Andrew Bird, Live on NPR's All Songs Considered

If you haven't already subscribed to NPR's All Songs Considered podcast, do it NOW. It delivers an inspired mix of music from emerging and established artists, ranging from indie and hip-hop to jazz and beyond. Since I subscribed to it about a month ago, I’ve discovered a ton of new bands and musicians; it’s where I first heard Loney, Dear and Panda Bear, and where I first paid attention to Explosions in the Sky. They just did a series on music from Portugal that was great, and also had guest DJ John Waters play all kinds of obscure old R&B records (I was in heaven). Plus, they also frequently post live concerts that are all available to download for free. Recently they posted Bjork’s show, also one of the Arcade Fire’s Judson Church gigs (although the audio wasn’t that great) and now, joy of joys, there is an almost 2-hour long Andrew Bird performance! If you’re not familiar with Andrew Bird, I suggest you get hip to him NOW. He’s a singer/songwriter-y type, but so much more – a multi-instrumentalist, a classically trained violinist and weirdly, an amazing whistler. He does gorgeous things with sounds and lyrics. He also used to play with the Squirrel Nut Zippers (remember them?) but his music is far, far away from that now. Anyway, I fully encourage everyone to check out both the ASC podcast and Andrew Bird. Go here to kill two birds (yikes) with one click.