I saw Bobby Birdman open for YACHT when I saw them in San Diego last year but I didn't write anything about him because he struck me the same way most opening acts do: largely forgettable. The funny thing is, though, that I wasn't able to forget him at all. In fact, I'd say I've probably thought of him once a week over the last four months since. I didn't think much of it, though, because his live act was interesting even if I only vaguely remember the details.

Much like YACHT, Bobby Birdman's live act consists of his laptop, a projector, and himself standing alone on stage dancing and singing while his music plays out of his laptop and projects interesting videos on the wall. When he started, he started talking about himself and asking the audience questions, and if I remember correctly he kept repeating himself, kind of in time with the music, and repeating what I can't remember, but it was all very odd. I stood in the back of the crowd and was smiling the whole time, novelty usually floors me and this guy was definitely novel. It seemed like he kept staring into my eyes, but I usually always think all performers are constantly making direct eye contact with me because I am usually taller and odder looking than anyone else in the crowd.

When he started into his songs, he started dancing in a way that is probably all his own. He's got "awkward white guy" down pat, but he owns his awkwardness with confidence, and I can appreciate that. His video loops accompanying his dancing are also kind of awkward, with looped clips of people dancing, 50's diner waitresses from old commercials shaking around, and kaleidoscopic patterns abound.

After a couple songs, which had interestingly danceable beats and definitely made me want to do an awkward white guy dance of my own, his material started to get kind of boring. At the time I figured, "Oh, just another lousy opening act, let's just go sit down," and that's what me and my friend did. We walked away and sat down a good distance from the stage and mostly tuned out what was going on. I appreciated this guys courage and commitment to his craft, as I myself couldn't imagine standing in front of a group of college students dancing awkwardly to my music that no one seems to be responding to without running off the stage with tears streaming down my cheeks, but over all I felt pretty meh about his whole routine.

That was until I heard Yeasayer's new album and the song Rome reminded me so strongly of Bobby Birdman that I just had to buy his latest album.

...and for the most part I am glad I did.

Bobby Birdman has little to no concern for hooks. Normally this sort of thing makes me want to tear into an album: I mean, come on, what is music without hooks? If I don't want to sing along with it, why am I going to want to listen to it? Maybe Mr. Birdman can write hooks and he just doesn't care to, or maybe his mind just doesn't work that way and this is the music that exists in his heart, and based on the quality of the music on New Moods, I'm inclined to believe it is the latter.

Instead of hooks, Birdman trades on interesting beats that make you want to dance, or at least think about trying to dance to them, even if you don't really know how. When the songs lack awesome beats, which starts a little after this song on the album, he starts to make you feel like this would be a good album to fall asleep to. The lack of hooks and the lack of lively instrumentation combine into something that is so relaxing that I am pretty sure driving late at night while I was tired the first time I listened to this album was probably hazardous.

Do I like the album? Kind of. I don't tend to like music that makes me want to fall asleep, unless I am looking to fall asleep. If I was to judge the album by the amount of songs on it that I think I will listen to from this point onward, there's maybe three or four. Other stand out tracks include Only For A While, Bloody Mess, and Weighty Wait.

The best thing I can say about Bobby Birdman is that I am looking forward to seeing him open for YACHT again come March 26th when they will be playing at the Echoplex here in LA. If you want to see a really interesting live show that is mostly entirely unlike anything else you'll stumble upon, see YACHT when they come around, and as an added bonus you'll get to see Bobby Birdman.

Site Note: You might notice that some things have changed around here. Tomorrow there will be a post by a new writer on the site, a young gentleman by the name of Ryan. He's got different taste than I do, and if you don't like it, just ignore him, or berate him in the comments on his posts. For the sake of easily identifying that he and I are two different people, my posts will appear in red from now on, and his will appear in blue. If the colors aren't clear enough on your screen, post a comment tomorrow and let me know. If anything looks funny on the site, I'll fix it eventually.