Throwback Thursday VI

It recently came to my attention that there are people out there who have not yet been exposed to the awesomeness that was The Beta Band. For some reason they just haven't been in the right place at the right time, or they've just never seen High Fidelity. Either way, I think its time to remedy that situation. Check out these two tracks and find out what you may have been missing out on. As alluded to earlier, "Dry the Rain" features in one of my favorite moments in one of my favorite movies. The scene wouldn't have worked nearly half as well if the tune in question hadn't been so jaw-droppingly gorgeous. The second track on offer here, "Assessment", was a wonderful single from the band's (sadly) final full-length.

The Beta Band - "Dry The Rain" (taken from The Three E.P.'s)
The Beta Band - "Assessment" (taken from Heroes To Zeros)

In other news, I'm currently working on a special project to try and make up for all of the slacking I've been doing as of late. Nothing too special, but I'm putting together a mix of some of my favorite tracks from the first three months of 2007.

Also, three of my latest reviews recently popped up on Static - Keller Williams' star-studded latest jam session (enjoyable, if jam bands are your thing), the TVT debut of Texas rapper Twisted Black (a few misses, but shows lots of potential, and the debut by Brit soulster James Morrison (frightfully boring).

"You're what happens when / two substances collide..."

No excuses this time, just reality rearing its ugly head once again and keeping me focused things other than this oft neglected blog. Mainly work and other writing responsibilities, but I did manage to squeeze a little bit of new music listening in between. My latest obsession? Andrew Bird. He's certainly not a new discovery to me, as I was fortunate enough to catch his excellent set at the 2005 Pitchfork-curated Intonation, but I've recently realized how wonderful his recorded material is. And with his new album, Armchair Apocrypha, due out tomorrow - I figured it was a good time to share some of my favorite moments from his last album. Andrew Bird & The Mysterious Production of Eggs is chock-full of tunes that show off Bird's instrumental prowess and hook-writing abilities, but "A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left" and "Fake Palindromes" are the cream of the crop. Give 'em and listen and see what you think.

Andrew Bird - "A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left"
Andrew Bird - "Fake Palindromes"

Other random thoughts:
- What a disappointing showing by my Fighting Illini over the weekend, guess its time to root against the Buckeyes for the remainder of the tourney since my brackets are officially screwed.
- In addition to the record by Bird, tomorrow is shaping up to be a huge day for new releases. I'm especially looking forward to checking out the new platters from Modest Mouse, LCD Soundsystem, Young Buck, El-P, Jesse Malin, The Ponys, and the late J Dilla.
- A couple of my more recent reviews have been posted over at Static, including a spotty disc by The Nein and a pretty enough release by Hem.