For this edition of New Sounds, hear new music for strings. There’s music from Russian composer Anton Batagov, Estonian composer Arvo Part, and Icelandic composer Johann Johannsson, and Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Andrew Bird. The deluxe edition of Bird’s latest effort, “Noble Beast” is packaged with a companion album of adventurous instrumentals called “Useless Creatures.” We’ll hear selections from this companion record, built mainly around the sounds of Bird's looped violin, although sometimes he harnesses the space of his barn and several amplifiers for drone-like ambience. At other times Bird collaborates with other musicians, like upright bass player Todd Sickafoose and drummer Glenn Kotche, as on “The Carrion Suite,” and occasionally he incorporates the West African rhythms that drive his songs with words (“Banking on a Myth”, “Dear Dirty”) on tracks like “Hot Math.” All this and more.

PROGRAM # 2892 Things with Strings (First aired on Tues 1-27-09)