A New Post, A Big Tree, A Big Van. Oh, and music.

Dave — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:49:39 +0000

A big van for big trees...Not even my thought.

Good music is hard to come by. At least that’s what I tell myself, and that’s the excuse I offer to fans of the Animal Show, scratching by their days without hearing so much as a blimper (blog-whimper) from us. And, for that one fan that still remains (you know who you are), I can only offer one question: Who could come up with the idea to parallel aging, off-blood colored vans with trees? To me, the answer is clear: this must be the work of hippies, for who else would love the environment enough to make it the mascot of their existence (big tree), then defecate over it daily by using an elderly behemoth for transportation? And behold, the creators of such an idea:

As the file finished uploading, the computer said it was "crunching." Funny to me at least.

The picture you see above captures the band “Big Tree” in its element, staring absent-mindedly into the camera, wearing varying shades of lumberjack plaid before a campfire. Oh, they’re in a forest, too. Further evidence of their hippie-dom that’s not made entirely obvious by the picture (but certainly not excluded from the realm of possibilities) is that they all met at Sarah Lawrence College, dispelling the doubt I had that this group of tent-toting tree huggers could be from Brooklyn, NY.

Now, I don’t actually hate hippies. At least now I don’t–not after hearing the music this group has to offer. It’s not ground-breaking by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it very much follows a formula to put a jazzy, slightly disinterested female voice over backing instrumentals that border on sweeping and border on bouncy. See Regina Spektor for more information. Or Mirah. Or Stars. Or even Feist. But there’s something to the hippie-cameraderie that Big Tree brings to their music.

Maybe it’s from years of hanging out in the van, but they sound like they’re having fun while making their music. There’s something performative to their music, even in recordings. You can hear it in the jouncy chorus line in “One Hundred and Four” or just every word of “Whale Song.” For some reason, somewhere in my heart there’s a soft spot for such shenanigans.

So go ahead and listen. It’ll be good. And even if it isn’t, it’s not on any other blogs, as far as I can tell. Furthermore, if you are a fan of the blog, you will tell yourself it is, just to justify your long devotion that has yielded little return.

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

Big Tree – One Hundred and Four (YSI)

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

Big Tree – Whale Song (YSI)

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player
(Download) this music.

Big Tree – Whole Wide World (YSI)

Sufjan Stevens' BQE coming to soon to your ears, express.

Edward — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:17:15 +0000

Sufjan performing the BQE suite at the Howard Gilman Opera House in Brooklyn, November 1, 2007

Most nights, I lay awake praying to the blue translucent ghost of Alec Guinness for a new Sufjan Stevens release. And he usually ignores me. But last night, sir Alec was generous. And this morning I received in my inbox a press release from Sufjan’s label, Asthmatic Kitty, announcing the release (at long last) of his monumental instrumental: 2007’s BQE tribute.

For those of you who are so worthless that you’ve forgotten some of the minutiae of Sufjan’s bizarre side-projects, allow me to refresh your memory: this was an instrumental tribute to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, complete with 3 simultaneously-screened super-8 videos which, if memory serves, Stevens himself shot.

I’m pumped, and not just because this CD/DVD release comes with a complementary Viewmaster reel. More because for 2 years I’ve been spinning the two movements of BQE I was able to find in my travels across the internet non-stop, and I’m glad that I’ll finally be able to complete the sets. Until then, teasers ho!

The Animal Show » Finally!

A New Post, A Big Tree, A Big Van. Oh, and music.

Sufjan Stevens' BQE coming to soon to your ears, express.