I heard a story once about the late Alex Chilton. Not a world-changing story, mind, but to the story-teller, it was monumental. It was a Big Star reunion show, years back. Our protagonist – let’s call him Jonathan – happened to catch Chilton’s eye, and in one glance he absorbed the acerbic, caustic disappointment and [...]
Subanimal Sounds
Mimicry of the Eternal Meow
Author Archives: Peter Beyer
In Magenta Skies IV
The “song a month” idea hasn’t quite panned out, but Beyer and Crozier are still forging ahead. There are no new tracks from Crozier to post, sadly, but there is a new Catbirdman demo, called “In Magenta Skies.” It’s the fourth song I’ve written with that title. Crozier asked me what it was about, and [...]
Authenticity
Will the real Titus Welliver please stand up? I am Catbirdman. I don’t apologize for that fact; it’s who I am. It’s a name, sure. All of us are spouting names. Often called handles, they signal control. Where is my domain? Over which acres do I lord, upon which sharecroppers do I cop? What is [...]
Girls On Film
Duran Duran have unleashed the multi-tracks (albeit in a considerably condensed format, with vocals smooshed together with synths and so forth) for their 1981 chart hit “Girls On Film” onto the general public, I’m assuming intentionally… and in any case the results have been spectacular, with many fan mixes cropping up over the past few [...]
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
It wasn’t quite a riot on the Sunset Strip, but Ariel Pink brought a piece of L.A. with him this year, and the following night my roof collapsed. Coincidence? Maybe. Last year he and the Haunted Graffiti came through Baltimore, but this year it was DC only. Last year it was a yellow sweatshirt with [...]
Careless Memories
And now on to the second single, Careless Memories b/w Khanada/Fame… The pulsing, screaming A-side is a straight take on an ended love affair. At his best/worst, Simon Le Bon is excruciatingly obscure, but this lyric is surprisingly literal: “Where are you now? / ‘Cos I don’t want to meet you / I think I’d [...]
Planet Earth
It would be nice to go back, physically and/or philosophically (let alone theologically), to The Beginning. Where did it all start? Light, I suppose, has been around for a while. In particles, in waves, it, like Love, bathes us to this day. “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, [...]
Catbirds Album Available Soon
My group, aptly named the Catbirds (I am, after all, Catbirdman), has a new album coming out very soon. It should be available on my band site within the next few weeks, and physical copies will be in my hands in the next few days. This album, Subanimal Sounds, is the cumulative result of 20 [...]
The Beyer/Crozier 2010 Demos – January
This year we’ll chronicle the efforts of two young/old Mid-Atlantic musicians as they stave off complacency amidst overloaded milieu, facing bravely the post-post-post rock of a new decade, eschewing nostalgia, yet exploiting it, searching for that personal connection, posing where necessary, and being true to their school. Dave Crozier is one entrant, he from New [...]
Be More
A quick, unfocused post tonight. I had a conversation about our true selves, the aspirations of artists and money-makers, the children in our schools, and the dead among us. I met some early thirty-somethings, artists, teachers, listeners — Jamie, Jason, Bryson (known as Bill), this post is for you. It takes three decades to learn [...]