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.
If you are the copyright holder of the current track and wish it to be taken down please contact me to do so.
Sunday, February 21st, 2010
Shearwater covers Brian Eno
Frank YangMaking the decision to start buying vinyl again late last year – for reasons of artifact fetishism, audio quality and just wanting to go buy stuff in record stores again – has been tougher than expected to follow through on than expected because, well, people keep sending me CDs. Yeah yeah, hard life. Acts like Shearwater, however, make it easier to enjoy both as the shiny plastic and vinyl versions of their new record The Golden Archipelago are different – the vinyl has two extra tracks and a different running order – and both worth owning.
Easier to accomplish is my mission to fill in some of the holes in my ’70s and ’80s-era musical education via used LP crate digging. Some recent acquisitions are the first couple of Roxy Music albums (though those were bought new, on sale), which go nicely with my oft-spun copy of Brian Eno’s first solo record Here Come The Warm Jets. Which is relevant because this week’s cover selection is of Shearwater reinterpreting “Baby’s On Fire” (side A track 3), live in Bruges, Belgium circa Fall 2006. See how it all comes together?
Shearwater’s The Golden Archipelago is out on Tuesday, February 23, and they play Lee’s Palace on April 1. Brian Eno continues to be a prolific musician, producer and collaborator and even contributed a couple of tracks to the much-rumoured new Roxy Music album. Last Fall, however, Brian Ferry told The Times that the album would now be coming out as a Brian Ferry album and not as Roxy Music. Which, really, is the only sensible thing to do.
MP3: Shearwater – “Baby’s On Fire”
Stream: Brian Eno – “Baby’s On Fire”
Sunday, February 14th, 2010
Mumford & Sons cover The Beatles
Frank YangLondon quartet Mumford & Sons know how to work that banjo. It’s key to adding the bluegrass-y tint to the rousing folk-indie rock of their debut Sigh No More, and particularly effectively in this Beatles cover they recorded in session for BBC’s The Radcliffe and Maconie Show last November. The medley selection from side two of Abbey Road begins with Marcus Mumford’s yearning rasp giving “Golden Slumbers” its gravitas, then as it segues into “Carry That Weight”, Winston Marshall’s banjo steps forward and actually picks up that weightiness and jigs it off into the sunset, bid farewell by the band’s harmonies. Lovely.
The Guardian has a feature piece on Mumford & Sons, whose Sigh No More gets a North American release this Tuesday. Their incredibly brief, four-date North American tour stops in at Lee’s Palace in Toronto tomorrow night for a sold-out performance. Those feeling left out should take heart that they’ll be returning to North America later this Summer for Bonnaroo and it’s pretty much inconceivable that they wouldn’t build a proper tour around the date. So patience.
MP3: Mumford & Sons – “Golden Slumbers”/”Carry That Weight”
Video: The Beatles – “Golden Slumbers”/”Carry That Weight” (fan video)
Sunday, February 7th, 2010
The Antlers cover The Magnetic Fields
The AntlersNot done with the Magnetic Fields covers yet, nope. They’re so rarely active and there’s so many great re-interpretations of Stephin Merritt’s compositions that when I get the chance to post some of them, I’m going to run with it.
And this is one of my favourite Magnetic Fields covers that, until recently, I didn’t even know I had. It comes from The Antlers, whom while preparing their 2009 breakthrough record Hospice, released a short EP entitled New York Hospitals for free, its title clearly pointing at the themes of the full-length that would follow and consisting of two covers and a preview of one of Hospice‘s high points, “Sylvia”. The reinterpretation of one of 69 Love Songs‘ loveliest moments is more in line with their hazier, pre-Hospice sounds, wrapping it in layers of aural gauze and reverb and could well be the sound of nothing else mattering.
The Antlers are in town next Tuesday night at The Phoenix, opening for Editors. The Magnetic Fields are here tomorrow night for a show at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre and the vinyl edition of 69 Love Songs will be out April 20. Sharon Van Etten, who contributes vocals to the cover, was just in town last night and will return for a show at the Horseshoe on April 5.
MP3: The Antlers – “Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing”
Stream: The Magnetic Fields – “Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing”
Sunday, January 31st, 2010
Woodpigeon covers The Magnetic Fields
Lindsey BakerIn last week’s selection, I mentioned that The Magnetic Fields were one the most-covered bands around (a completely arbitrary statement I can’t back up with hard facts), a fact that surely causes Stephin Merritt no small amount of distress, considering he’s on record as not being a fan of having his compositions reinterpreted by others.
Even so, I would hope he couldn’t find much to complain about in these renditions of 3% of 69 Love Songs by Calgary’s Woodpigeon. Recorded last Fall whilst in Ottawa on tour and posted on their website for free, the recordings are as simple as simple gets – just Mark Hamilton, an acoustic guitar and a little help from some friends – but serve the heartfelt sentiments of the songs perfectly.
In addition to having both released new albums this month – The Magnetic Fields with Realism and Woodpigeon with Die Stadt Muzikanten – both are coming to town in a couple weeks – the former at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on February 8 and the latter at the Drake Underground on February 11. Woodpigeon also play an in-store at Soundscapes at 5PM on, fittingly enough, Valentine’s Day. Perhaps a love song or 69 would be in order.
MP3: Woodpigeon – “Asleep And Dreaming”
MP3: Woodpigeon – “You’re My Only Home”
Stream:The Magnetic Fields – “Asleep And Dreaming”
Stream:The Magnetic Fields – “You’re My Only Home”
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
The Magnetic Fields cover Fiddler On The Roof
AmazonStephin Merritt is not a man generally given to performing other peoples’ songs. And while it’s a bit ironic, considering his songs are some of the most-covered in indie-dom, you can hardly blame him considering how ridiculously prolific he is with various bands in The Magnetic Fields, The 6ths, The Gothic Archies and The Future Bible Heroes, to say nothing of his recent stage musical work. The man writes a lot of quality tunes and there’s only so much time in the day – why waste it on other peoples’ material?
When he does reinterpret someone else’s song, however, he picks his spots. Like his contribution to Knitting On The Roof, the 1999 tribute album to the Broadway classic, wherein he offers a ukulele-powered rendition of the show’s most famous song and makes it about a million times more dour in the process. His Reb Tevye is not a jolly sort, no. Of course, it’s also hard to imagine Merritt dancing around a barn or consorting with chickens so perhaps direct comparisons to Topol’s interpretation are misplaced.
The new Magnetic Fields album Realism is out this week and they play the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on February 8. There are currently no major productions of Fiddler On The Roof running anywhere A touring production of Fiddler On The Roof is coming to Toronto in June and you can rent the movie pretty much anywhere. Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum.
MP3: The Magnetic Fields – “If I Were A Rich Man”
Video: “If I Were A Rich Man” (from Fiddler On The Roof)
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