Bird Show

Formed like a single outlet for City and Nation guitarist Ben Vida, Parrot Display became the Chicago musician’s primary outlet upon City and Country’s divided. Walking the collection between musique concrète and psychedelic audio collage, with the casual song form tossed in, Vida’s home-recorded Parrot Show releases had been consistently exciting. Using Bird Display as a system for invention, Vida produced immersive electro-acoustic moments, combining field recordings with an array of tools, including Moroccan castanets, mbira, body organ, violin, and accordion. On 2005’s Green Inferno, he presented recordings from Tokyo and Puerto Rico, in a way that parrots and cityscapes blended with his colorfully and cleverly droning constructions. Propulsion required middle stage on 2006’s Lightning Ghost, tunes arriving alive with churning mbira and handclaps. With 2008’s self-titled launch, offering collaborations with previous Chicagoan (and electro-acoustic comrade) Greg Davis, Vida launched an important fresh component into his function: the Moog. Under the usual selection of vibrant instrumentation — including Vietnamese jaw harp, real wood flute, elephant bells, and zither — there have been now firmer constructions powered by Vida’s key pad patterns. They were even more fully recognized on 2010’s Parrot Show Music group LP, having a complete quartet behind Vida, including Tortoise drummers John Herndon and Dan Bitney, a sign from the project’s future.