Music Outpost

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, “the world’s hardest rocking chamber quartet” [New York Times], began nearly 30 years ago as a more classical/New Music, keyboard-oriented  side project  of Boston’s famed post-punk rock band, Mission of Burma. Desiring an outlet for his piano music, in 1980, Burma’s guitarist Roger Miller embarked on a collaboration with keyboardist  and studio producer Erik Lindgren, the former composer  and  keyboardist of Moving Parts.  As Miller recalls in liner notes, "What was I doing writing piano music again?  No way to know: it just kind of fell out of me in early 1980 after having been dropped in early 1978 in favor of guitar (Moving Parts, then Mission of Burma in 1979). Perhaps the advent of the minimalists (Riley, Eno, Reich, Glass) encouraged me to reassess my early 1978 ideas of playing solo with prerecorded tape-loop bass lines (on a Fender Rhodes, of all things...). Erik...had offered me the use of his studio. And here were some piano pieces that could be developed. Why not? That was the start of it."

The first Birdsongs’ recordings were two songs by the keyboard duo of Miller and Lindgren, one of which (“Pulse Piece”) appeared on a sampler album of Boston bands. When Miller and Lindgren invited “tape-manipulator-turned–guitarist”  Martin Swope, Miller’s co-member in Burma, and keyboardist Rick Scott to perform Birdsongs’ music live in 1981, Birdsongs of the Mesozoic became a working quartet.  The group operated as a composers’ collective, with each member contributing pieces and having equal say in the group’s  artistic direction.

In 1983, Birdsongs released its self-titled, first album on Ace of Hearts, the Boston label which had also signed Mission of Burma. “This debut  EP finds them in complete command of a radically new musical vocabulary that’s uniquely their own“ noted one critic, “Taking cues from both the modern classical canon and the systemic minimalism of Glass and Reich and welding them to a carapace of rhythm machine pound and R.I.O-ish angular astringency”.  In mid-1983, Birdsongs became a full time project when Miller disbanded the high-decibel Mission Of Burma because of his worsening tinnitus. By the time of its 2nd lp, 1985’s Magnetic Flip, Trouser Press noted that Birdsong’s music had become “bolder and more aggressive...the variations on Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" pile one thundering dissonance over another...". In 1986, the band released its 3rd EP. Beat Of The Mesozoic. Magnetic Flip featured Birdson'gs rendition of “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Theme”;  the ability to intermix “high” and “low” art  with elegance and ease in music that could alternately confound and please – to combine classical and rock music, serious composition and cartoon jingles, acoustic and electric instrumentation – would become a Birdsongs hallmark.

Roger Miller left Birdsongs in 1988, but has continued to collaborate with the group on several special projects ever since. With Lindgren at the helm, Birdsongs subsequently released 11 additional albums to date. In 1989, the group released Faultline on the DC-based Cuneiform Records, beginnng a long-running partnership with that label.   All of Birdsong's recordings have received critical acclaim in the music press, earning the band well-deserved,  international recognition for its innovative, genre-blending and bending sound.  Their instrumentation is extraordinary: piano, two synthesizers, guitar and saxophone blend with electronic and acoustic percussion, creating  music that is rich in texture and pleasing to the ear. Over its 30 year career, Birdsongs’  unlikely mix of rock, punk, classical, minimalism, and free-form sonics has appealed to a broad range of musical tastes and among audiences of all ages.

Birdsongs' live performances have always been a popular success; the band performs at public festivals (including Boston's Twelth Night) as well as at music festivals (NEARfest) and venues.  In recent years, the band has performed in high-profile concert halls (The Kennedy Center, the Disney Institute) and art museums (Salvador Dali Museum). In addition, music by the group and its members has been used in film and television, including Boston filmmaker Michael Burlingam's award-winning film "To A Random"; PBS' "NOVA" series; a video aired on MTV; and collaborative projects with New York City's "Wooster Group" and with Duplex Planet author David Greenberger. The band continues to release studio recordings. While nearly all of their recordings are instrumental, a unique recent release, called Extreme Spirituals, featured Birdsongs of the Mesozoic collaborating with a vocalist:  internationally acclaimed bass baritone Oral Moses. Simultaneously spiritual and deeply human, classical and popular, tradional and modern, the album fused the traditional melodies of 19th century spirituals with radical 21st century arrangements by Birdsongs.

http://cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/birdsongs.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdsongs_of_the_Mesozoic

http://www.birdsongsofthemesozoic.org