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, March 28th, 2010
Spoon covers Yo La Tengo
Rate Your MusicNo big setup for this one this week; there shouldn’t be any needed. One of the finest, most consistent acts in indie rockdom covering another – pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? Of course, when Spoon released their version of the opening track to Yo La Tengo’s Electr-O-Pura in 2001 as a b-side to “Anything You Want”, they had just put out Girls Can Tell, their first release for Merge following an embittering major label experience, and had no idea they were en route to becoming the artist of the decade that they’ve since been mathematically proven to be.
A decade capped by this year’s Transference, which despite the reservations of some is another absurdly solid addition to their canon. It’s this record that brings them back to Toronto tomorrow night to the Sound Academy for their first local appearance in a couple years and my first time catching them live in nearly five. No excuse why, but I’m most excited about taking care of that.
MP3: Spoon – “Decora”
Video: Yo La Tengo – “Decora” (live)
Sunday, March 21st, 2010
She & Him cover Neil Young
DominoSeeing as how their career started with a cover – a recording of Richard & Linda Thompson’s “When I Get To The Border” for the independent film The Go-Getter – which M Ward scored and Zooey Deschanel starred in – it’s not surprising that She & Him have a yen for reinterpreting classic tunes. And when your sound is devoted to the recreation of the golden age of pop music, there’s lots of material to draw on.
For the b-side of their first single in the UK, “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” from 2008’s Volume One, they turned their attention to Neil Young’s “Lotta Love”, which appeared on his 1978 album Comes A Time, as well as Nicolette Larson’s Nicolette. Larson’s version would become a top ten single; Young’s would only come out as a b-side.
She & Him will release their second album Volume Two this week and play the Phoenix on June 9. Neil Young continues to release material from his Archives and is working on a new album. And is awesome.
MP3: She & Him – “Lotta Love”
Video: Neil Young – “Lotta Love” (live)
Sunday, March 14th, 2010
Superchunk covers Archers Of Loaf
superchunk.comThis one’s for the oldsters. Of which I am one. But not old enough to have ever seen Superchunk live… okay, I am, but wasn’t tuned in enough to have caught them before they went on hiatus in the early ’00s. Which is why for SxSW this week, for all the shiny young things looking to make a splash, the one act I am most looking forward to seeing is the ‘Chunk. In recent years they’ve come out of retirement just enough to make occasional live appearances like the one or two they have planned for Austin this week. One of them I will have to miss due to other commitments and logistics, so if you’re looking for me, La Zona Rosa on Friday at 3PM is a good start. And if I’m not there, then call the cops because the bats have taken me.
And while all I want to hear from them is their own songs, if, say, Matt Gentling and Eric Bachmann from fellow ’90s college rock heroes Archers Of Loaf were to join them onstage as they did in Atlanta in February 2001 and tear through “Harnessed In Slums”, well allowances can be made. Not that I expect that to happen. Really. Gentling was only a temporary touring member of Band Of Horses so while they’re in town, he probably won’t be. And as Bachmann recently tweeted, he’s getting started on the next Crooked Fingers record, so he’s busy doing God’s work.
Would you look at how young Bachmann looks in that video? Gadzooks.
MP3: Superchunk – “Harnessed In Slums”
Video: Archers Of Loaf – “Harnessed In Slums”
Sunday, March 7th, 2010
Sparklehorse covers Rod Stewart and Guided By Voices
Frank YangWhen I was out last night drinking myself into a mild state of oblivion, I thought it was for a friend’s bachelor party but in fact, I was saluting the memory of one of my favourite musicians – I just didn’t know it at the time. It was pleasant to wake up this morning without a hangover. It was far less pleasant to have the first thing I saw when going online that Sparklehorse mastermind Mark Linkous had committed suicide.
Since 1995’s debut Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot – which I think I first heard on the radio of all places – Linkous’ cracked and mysterious brew of Appalachian loneliness with occasional bursts of rock heroics has held a special place in my heart. One that was Sparklehorse’s alone, because few were able to tap into that place of beautiful sadness which Linkous seemed to have a direct line to, let alone refine it into glittering, dusty gems of song as he was able to. Sparklehorse records always seemed to be transmissions from another world, with themes of spirits, the afterlife recurring throughout. Linkous frequently wrote from a place of sadness, but always yearned for a happiness that was as simple as it seemed elusive. I hope he’s found some of the peace he was looking for in the next world; this one is that much sadder and far less beautiful without him in it.
I expect there’ll be no shortage of tributes to the man and his music over the next few days, and on the covers front, his take on Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” will be ubiquitous for a while. So while it’s a brilliant re-interpretation and does stand as as good a tribute to the man as anything (besides his own work), I’ve dug through my own archives to find something a little less somber – a couple of live renderings that you probably wouldn’t associate with an act as downcast as Sparklehorse. The first is a doomed version of the Rod Stewart classic recorded for XFM back in 1998, which starts out well but quickly goes off the rails and which they eventually put out of its misery by segueing into The Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up”. The second comes from the 2001 Werchter Festival in Belgium and is an appropriately white noise-y take on one of Guided By Voices’ finest.
Goodbye Mark, I’m so sad you had to go but am thankful for the music you left behind and that I was able to finally see you live three years ago.
MP3: Sparklehorse – “Maggie May”
MP3: Sparklehorse – “Smothered In Hugs”
Video: Rod Stewart – “Maggie May” (live)
Stream: Guided By Voices – “Smothered In Hugs”
Sunday, February 28th, 2010
Ted Leo covers Bruce Springsteen
Frank YangFrequently when picking covers for the week, I like to choose unexpected combinations of artists and tunes that might reveal heretofore hidden influences or depths of meaning. And sometimes, it’s just so obvious that you can’t NOT go with it. This is one of those times.
Ted Leo and Bruce Springsteen – both proud sons of New Jersey (okay Ted was born in Indiana but he grew up in the Garden State) and both amongst the hardest working – and maybe sweatiest – men in rock. Leo is a legend in indie rock circles, Springsteen a legend pretty much everywhere. So that a Boss cover or two is a regular occurrence in Leo’s live repertoire is not much of a surprise. Here’s a double-shot of Leo doing one of Springsteen’s most famous tunes which, as he succinctly puts it in the live solo recording from Pontiac, Michigan in December 2008, “needs to be rescued from its production values”. The second version is a live solo acoustic take from an indeterminate time or place.
Leo’s new album The Brutalist Bricks is out next week. Springsteen released Working On A Dream last year and is, amazingly, not currently on the road.
MP3: Ted Leo – “Dancing In The Dark” (live in Pontiac, MI)
MP3: Ted Leo – “Dancing In The Dark” (acoustic)
Video: Bruce Springsteen – “Dancing In The Dark”
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