Andrew Bird’s West Coast Visit

Bird embarks on a short tour beginning with two nights in Los Angeles at Largo Jan. 15-16 and ending in Santa Cruz at the Rio Theatre Jan. 29. Dates in between include, well, nothing. So far it’s only L.A. and Santa Cruz, although Bird does have a Mexico City gig slotted for March 17.

Bird’s latest release is the standalone packaging of Useless Creatures, the disc that was originally bundled with the deluxe edition of the artist’s 2009 album Noble Beast and is now available on Fat Possum Records. Described by Bird as an “ambient experimental record,” Useless Creatures was recorded in Chicago in one week.

“The result may be not unlike some electronic dance music only with woody, grainy sounds, rather than the perfect sine waves of a synthesizer,” Bird said. “How to be minimal and repetitive without being insipid is the challenge.”

For more information about Andrew Bird’s West Coast run, click here for the artist’s website.