Dominik: That was a different thing. There was a time when he was just playing something instrumental and it wasn’t working, and he stopped it without the audience really taking notice. Or I imagined the whole thing. It must feel great to make play these songs live.

Britt: Yes, I definitely agree that he gets a huge rush playing live. You always think you hear musicians fucking up. I also think that his performances are incredibly audience-pleasing, since you’re so conscious of the process of music-making.

Dominik: No doubt.

Britt: You watch him switch from violin to guitar to handclap to whistle.

Dominik: It’s fun to let the audience in on the process of building these complex string parts.

Britt: Precisely. With the loops as well. It’s like watching a magician demonstrate each step of a trick, yet there is still some wonderful mysterious element.

Dominik: I really liked the beginning when he was harmonizing with himself, and adding the whistles and stuff. And I love how those loops stay in his back pocket until it’s time for the big final chorus and then it’s, “WHOOSH!”, and you gotta go find out where your balls shot off to.

Britt: YES, my non-existent balls totally shot off.

Dominik: Your balls exist.

Britt: Regardless. The overture when he was alone on stage and just played was amazing and lovely, like he was showing us what he’s capable of. “There is magic in-store for you all”. His songs are layered with funny wordplay and yet are sweet and earnest, which, to me, speaks of his Midwestern roots. I get a David Foster Wallace vibe off him.

Dominik: They’re so dense, I never get all the wordplay the first several listens. I barely get the complex melodies. He, more than almost any artist these days, really pays off with repeated listens.

Britt: Yes. His music is slightly nerdy and sweet, but strives for total earnestness.

Dominik: Yeah, he’s such an over-achiever.

Britt: Sure is.

Dominik: Each song is like it’s own meal. His albums are always an hour long packed with 13, 14 or 15 amazing tracks.

Britt: You get a one-man band impression as well, like a street performer

Dominik: Yeah, definitely, though the set design was impressive and not street performer-esque. I liked the water wiggle spinning in the background.

Britt: Those venus fly trap speakers were great!

Dominik: It looked like an indie rock Dr. Seuss.

Britt: And that whirligig spinning one too – It added a percussive element that he could produce himself without a drummer on stage with him. He likes to conjure like a magician.

Dominik: You can see the water weasel in the background of his Letterman performance of “Fitz & Dizzyspells”.

Britt: He’s so cute. I don’t think the head wag is all metronomic. I think its out of almost orgasmic pleasure. He’s such a strange animal to have been birthed onto the indie music scene.

Dominik: You’re a strange animal to be birthed onto the indie music scene. What a weird thing to say. Are you drinking?

Britt: I’m still drunk from Saturday night.

Dominik: Hang on, I’m watching a tortoise chasing a tomato.

Britt: HOW CAN THERE BE FOUR MINUTES OF THIS?

Dominik: Four glorious minutes. (SPOILER ALERT: He eats the tomato.)

Britt: Back to Bird. It was just so clear he relished this insane opportunity to play in Carnegie Hall, since it sounded SO AMAZING. The record is slightly circumscribed, but in the hall, man, his music just expanded. I loved how during “Not A Robot, But A Ghost” all the lights flashed on and off and it felt like we were in a star shower.

Dominik: You’re right. I think an interesting thing about his album vs. his live performance is that he inverts the vocal melodies so instead of singing minor notes he sings the songs in major keys, particularly the choruses. It really made songs like “Effigy” and “Masterswarm” pop. It gave the album a renewed energy, at least for me.

Britt: You think that’s true? Hmmm, very interesting. Yeah, now that I think about it. It makes the performance more jubilant, heroic.

Dominik: Exactly. And the way he’s got his arms stretched before him, gripping the violin – it was epic and the sound was just incredible.

Britt: He chewed through his songs and made them sound reinvigorated and sung with every drop of passion he could muster.

Dominik: He’s swell

Britt: Indeed. Think he’d marry me? I could be Britt Bird!

Dominik: I’m editing that out.

Britt: No you aren’t.

Dominik: ;)

Visit Andrew Bird on MySpace.

MP3: Andrew Bird – Imitosis (Four Tet Mix)