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, February 6th, 2011
Nicole Atkins covers Patti Smith
Frank YangTexas in September is hot. The shade-deprived Zilker park in Austin, Texas where they hold the Austin City Limits festival each Fall, is very hot. Zilker Park at high noon during what would be called a heat wave by any non-Texan standards, is holy-shit-I’m-going-to-spontaneously-combust hot. And yet there I was, on the third and final day of the festival in 2007 before noon instead of safely ensconced in my air conditioned hotel room, all to see Nicole Atkins.
But the heat stroke was worth it. Her set was as good as anything anyone would perform the rest of that day or night, including a scorching rendition of punk legend Patti Smith’s “Pissing In A River” that showcased Atkins’ rawer side. It’s something that her debut Neptune City, for all its merits, didn’t do proper justice to and which her more stripped-down second album Mondo Amore goes some distance in rectifying.
Mondo Amore is out on Tuesday and her Kickstarted North American tour kicks off on Wednesday, eventually winding its way to The Horseshoe in Toronto on February 26. There’s interviews with Atkins at My Central Jersey and IFC has premiered some short film/videos/trailers for Mondo Amore with more to follow this week. Patti Smith released her last album Twelve in 2007 and last month revealed to The Guardian that she was writing a detective novel. Austin City Limits, after having the good sense to move to slightly-cooler early October for the last few years, is back in mid-September this year. If you’re thinking of going, pack your SPF 101000.
MP3: Nicole Atkins – “Pissing In A River”
Stream: Nicole Atkins – “Pissing In A River”
Sunday, January 30th, 2011
The Radio Dept. covers The Go-Betweens
Friendly NoiseSweden’s Radio Dept. have a pretty singular sound when compared to the rest of the pop music landscape – making static and melancholy gleam and glisten as they do is easier said than done – but their musical genome is actaully pretty easy to map. That they use take texture from Jesus & Mary Chain and balance it with Belle & Sebastian’s soft, open heart is most obvious but the swooningly sophisticated pop sensibilities of, say, The Go-Betweens might be overlooked at first – or at least until you hear them covered.
The Radio Dept. covered The Go-Betweens’ “Bachelor Kisses” from their 1984 release Spring Hill Fair as a contribution to a 2007 issue of the Friendly Noise zine and it’s rather astonishing how they manage to make it sound exactly like something from their own canon while simultaneously paying tribute to the original by playing it as straight as they’re capable of doing. And from whichever angle you choose to look at it, It’s a gorgeous piece of work.
The Radio Dept. releases their singles/b-sides compilation Passive Aggressive last week – and “Bachelor Kisses” is included amongst the latter – and their first full and proper North American tour starts on Tuesday night, making its way to Lee’s Palace in Toronto on February 7. The Go-Betweens came to an end in May 2006 when Grant McLennan died of a heart attack. His songwriting partner Robert Forster has continued on as a solo artist, most recently releasing The Evangelist in 2008.
MP3: The Radio Dept. – “Bachelor Kisses”
Video: The Go-Betweens – “Bachelor Kisses”
Sunday, January 23rd, 2011
Iron & Wine cover The Flaming Lips
YetiAesthetically speaking, you don’t get much further removed than Iron & Wine and The Flaming Lips. The former being essentially a solo project for Sam Beam specializing in beautifully intimate homespun folk, and the latter being unabashed musical weirdos who delight in somehow delivering out-there artistic experiments in (mostly) accessible pop packages.
One point where they do intersect, however, is “Waitin’ For A Superman” from the Flaming Lips’ 1999 masterpiece The Soft Bulletin. It finds The Lips at their most stately and heartfelt and thus translates perfectly to the Iron & Wine delivery, as happened circa 2003 when Beam added his interpretation of it to his live sets. It’s interesting that of the two recordings I have of it – one captured live at the Amstel Festival in Amsterdam and the other a presumably home studio effort that appeared with the second issue of Yeti – that the live one has the higher audio fidelity, not to mention the added bonus of a little bit of cursing from Mr. Beam.
The new Iron & Wine record Kiss Each Other Clean will be out on Tuesday; 17 Dots and NPR have interviews and NPR ups the ante with a Tiny Desk Concert. The Flaming Lips have ambitions to release a new song every month in 2011 among other experiments and collaborations – Wayne Coyne maps them out for Spin.
MP3: Iron & Wine – “Waitin’ For A Superman”
MP3: Iron & Wine – “Waitin’ For A Superman” (live)
Video: The Flaming Lips – “Waitin’ For A Superman” (live on Jools Holland)
Sunday, January 16th, 2011
Mumford & Sons cover White Lies
Triple JWhite Lies aren’t big on nuance. The British trio like to serve up their gloomy, angst-rock like a 2×4 to the head thanks to Harry McVeigh’s big baritone and rather ham-fisted lyrical approach. It can be a bit much to take for anyone whose wardrobe isn’t made up completely of black apparel – we just don’t understand, I suppose – but it’s clearly worked for them, their 2009 self-titled debut topping the UK charts and the follow-up Ritual, due out this week, probably set to do something about the same.
So credit to Mumford & Sons, themselves big stars both in the UK and abroad after just one record, for being able to take one of White Lies’ tunes, as the did in session for Australian radio state Triple J last Summer, and rein it in a bit. But only a bit, as Marcus Mumford’s vocal approach isn’t exactly a textbook study in subtle – folk-angst or goth-angst, take your pick.
Spinner has an interview with White Lies, who will stage a short North American tour next week, wrapping at the Mod Club in Toronto on January 29. By rights, Mumford & Sons should be resting up after a 2010 marked by relentless touring and working on a second record, but they’ll be picking up at least some trans-Atlantic frequent flier points in 2011 as they’re confirmed to play the Wakarusa festival in Arkansas in June. And as long as they’re over here…
MP3: Mumford & Sons – “Unfinished Business”
Video: White Lies – “Unfinished Business”
Sunday, January 9th, 2011
The Decemberists cover R.E.M.
Frank YangWhen you’re an artist who’s been around for a certain amount of time, the phrase “return to form” will begin creeping into descriptions of new works more and more as time goes on. It’s inevitable, whether or not past forms actually need to be returned to or not, and said phrase has been getting bandied about lately in reference to a couple of high-profile releases coming out soon
In the case of R.E.M., who’ve now been at it for over three decades and are set to release album number fifteen in Collapse Into Now on March 8, it’s an acknowledgement that some of their recent output has been patchy and hopefully confirms that this latest effort builds on the positive response their last “return to form”, 2008’s Accelerate.
For the eight year-old Decemberists, it’s less a comment on any clear missteps over their six studio albums and more a reference to the fact that The King Is Dead, due out next Tuesday, has got more of that folky vibe that was at the forefront of their first couple albums or maybe that it’s simply not a rock opera like its predecessor The Hazards Of Love.
It also features some guest guitarwork from R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, who joined the band onstage at Radio City Music Hall in New York on June 10 of 2009 for a cover of his own band’s “Begin The Begin”, the lead track from their 1986 classic Life’s Rich Pageant. Colin Meloy actually does a pretty good Stipe growl overtop a fairly straight cover, but hey – when you’ve got the guy who wrote the tune guesting, you don’t put your “reinterpretation” hat on. You just do it.
The Decemberists are at The Sound Academy on February 1. It is unlikely Peter Buck will join them.
MP3: The Decemberists – “Begin The Begin” (live)
Video: The Decemberists – “Begin The Begin” (live)
Video: R.E.M. – “Begin The Begin” (live)
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