Photographed at Jasmin's House
Long a favorite of vaguely condescending male music writers, the term "songbird" might finally be due for a makeover. While Jasmin Kaset and Makenzie Green certainly look the part — they're young, attractive and female — the bawdy, profane songs they perform together under the moniker Birdcloud are anything but ladylike. For example, they have a song in which "My pussy belongs to Jesus" just might be the mildest line they sing.
No, there's not much refined about this act. For a recent photo shoot with local Polaroid enthusiast Garland Gallaspy, Kaset fed live nightcrawlers to Green. From her mouth. Just like a songbird, see? (Somehow, they're able to tell this story while simultaneously demolishing a massive pile of barbecue pork nachos.)
In a city lousy with acoustic guitar-wielding duos, Birdcloud is just your average comedy raunch-folk band composed of two women who disliked each other for years, got their start singing an impromptu ditty about cunnilingus, and had been invited to play a show before they had written a single song. Ever since hastily pulling together two originals and a cover for that prematurely booked 8 off 8th appearance at Mercy Lounge, Birdcloud has been a blast of refreshingly vulgar air. Even if some in attendance at a recent writers' night might disagree with that assessment.
"Some people liked it," Kaset says of a performance at The Bluebird. "Other people had a real straight look on their face."
Perhaps those straight-faced folks didn't appreciate the satire when they heard "Saving Myself for Jesus" — which rather graphically pokes fun at what some amorous-but-unmarried Christian women do to preserve their "virginity."
But alongside the pottymouthed one-liners and high/drunk lonesome harmonies, there's some deceptively sharp songwriting. Kaset, who performs less debauched music under her own name, says she doesn't really separate her comedic writing from the more serious stuff. "It's more about us hanging out," she says of their serendipitous musical partnership. Green concurs: "We just come up with an idea and go with it."
Going with it is something Birdcloud excels at. Case in point: the gleefully trashy video for "Warshin My Big Ol Pussy," their ode to river-assisted feminine hygiene, which turned up on the Funny or Die website a couple weeks ago. It's for the birds, all right.
The People:
The Legend: Little Jimmy Dickens
The Community Builder: Dan Heller
The Power Couple: Peter Depp and Kristin Vasquez
The Broadcaster: Tom Randles
The Barber: Mark Walker
The Internet Star: Jessica Frech
The Teacher: Gatluak Ter Thach
The Chef: Laura Wilson
The Artist: Vesna Pavlovic
The Councilman: Fabian Bedne
The Saxman: Bobby Keys
The Coach: Ed Temple
The Networker: Liza Massey
The Designers: Jamie and the Jones
The Enforcer: Brian McGrattan
The Poet: Sebastian Jones
The Geeks: Janet and Mike Lee
