The Austin Chronicle looks at another trend in pop music, this one not so new – the hip cover version. Obviously, I am a big fan of cover songs though at the same time, I’m absolutely infuriated by the number of cookie-cutter pop-punk/nu-crapola bands who are making a career, brief as they’ll be, out of doing incredibly dull or ironic covers of former hits. Like whoever those fuckheads who did “Boys Of Summer” are, or the other fuckheads who did Madonna’s “Music”. Yeah, that’s good. Figure out the power chords and scream it angsty-like. Fuckwits. The kids’ll eat it up. So what’s the difference between these guys and the tracks I champion every week? If you have to ask… Let me put it this way – Cover song because you love the song? Fine. Cover songs as a calculated career move run by focus groups? You deserve to be fed leeches and have them eat you from the inside out. From The Global Pop Conspiracy.

I don’t know if ever linked it, but the Covers Project is a terrific resource for tracking down cover song information.

Also from the GPC – The San Diego CityBEAT consults with Adam Schlesinger of Fountains Of Wayne about the best ever songs about hot moms. Just for the record, it was more than eight months ago that I coined the phrase “MILF-rock”. It hasn’t quite taken the world by storm yet, but it will. Just wait.

And speaking of MILF-rock, the horribly named “Maybelline Chicks With Attitude” tour comes to the Kool Haus August 28. That’s the show with Liz Phair, Charlotte Martin, Katy Rose and Nina Persson. After Thursday’s glorious Cardigans show, all I can say is, “Why, Nina, why?!?”

In more Cardies news, it seems the US release of Long Gone Before Daylight on the 25th will be including enough bonuses to make me buy the damn thing again. It will “..include all 13 tracks from the European releases including a new track, entitled “For The Boys” exclusive to the US release. The Bonus DVD will include the videos for the first two singles, “For What It’s Worth” and “You’re The Storm” as well as a segment containing an interview, band documentary and three live performances from the recent Quart Festival in Europe.” I hate buying stuff twice. But I like DVDs. Hrmm.

Spookihaus (née Blogna) has the tracklisting for the Low box set A Lifetime Of Temporary Relief, in stores July 20.

The teaser trailer for the Constantine film is now available. I dunno – on a very superficial level, they seem to have gotten the tone of the visuals right for being set in Los Angeles rather than Londong. Things look a lot more new and modern rather than old and historic. Still not accepting Keanu as someone with knowledge of his own phone number let alone the secrets of Heaven and Hell. I’m beginning to be glad they decided to not call it Hellblazer after all. Maybe some distance between the film and the source material is a good thing.

Ever wonder what the X-Men movie would have been like with Michael Chabon doing the screenplay? Wonder no longer.

np – Neil Young / Decade

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