Each week I'm posting a random or not-so-random cover song. Only the current week's track will be available but if you see a past one you'd like, contact me and we'll make arrangements.
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Sunday, October 9th, 2011
Radiohead cover Portishead
radiohead.comThe key to being a brilliant British band circa 1997 was, clearly, to have “head” in your name somewhere. What other explanation could there be for Radiohead and Portishead to each release career highwater albums OK Computer and Portishead within four months of each other? Probably about as good odds of both band choosing to follow said successes up in decidedly unconventional fashion – Radiohead by basically abandoning their sound by going experimentally electronic in time for the new millenium and Portishead by basically abandoning music for a decade.
A decade later, though, both had largely come full circle – Radiohead with their most guitar-based and pop-oriented effort in years with In Rainbows and Portishead putting the finishing touches on the harrowing Third, one of the highlights of the record was the stark “The Rip”. Radiohead took to playing the song in soundchecks while touring In Rainbows and in response to fan demand to hear what such a thing might sound like, they released a video of Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood playing it acoustically in someone’s living room. Or hotel room. In any case, the coming together of the two British musical icons broke the internet, just a little.
Portishead are currently on tour in North America – ostensibly in support of Third but really just because they haven’t been in forever; they have two nights at The Sound Academy in Toronto starting tonight. Spinner and The National Post have feature interviews with the band. Radiohead released The King Of Limbs earlier this year and follow it up with the TKOL RMX 1234567 remix album this Tuesday. NPR grabbed a chat with Thom Yorke and Ed O’Brien while they took up residence in New York over the last couple weeks, playing theatre shows, late night television shows and not playing Wall Street protests. And oh, it was Thom Yorke’s birthday on Friday. Happy birthday, Thom!
MP3: Radiohead – “The Rip”
Video: Radiohead – “The Rip” (live, acoustic)
Video: Portishead – “The Rip”
Sunday, October 2nd, 2011
The Twilight Singers cover Bjork
WikipediaGreg Dulli has the sort of voice that you can’t help but want to hear your favourite songs played through, if just so you can hear them seasoned with the distinctively whiskey-soaked, cigarette-stained blend of soulful seediness and fiery longing that’s his trademark. Happily, he’s never been one to shy away from doing covers from all over the musical spectrum – the Afghan Whigs’ takes on the likes of The Clash, TLC and Barry White are some of the favourite reinterpretations I have in my collection.
After putting the Whigs to bed in 2001 and starting up The Twilight Singers, his willingness to apply his take to others’ works didn’t abate – if anything, it grew. The third Twilight Singers record, 2004’s She Loves You, was a covers album and while the source material was largely drawn from the realms of soul and jazz, it still packed a couple surprises including this melty take on Bjork’s elegant “Hyperballad”.
Dulli returned to The Twilight Singers this year after five away with the release of Dynamite Steps, after releasing and touring his long-awaited Gutter Twins collaboration with fellow 21st-century bluesman Mark Lanegan. Bjork is preparing for the release of her first studio album in four years with Biophilia on October 11.
MP3: The Twilight Singers – “Hyperballad”
Video: Bjork – “Hyperballad”
Sunday, September 25th, 2011
Elbow and Lightspeed Champion cover Amy Winehouse
BBCThere’s no shame in being late to the party on certain artists; it’s simply not possible to keep up with everything that’s out there, let alone apply the necessary hype filters to discern what’s genuinely good and what’s just hip noise. I tend to go with the philosophy that if it’s worth hearing, I’ll hear it eventually and if it’s not, then I won’t even know what I missed.
Of course, sometimes you realize it’s worth hearing a little too late. By the time the buzz around Amy Winehouse reached my ears back in 2007 or so, talk about her talent was already inextricable from tales of her offstage antics and addictions, so rather than potentially participate in the tabloid/gossip storm, I declined to even bother giving a listen and missed her one and only Toronto performance at The Mod Club in May of that year. Our paths would have crossed later that Summer as she was one of the big-name undercards for that year’s V Fest but her personal issues continued to grow to the point of having the pull out a couple of weeks before the festival date. There were the usual apologies and assurances that she’d make it up, but of course she didn’t. Amy Winehouse died earlier this Summer as a result of what appears to side-effects of attempting to detox at the age of 27. In the ensuing flood of tributes and remembrances, I finally took the trouble of giving her music a listen and yeah. Clearly I missed out. And clearly I’m going to be one of those adding to the posthumous sales of Back To Black.
The title track of which was covered in stately style by Elbow for a BBC Live Lounge session in June 2008; Elbow are another artist I was slow on the uptake for, only getting on board fully sometime between Leaders Of The Free World and The Seldom Seen Kid, but am now completely won over. I’ve been waiting a long time for them to return to town for their own headlining show with me as a proper fan and they’ll finally do so this Wednesday night at The Sound Academy.
And also offering an interpretation of “Back To Black” in 2008 was Dev Hynes, who at the time was still operating as Lightspeed Champion. I ignored his first band Test Icicles and justly so as they were terrible, but have been a fan of everything he’s done since. His stripped-down, acoustic rendering appeared on the NME Awards 2008 cover compilation which featured covers by artists who appeared on the NME Awards ceremony or sponsored tour that year. Hynes has since put the Lightspeed Champion monicker to bed and now records as Blood Orange, having released his debut Coastal Grooves back in August. He’ll be at The Garrison on October 21 supporting and also playing as part of CANT.
MP3: Elbow – “Back To Black”
MP3: Lightspeed Champion – “Back To Black”
Video: Amy Winehouse – “Back To Black”
Sunday, September 18th, 2011
The Shins cover The Jesus & Mary Chain
Frank YangBoth bands in this week’s selection have been away a while – though their absences are on different scales – and both are making returns to the public eye – though in different manners.
That The Shins went into hiding following the touring cycle for their third album Wincing The Night Away wasn’t especially odd – bands do that all the time – but a break turned into a hiatus as most of the band members who were not frontman and songwriter James Mercer were dismissed or otherwise left the band and the project was essentially rebooted. Shins 2.0 appear to be ready to go, however, as they’re embarking on a handful of live dates – including this Thursday night at The Phoenix in Toronto – in advance of releasing a new record in the new year.
The Jesus & Mary Chain split way back in 1999 and considering the acrimony that marked the band’s career, hardly seemed like candidates for a reunion but the Reid brothers made up in time to play Coachella 2007 and a number of additional European dates. And while technically the band remains an active concern with promises of a new album, they’ve been awful quiet for a band who made their name by being really loud. Fans do have something to look forward to, though, as super-deluxe double-CD-plus-DVD reissues of their entire six-album catalog are coming starting this week, with Psychocandy and Darklands out Tuesday, Automatic and Honey’s Dead next week and Stoned & Dethroned and Munki on October 4 – there’s video previews of each set over at YouTube. So those collections are some good news for fans… unless you re-bought their entire discography when they were reissued back in 2006. Then you’re probably more enraged than excited.
Oh and as for the song itself? That was Shins Mk1 taking the Psychocandy tune for a spin at The Troubadour in Los Angeles at some undetermined date. Fun times.
MP3: The Shins – “Taste Of Cindy” (live)
Video: The Jesus & Mary Chain – “Taste Of Cindy” (live in London, 2008)
Sunday, September 11th, 2011
The National and St. Vincent cover Crooked Fingers
The NationalI am tempted to set up some kind of automated script that, every couple weeks, posts “Crooked Fingers‘ Dignity & Shame is one of my favourite albums ever” to my Twitter, because a) it’s true and b) every time I listen to it I feel like I need people to know this and understand it. Eric Bachmann has sang with many female foils over the run of Crooked Fingers but none was more perfect that Lara Meyerratken and nowhere is that better demonstrated than their gorgeously intertwined duet “Sleep All Summer”, arguably the album’s centrepiece and a song capable of breaking my heart pretty much every time I hear it.
So when no less than The National opted to cover it with Annie Clark of St. Vincent playing the role of Meyerratken to Matt Berninger’s Bachmann for the Merge Records 20th anniversary tribute album Score!, it was both exciting and worrisome. Exciting because here were two of my favourite artists covering one of my favourite songs and worrisome because, well, there’s no such thing as loving two different things equally – one version was going to come in second. And it’s sort of a photo finish, but as much as I like the Berninger-Clark reinterpretation, the original is still tops. But damn it was good listening and re-listening to each to decide.
Crooked Fingers – who are now the two-piece of Bachmann and Liz Durrett – will release a new album in Breaks In The Armour on October 11 and play The Drake Underground on November 8. St. Vincent’s new album Strange Mercy comes out on Tuesday. The National are awesome. Summer is just about over. Update: Now with extra relevance – just announced, The National are going to be at The Air Canada Centre on December 8 with Neko Case and Wye Oak.
MP3: The National and St. Vincent – “Sleep All Summer”
Video: Crooked Fingers – “Sleep All Summer” (live, 2010)
Stream: Crooked Fingers – “Sleep All Summer”
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