On October 25, Andrew Bird will unleash Useless Creatures, an instrumental album that originally arrived bundled with 2009’s Noble Beast deluxe edition. Included on the 9-track “indulgent” (Bird’s word, not mine) effort, which features guests Wilco’s Glenn Kotche and Todd Sickafoose, is “Hot Math,” available today as a free download via Bella Union.
“[“Hot Math” is] a lo-fi recording I made myself in my barn,” Bird said in a NY Times column last year. “It’s an example of a West African polyrhythmic groove I’ve been into for years and in this case I was clearly enjoying myself. This is elusive stuff. It just doesn’t work by choreography; you just have to be in the right mood.” Scroll down here for footage of Bird putting the composition to tape and download/stream his 7-minute jam here or below:
Andrew Bird – “Hot Math”