Reviews of our 2010 album, Acronyms:

NPR Music: All Songs Considered
I fall in love with maybe two, maybe three jazz records a year. But every once in a while something comes along and perks me up. I hear the sounds of Ornette Coleman and the band Television. And sometimes in the same song. - Bob Boilen

SoundSpike
Like the bands Beirut, Slaraffenland and A Hawk and A Hacksaw, Bee vs. Moth rip boundaries from a musical style customarily defined by a time and place. Imagine the Preservation Hall Jazz Band giving up chairs to Albert Ayler, Fred Frith and Kurt Weill – all of whom show up with sketches of compositions they are interested in playing. - Phil Gallo

The Austin Chronicle
Take the opening clamor of "Salisbury Steakhouse" into the more subdued mood music of "Now More Than Ever" and "Tuesday in Tuskegee," and this instrumental quintet's second and latest is a study in symmetry. Though Bee vs. Moth's tempos can change on a whim, there's never a feeling of disarray. Saxophone and trumpet make more discreet entrances, the guitar is taut, and there's poise in the noise. - Audra Schroeder

Lucid Culture
The fun factor is off the hook – they pin the needle in the red. They’re part jazz, part noise-rock, and part movie theme music. Their compositions are very clever, but there’s just as much improvisation going on and that’s just as clever. Interplay is everywhere throughout this album: instruments converse, argue, twirl each other across the floor, blow up in each others’ faces and then make up.

Austin Sound
Let this be a lesson to us all, then: this is your brain when you "listen to coffee all day." It apparently becomes some glorious freaked up mash of Ravel's "Bolero" in a blender.... From what we've heard, it's the expectedly unexpected from the group—their brand of crazy that falls somewhere between jazz and Zappa (Jazzappa!?).

This is Book's Music
Bee vs. Moth are a quintet out of Austin, Texas that combine a crunchy means of rocking out with intricate instrumental passages and arrangements...and use instruments normally associated with jazz. You could tap your feet or fingers to this, but this is about a band who want you to bang your head hard, but without feeling too much like an idiot. ...Just when you expect for them to take a song to a direction you feel is right, they do you one better. - John Book

The Silent Ballet
Acronyms improves on the band's 2007 debut, Soundhorn, with crisper mastering and a wider variety of sounds. The quirky turns of phrase and giddy passages of controlled improvisation are retained, although some of the current cuts are more radio-friendly. The quintet's jazz tendencies are cut with post-rock, lending the project an air of the unclassifiable.... The unexpected pleasure is that some of these instruments (flute, tenor sax, intonarumori) are seldom used outside of the more staid genres, where they often seem buttoned-up; here, they are free to cut loose. - Richard Allen

The 405
If you could imagine the manic genius of Miles trading off against Charlie Parker through the eyes of Zach Condon whilst he's sat in a Parisian café off his gourd on dodgy French wine then this would be the outcome.

Press for our original film score for Buster Keaton's The Cameraman:

The Austin Chronicle
This Austin quintet's latest, Acronyms, is the sound of screwball comedy making eyes at jazzy instrumentals. They're the perfect soundtrackers, changing tempos on a whim and coloring scenes with free-form gusto. Performing their own live score to 1928 Buster Keaton silent screwballer The Cameraman? Piece of cake, especially when a monkey's involved. - Audra Schroeder

KUT 90.5 FM Austin
Austin Music Minute from the day of the film score premier.

Fox 7 Austin
A live appearance to play a piece from the film.
Austin Rockin' - Raoul Hernandez (Austin Chronicle)

KEYE Austin
A live appearance to play a piece from the film.

Other Press:

Austinist
Bee vs. Moth's arty post-punk is a direct descendant of XTC's weirder moments.

KUT 90.5 FM Austin
Bee vs. Moth was the featured artist in KUT's recomendation of the June 2010 NMASS festival. - Austin Music Minute

The Austin Chronicle
If Danny Elfman hadn't scored Forbidden Zone, Austin's Bee vs. Moth could have done a pretty good job.... Hard ear candy for your soft inner child. - Audra Schroeder

KVRX 91.7 FM Austin
Bee vs. Moth: these folks play quirky, eclectic, clever, energetic, subtle, playful little ditties, and their live show is quite fun.... Wacky and serious at the same time, holding simple and technical elements in dynamic tension, displaying serious chops and ability to jam, yet concentrating on the internal structure of each piece, Bee vs. Moth embark on the road less taken. - Owen M.

Austin Sound
If pressed to classify Bee vs. Moth's debut album, one would most likely futilely revert to "jazz," though that hardly does justice to the strange and far-reaching versatility that sprawls throughout the instrumental album. From the opening song, appropriately titled "Doom Equity" and introducing the band with a contorting overture of various genres pillaged on what follows, the group seems intent on defying expectations. ...This is jazz for the ADD generation. - Doug Freeman

Time Out Chicago
Bee vs. Moth's lean fusion of jazz and postpunk yields thoughtfully taut arrangements.

Indy Week (Raleigh/Durham, NC)
Austin's Bee vs. Moth moves from twisted doom to straight jazz within a single set. - Grayson Currin

Chicago Sun-Times
Bee vs. Moth is known for blending the traditional sounds of guitar, drums and bass with trumpet and upright bass.
- Recommended Show

KOOP 91.7 FM Austin
A rock-flavored band that take their music beyond the common limits of that genre...as much jazz horn improvisation as rock, with elements of marching band arrangements, ska, and more sweetening the mix. - Around the Town Sounds

From Here To Obscurity
Bee vs. Moth is a phenomenal Austin jazz-punk-whatever band anchored by bassist Philip Moody and percussionist Sarah Norris. Soundhorn brings considerable swagger and punch to BVM's all-instrumental pieces. Excellent. - Hayden Childs

The Austin Chronicle
Trumpet-infused quartet Bee vs. Moth bounces around jazz, post-punk, and ska, igniting the senses with a mix of Elfmanesque melodies and brainy exploration. - Greg Beets

KUT 90.5 FM
Their music goes beyond original, defying categorization. - Kory Cook

Austin Sound Check
Bee vs. Moth's eclectic sound can be attributed to diverse instrumentation and a willingness to explore genres outside the mainstream. Still firmly rooted in the familiar, Bee vs. Moth is different but manage to acquaint themselves with their audience. - Ana Wolken

Austinist
A profile of four diverse Austin drummers, including our own Sarah Norris.


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