moustache: This interview with Andrew Bird at The A.V. Club has a lot of fascinating insights into Bird’s craft. If you haven’t heard Andrew Bird (and there is really no excuse for that), he writes some of the most complex, beautiful pop songs out there. His concerts are amazing to watch because a number of songs involve him building up loops of the different parts, live. It’s all incredibly risky stuff. From the interview: I kind of actually like to stage situations that make things more dangerous. I like that flush of embarrassment if something doesn’t go right. It just kind of snaps me out of that automatic state of mind that can set in, that’s just natural to set in for anyone doing the same thing night after night. We deliberately keep everything very perilous. And yeah, sometimes within that first 30 seconds of making that loop, my finger could get stuck and clip over the string, and there will be some little anomaly in the loop, and not only do I have to live with that for the rest of the song, but my whole band has to play to that, and it’s gonna come around maybe 30 times again to remind you of how you fucked up. I think this is something I really need to work on. I don’t put myself in high risk/reward situations nearly enough, in either my design life or my personal life. Also I can’t whistle, so there’s something else Andrew Bird has on me. MP3 Andrew Bird - Anonanimal
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moustache:

This interview with Andrew Bird at The A.V. Club has a lot of fascinating insights into Bird’s craft. If you haven’t heard Andrew Bird (and there is really no excuse for that), he writes some of the most complex, beautiful pop songs out there. His concerts are amazing to watch because a number of songs involve him building up loops of the different parts, live. It’s all incredibly risky stuff. From the interview:

I kind of actually like to stage situations that make things more dangerous. I like that flush of embarrassment if something doesn’t go right. It just kind of snaps me out of that automatic state of mind that can set in, that’s just natural to set in for anyone doing the same thing night after night. We deliberately keep everything very perilous. And yeah, sometimes within that first 30 seconds of making that loop, my finger could get stuck and clip over the string, and there will be some little anomaly in the loop, and not only do I have to live with that for the rest of the song, but my whole band has to play to that, and it’s gonna come around maybe 30 times again to remind you of how you fucked up.

I think this is something I really need to work on. I don’t put myself in high risk/reward situations nearly enough, in either my design life or my personal life. Also I can’t whistle, so there’s something else Andrew Bird has on me.

MP3 Andrew Bird - Anonanimal

Source: The A.V. Club