The Gaslight Anthem finally announce headlining U.S. tour dates, cover The Band

GASLIGHT ANTHEM - HEADLINING U.S./CANADA DATES
Mar 18 La Tulipe - Montreal, Quebec %
Mar 20 The Opera House - Toronto, Ontario %
Mar 21 Call The Office - London, Ontario %
Mar 27 Webster Hall - New York, NY
Mar 28 The Trocadero - Philadelphia, PA #
Mar 29 Mr. Small’s - Pittsburgh, PA #
Apr 2 Turner Hall - Milwaukee, WI #
Apr 3 The Bottom Lounge - Chicago, IL #
Apr 4 Varsity Theater - Minneapolis, MN #
Apr 7 The Warehouse - Calgary, Alberta #
Apr 8 The Starlite Room - Edmonton, Alberta #
Apr 10 The Plaza - Vancouver, British Columbia #
Apr 15 The Boardwalk - Orangevale, CA #
Apr 16 Slim’s - San Francisco, CA #
Apr 21 The Clubhouse - Tempe, AZ #
Apr 24 Gothic Theatre - Englewood, CO #

% - with Saint Alvia Cartel from Ontario
# - with Heartless Bastards from Cincinnati

Only about half of the dates from the tour have been posted so far. Stay tuned.


LISTEN: Q101 Acoustic Set
The '59 Sound (acoustic) - The Gaslight Anthem
Here's Looking At You Kid (acoustic) - The Gaslight Anthem
The Weight (The Band cover) - The Gaslight Anthem


[photo credit Daniel Ackerly]

nothing matters when we're dancing

There are nights when I think that this simple song may be one of the most perfect things ever penned.

dance with me my old friend
once before we go
let's pretend this song won't end
and we never have to go home
and we'll dance among the chandeliers

and nothing matters when we're dancing
in tat or tatters you're entrancing
be we in Paris or in Lansing
nothing matters when we're dancing

you've never been more beautiful
your eyes like two full moons
than here in this poor old dancehall
among the dreadful tunes
the awful songs we don't even hear

and nothing matters when we're dancing...

Nothing Matters When We're Dancing - The Magnetic Fields

The original version is flawless --unassuming and utterly convincing-- from Stephin Merritt's 1999 opus 69 Love Songs. The cover from NY trio The Antlers is a wisp of a song, haunting and ethereal, like the ghost of a dream that hasn't even happened yet. Or maybe never will.

Nothing Matters When We're Dancing (Magnetic Fields cover) - The Antlers


[photo credit LIFE Magazine]

Grace Potter is golden

I saw Grace Potter and the Nocturnals rock a bluesy, soulful set last night before a packed Ogden Theater. In addition to a powerful selection of songs from their own catalog, they worked in a ferocious cover of the Rolling Stones' "Paint It, Black."

Just listen to Grace wail on the line about, "I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes..."

Paint It, Black (Rolling Stones cover) - Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
(this version live 10/17/08 at the Orange Peel)


And that picture I shot above reminds me of this cover Grace did in Montreal in September:

Golden (My Morning Jacket cover) - Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

Oakland's Audrye Sessions covers Elliott Smith

This is a gorgeously serpentine Elliott Smith cover from Oakland, CA foursome The Audrye Sessions. The first handful of times I listened to this I thought for sure it was a woman singing in that mournful alto. Now I realize that this band is fronted by a guy, Ryan Karazija. His voice reminds me of when Jeff Buckley would cover Nina Simone, or Thom Yorke's otherworldy falsetto. This spare rendition is altogether haunting.

Waltz #2 (Elliott Smith cover) - The Audrye Sessions
"i’m never gonna know you now, but i’m gonna love you anyhow"

Audrye Sessions’ self-titled EP was just released, with their debut full-length coming February 2009. They're on tour in the coming months, ending up in Denver on December 4th.

Monday Music Roundup

This last week I started twittering. Suddenly all the small moments in my life are memorialized in 140 characters or less. So now in addition to being able to keep up with what some of my favorite real-life friends are doing RIGHT THIS MINUTE, I've also laughed daily at the twitter feed of writer Joshua Green Allen aka fireland. I don't know him for reals but I first read about him over on Heather's Dooce blog, and he turns out to live up in Denver. Now, my Denver is never as fun as his Denver, but now I can chuckle at his twitter feeds like: "First time I've ever been fired for sexual harassment during a job interview, but your sick gams ARE my biggest managerial weakness."

Allen also penned a great article about the perfect length for a song, and posits that it "had to be closer to three minutes than two, but definitely shorter than three minutes. Three minutes is where bloat starts to set in. Where the band thinks: Hey, let's do the chorus seven times. Hey, let's give the saxophone guy a real moment to shine on this one. Hey, let's add another bridge."

He goes on to give some love to The La's "There She Goes" as the ultimately perfect song of that perfect length. In sum, a man after my own heart. Listen to the 2:42 muxtape too if you're in an abbreviated mood.


Music for this week:

Pop Song
Starfucker
This Portland band played on Saturday at Denver's Hi-Dive but I was literally still trying to thaw under my comforter from a freezing afternoon attempting to understand Australian Rules Football in a friend's tournament over at the Air Force Academy. Starfucker rocked the joint, and I dozed cozily. But I'll bet the cool kids there enjoyed their sound -- sexy but not sleazy, light but with an undercurrent of electronic grime. I think this song should have played in Empire Records; it's got that mid-90s innocence and pop heft. Starfucker's self-titled debut is out now on Badman, and their cover of Madonna's "Burnin' Up" is also streaming on RCRDLBL. Worth noting, they are neither the NIN song nor the Belgian band of the same name, but apparently this recreational hobby seems to be hitting its stride.


Balloons (Foals cover) - Holy Fuck
Balloons (original) - Foals
Hey, while we're already using words that make my mom blush, let's throw this little nugget in here as well. This week Foals and Holy Fuck released a collaboration/mutual admiration society 12" where they each covered one of the other's songs. These dudes both played Monolith, so I like to picture them sitting down at the oxygen bar and coming up with this idea amidst the red rocks. It could happen. To get the vice-versa cover (Super Inuit), click here. The split 12" is out now on white vinyl via Young Turks, or on their tour(s).


Satanic Messiah
Mountain Goats
As I write this Sunday night (35° outside!), I've been listening to Mountain Goats on shuffle while I pack and go through stuff I'd rather not look through in prep for moving this next weekend. The poetic ache of Darnielle's lyrics, his indignation and passion keep these songs on repeat. The newly-released Satanic Messiah EP is not Darnielle's foray into black metal but rather a lovely 4-song acoustic collection with religious metaphor themes (not uncommon in his songs). Of these songs, Darnielle writes, "I am fond of them; they remind me of old vanished things." This particular tune is ostensibly about going to see a show or performance, and how "we were all made young when he stepped onto the stage, like an animal escaping from his cage," and then sings about how they all were "too dazed to leave when it was over." Mountain Goats play Denver on Friday night with Kaki King, and I'm going to hope for something similar.


I Can't Make You Love Me (Bonnie Raitt cover)
Denison Witmer
No, really. Listen to this cover, even if you haven't given Bonnie Raitt much thought since you (like my sister) sang this song in Pops Choir in high school. Philadelphia folk artist Denison Witmer loves covers as much as I do, and he's taken to releasing a whole slew of them for free in his achingly stripped-down style. Through his MySpace and a partnership with the ace Cover Lay Down blog, Denison has been giving away free songs on a regular basis, including ones originally by Band of Horses, Oasis, Van Morrison and Red House Painters. This particular one is my favorite of the batch. It starts with a settling in a room; you can hear the grey empty space starkly bouncing back his plaintive, resigned voice. It is an absolutely devastating song, and especially the way he does it -- all void and defeated. Witmer's new album Carry The Weight is out November 11th, and side project alert: check out his River Bends band with Steve Yutzey-Burkey of The Swimmers.


Urban Lull (At Once Charmed)
The Umbrella Sequence
I've said it before, but our local community college radio station is one of the best I've ever listened to. They have turned my ears on to so many things that I previously missed, like The Umbrella Sequence from Minneapolis. This song came over my car speakers the other day and I was instantly addicted and turned it way up. With sunshiney chiming pop melodies that fight valiantly (and occasionally win) through a scratchy wall of fuzz and electronica, they garner comparisons to Flaming Lips and Super Furry Animals. This is the lead-off track from last year's Events (on Princess Records), and like a good aspiring rock star, Ryan Rupprecht sings over and over "We're all getting bored" -- but no, I am definitely not. Great song.


OH, A CLOSING PLEA: Help me think of fabulous Halloween costume ideas, potentially surrounding a long red dress with marvelous sequin trim I found in my basement? I also have a red feather boa, if that helps (or perhaps doesn't). Or suggest something completely different. I'll probably be at the Girl Talk show first that night, so I could go dressed as a hipster in neon sunglasses.

Or just this, I suppose. That would be amazing. [via]

Vedder covers Nick Cave and Trent Reznor

On August 21 Eddie Vedder began a two night stand in Chicago, part of his ongoing his solo tour (which I was fortunate to catch in Berkeley back in April). I'd heard that he covered both Nick Cave and Trent Reznor during his inventive set. Fascinating.

In honor of me planning to see Nick Cave tomorrow night with his Bad Seeds, it seemed a good time to dig up the mp3s. I love it when Eddie covers Ship Song.


Ship Song (Nick Cave cover) - Eddie Vedder [stream]
Hurt (Nine Inch Nails cover) - Eddie Vedder

10/1/08: mp3 links removed again at the request of the Ten Club.
Hmmm, starting to leave a sour taste in my mouth.

[photo credit Andrea Latina]

Rogue Wave cover Neil Young's "Birds"

When I posted the new Rogue Wave video at the beginning of the summer, a reader posted a comment looking for Rogue Wave's cover of the 1970 Neil Young song "Birds" that they'd just covered at the Fillmore in San Francisco. Intriguing.

Well, after months of fruitless searching, I finally was pointed in the direction of a superb-quality acoustic version from FNX Radio in Boston. Warm, sparkling, and heartfelt:

When you see me
Fly away without you
Shadow on the things you know
Feathers fall around you
And show you the way to go
It's over

Birds (Neil Young cover) - Rogue Wave


[pic up top taken by me at Outside Lands]

Lovin's for fools :: Bon Iver covers Sarah Siskind, gives me shivers

Bon Iver has said that Sarah Siskind's 2006 album Studio.Living Room changed his life, and he's been closing his sets all summer with a haunting cover of her song "Lovin's For Fools." Sarah finally joined him onstage at Nashville's Exit/In on August 11th to sing it with him.

If this isn't enough to make you want to never give your heart again, then I don't know what would be:


DIRECT LINK TO VIDEO

Lovin's For Fools (live at the Exit/In, 8-11-08) - Bon Iver & Sarah Siskind
Lovin's For Fools - Sarah Siskind (from this EP)


Sarah's voice has a chill-inducing Appalachian edge to it that conjures the unflinching starkness of Gillian Welch, and this song sounds like sleepwalking and bad dreams. There's also another fantastic rendition of this cover with Bon Iver and The Bowerbirds at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC on July 29.

[via Everybody Cares]

Wilco and Fleet Foxes live in Spokane :: "I Shall Be Released" (Dylan cover)

Knowing how excited the Fleet Foxes were to be touring with Wilco, I smile to watch them stand all crowded around one microphone in this video, shuffling their weight back and forth in what seems like "still flabbergasted" anticipation. Taken 8/21/08 at the Opera House in Spokane, this Dylan cover is just lovely, especially when Tweedy breaks into hearty and unabashed falsetto around the 2 minute mark.

I Shall Be Released (live in Spokane) - Wilco & Fleet Foxes

And hey, remember what my absolute favorite favorite cover of this song is? Yeah.

[thanks once again, Cusa!]

Unconventional '08 :: Whoever this Obama kid is, he sure incites some excellent music

Last night in Denver, the Unconventional '08 shindig took over a madhouse-packed Manifest Hope Gallery amidst the brick warehouses on Larimer Street.

Earlier in the evening a free concert featured Silversun Pickups, Nada Surf, DJ Z-Trip, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Cold War Kids. Starting around 10pm, a late-night supergroup performance brought together Ben Gibbard, Jenny Lewis, Johnathan Rice, Zooey Deschanel, and Matthew Caws to perform for a slew of eclectic luminaries that included various congresspeople, Moby, the mayors of San Francisco and Seattle, Fergie's boyfriend Josh Duhamel, Jin from LOST -- oh, and me. How did this happen?

As I approached from blocks away, the crowd was spilling in the street as they waited to get in through the half-lowered garage door entrance. A converted police car flashed multimedia exhibits onto the faded warehouse wall, with music pulsing loud enough to be heard at the Convention Center. Pandemonium!

Inside the thousand-degree gallery, I did some general browsing of the political artwork covering the walls, and then the requisite gawking and people-watching (most eclectic crowd ever -- mixing political pinstripes with the indie kids and watching them try to dance side-by-side). This non-Dem was admittedly a little creeped out by a few of the near-deistic portrayals of Obama in various painted settings; a friend and I were talking about how we felt like we'd entered his shrine. But overall it was a cool expression of passion and commitment by the artists who contributed, with a few ace lighthearted inclusions (Stephen Colbert! Slaying evil!).

Comedienne Sarah Silverman started things off with her hilariously deadpan ruminations on the convention and the election, and she was dipped into an enthusiastic two-armed welcome (totally almost like this) by San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom (SCU Broncos represent!). Newsom then introduced Seattle's mayor Greg Nickels, and after many words and rousing rhetoric, the five musicians finally climbed onto the small stage. Throughout the 70-minute show each artist took turns on lead, with various duets, group singalongs and covers. It was lighthearted and felt like a rare living-room collaboration.

See all the glory in pictures from last night.

UNCONVENTIONAL '08 KINDA SOUNDED LIKE...

This Is Not A Test (live 8/2/08, Newport Folk) - Zooey Deschanel & M. Ward
Zooey was completely charming, and performed this song with her guitar. Halfway through she stopped abruptly and laughed at a small mistake she made, saying it was the first time she'd ever played guitar in public since she usually rocks the piano.

Love Hurts - Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris
Johnathan Rice and Jenny Lewis sang this '70s staple, and in a move of complete awesomeness, they dedicated it to Obama and Hillary.

Little Boxes (Malvina Reynolds cover) - Jenny Lewis & Johnathan Rice
They didn't sing this song. But they did lots of duets together, all lovey and gazing into each other's indie-alt-country-couple eyes, and sounding good.

See These Bones (live on MOKB Sirius) - Nada Surf
I loved every note and word that spilled from Matthew Caws last night (recall my fondness). I was unabashed dork fangirl, coincidentally ending up right at Matthew's feet for the set, and I didn't even bother to check my singalong enthusiasm. He kept eying me in bemusement as I sang "the lights of this city are more or less blinking..." with possibly more enthusiasm than he did.

Weightless (live on Leno) - Nada Surf
You know those gorgeous Beach Boys harmonies at the end of this song? Picture the full gallery crowd and those other four voices on stage all swelling together behind Caws' lead vocals. Jenny Lewis admirably played band leader, cupping her hand around her ear and waving her arms in encouragement. Nada Surf drummer Ira Elliott stood off to the right (in front of that massive Obama/Lincoln meld) and kept time with fancy claps for the whole song. You can take the drummer off the stage ...

Silver Lining (Rilo Kiley cover, live at Hiro Ballroom 6/30/08) - Ben Gibbard
Ben didn't play this one either. But he could have. I think Jenny would have been down with that.

Cath (live at BBC6) - Ben Gibbard
This song appeared on last night's setlist but was substituted with "Sound of Settling," which was great by me because we all got to "Ba baaa! Ba baaa!" heartily instead.

Military Madness (live 10-22-06, Bridge School) - Death Cab for Cutie, Gillian Welch, Neil Young
The five musicians closed with this Graham Nash cover about military madness and solitary sadness. Ben Gibbard led on the piano, and despite one false ending (another chorus? should we stop? let's do both) it was a stirring closer. This live mp3 is one I saw at the Bridge School Benefit in CA a few years ago with a slightly different lineup.

ZIP: UNCONVENTIONAL '08

Oh, and ...

Dude, I'm practically one of the Oceanic 6.

Matt Nathanson has a big ole man crush on Springsteen

Greetings from San Francisco! Here I am nestled under the fog, bravely going to cover the Outside Lands Festival for you all (take one for the team, I know). Things get underway in just a few hours and I will be heading over once I can figure out what to do with my car. I think I'm walking 26 blocks. Awesome.

One of the artists I am really looking forward to seeing this weekend (there are many) is the always-enjoyable Matt Nathanson, who plays a hometown show tomorrow at 7pm on the Avenues Stage. I've recently been listening a lot to this stellar cover he performed not long ago on Sirius radio:

Thunder Road (live on Sirius) - Matt Nathanson

In related news, this second Springsteen cover features Charlie Gillingham of the Counting Crows and David Immerglück of the Crows and Camper Van Beethoven. Both of those guys played on Matt's record Still Waiting For Spring back in the day.

Atlantic City - Matt Nathanson w/ Immerglück and Gillingham


Both covers are lovely. Maybe everything that dies someday comes back. Ah, I hope.

Monday Music Roundup

Recently I found myself outside the Sputnik in Denver staring down a double-edged challenge: one of my friends and his sister (close sibs) rode a vintage Schwinn tandem bike to the Langhorne Slim/Young Coyotes show [nice review here]. I've never rode a tandem anything before, and thought I'd give it a whirl.

Let. Me. Tell. You. That business is not as easy as it may look. Who invented that? Why did they think it would be a good idea to make two people balance in unison, and why did I think that it would be a good idea to try my maiden voyage at 2am? But I must say -- should the opportunity ever present itself to you, I can recommend trying it simply for the fact that I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe and I haven't done that in a while. And then I pretty much fell off.

Speaking of new experiences, here are a few that aren't quite as fun but probably sound better (less grunting):

Traipsing Through The Aisles
Samantha Crain
I've recently become enamored with Samantha Crain, the newest signee to the Ramseur Records label (also home of the Avett Brothers who I plan to see tomorrow night for my birthday!). This Shawnee, Oklahoma native is a startling 21 years of age, and I was immediately curious to hear her music when I read that she conjures up "Judy Garland singing Neutral Milk Hotel songs." And yes, amen exactly when you hear it. Her recent release The Confiscation: A Musical Novella is structured as a rich series of interconnected short stories. It's backporch firefly music, or campfires and pine smoke, or pick your metaphor evoking a good and spreading warmth. Listen now.


Love Vigilantes (New Order cover)
Voxtrot
While Ramesh Srivastava of Voxtrot has been holed up in Germany for the last year, decompressing and working on the follow-up to their 2007 debut full-length (after their string of fantastic EPs), he's stayed in Das Loop of technology and is now podcasting. There are all kinds of great free audio and video gems in their shiny corner of iTunes -- a 30-minute summer mix, Vincent Moon videos from La Blogotheque, and this poppy New Order cover. All handclappy and cheery, this is almost reminiscent of "Love Me Do" with that opening harmonica. Even the spontaneous crowd chatter over the opening fits perfectly, as if you just walked into the room where the party is happening and everyone is there. You've got a fresh mint mojito or something summery in your hand, and this is your soundtrack.


We Should Fight
Ezra Furman & The Harpoons
From the Jonathan Richmanesque spoken opening of "I wrote this song in a paper bag," this song unleashes into punk and melody, retro and squak, Violent Femmes meet The Kinks with a dash of The Replacements' sloppy joy. Ezra Furman & The Harpoons were signed by Minty Fresh Records while they were still in college at Tufts University, and are still evolving as a band. I like where they are heading. The best lines in this song are "I'm not a monster, I'm a human being / I'm not a monster, I'm a human being / And I'm the greatest thing you've ever seen." All that college-guy confidence and tenderness and insecurity in one lyric that sounds great yelled loud. The Brian Deck-produced Inside The Human Body is due October 7th on Minty Fresh [thanks SVB!]. Also - side note, these kids have a charmingly humble song called "I Wanna Be Ignored." Take that, Stone Roses.


I Said Alright (live on KEXP)
The Jet Age
I've been meaning to give these guys a mention for months, ever since a friend with exceptionally good ears sent me a handful of laudatory texts late one night while seeing The Jet Age in San Francisco. He spoke of their charisma, their irrepressibly catchy and rocking sound (but maybe not in precisely those words, since it was 1am). Their debut album What Did You Do During The War, Daddy? (Sonic Boomerang Records) garnered an 8.0 on Pitchfork, who called it a "heart-pounding rocker … all of the riffs are stellar." This is lean, punky, melodic pop. The Jet Age is from Silver Spring, MD and they've got a handful of DC-area shows coming up. I hear you should go.


My Party
Chester French
This song mysteriously popped into my inbox with vague provenance. We're supposing that it is some new music from those golden Harvard boys, Chester French, following close in the same retro vein as the songs that have leaked so far from their hotly anticipated debut. Rhyming champagne with chow mein is something that's just been begging to be paired for a long time now, and no one has done it until this song -- but the lyrics about having a gift certificate to the mall totally reminds me of this, somewhat unfortunately. This Pharrell-endorsed buzz band has been all over the news lately - one of NME's 25 Bands Making America Cool Again, a Rolling Stone Artist To Watch, and now a spouse to Peaches Geldof. They play Monolith on Sunday, September 14th.


BONUS! The new David Byrne/Brian Eno collaboration album can be streamed here: www.everythingthathappens.com

Bat For Lashes covers The Cure :: "A Forest"

The layers of ambiance and the ineffable cool of the originals always make Cure songs a particularly sticky wicket to cover. That's not stopping a bunch of folks including Bat For Lashes, The Muslims, Kaki King and The Dandy Warhols from trying their hand at it. This track is breathy, darkly shining, and atmospherically lovely.

A Forest (Cure cover) - Bat For Lashes


Perfect as Cats: A Tribute To The Cure is out on Manimal Vinyl on October 28th. Sales will raise money for the worthy Invisible Children campaign.

And yep, since you asked -- pretty sure that's one of the worst album covers this year. What's goin on there?

she says i wanna do right, but not right now

The New Frontiers from Dallas dropped their spacious and glowing cover of the Gillian Welch song "Look At Miss Ohio" into my inbox today, like a little gift. That aching original has been one of my favorite songs to attempt harmony with on the chorus for a few years now, but where Gillian's voice often takes on that haunted and weary edge, this version burns a little with spreading warmth -- like a good glass of whiskey. It sounds like roadtrips that start at 4am after too much talking and dreaming about the wanderlust.

Look At Miss Ohio (Gillian Welch cover) - The New Frontiers

The New Frontiers have a new album called Mending out on The Militia Group label, and check the Daytrotter session they did to hear two songs from the album and two unreleased tunes.

They are on tour now, hitting Denver's Cervantes Ballroom on Monday night.

*****

LOOSELY RELATED UPDATE (because it was playing in my head all night long): My favorite cover that Gillian Welch does, of a Radiohead tune. Gutting.

Black Star (Radiohead cover) - Gillian Welch

Wilco plays someone else's songs, Part II

Hey do you like Wilco? Of course you do. And most everyone likes covers (especially me). This is part two of a jawdropping treasure trove of lovingly-assembled covers that Wilco has performed in concert over the years.

In this batch, you get covers of everyone from Neutral Milk Hotel (!!) to Herman's Hermits, an even better version of that lovely lovely "Be Not So Fearful" song that I posted a while back, and you also get to hear Tweedy's improvisational singsong verse about Grateful Dead fans ("You're scaring me very much now / I always suspected that a lot of this crowd smoked a lot of pot, and dropped a lot of acid back in the hippy days / Oh, it's so so sad that you're Wilco fans.")


WILCO: SOMEONE ELSE'S SONGS [via]
DISC 2
Give Back the Key to My Heart (11/22/99): Doug Sahm
Kingsport Town (1/4/00): Bob Dylan
Lookin' for a Love (1/4/00): Neil Young
King of Carrot Flowers, Part 1 (1/9/00): Neutral Milk Hotel
Rock Salt and Nails (5/14/00): Bob Dylan
Organ Blues (5/14/00): T. Rex
Reflections in a Crystal Wind (9/12/00): Richard & Mimi Farina
I'm Into Something Good (9/13/00): Herman's Hermits
Colon song (11/16/00)
Stairway to Heaven (12/20/00): Led Zeppelin - (Golden Smog)
Ripple (2/25/01): Grateful Dead
I Wish I Was Your Mother (9/15/01): Mott The Hoople
No Depression (11/18/01): The Carter Family
It's Alright to Cry (2/17/02): Rosie Grier
Three Is a Magic Number (2/17/02): Schoolhouse Rock
Yellow Submarine (2/17/02): The Beatles
We Will Rock You (2/17/02): Queen
Be Not So Fearful (4/6/02): Bill Fay
TV Eye (5/26/02): The Stooges
Henry & the H-Bombs (6/10/02): Mott The Hoople

ZIP: SOMEONE ELSE'S SONGS (DISC TWO)


[photo from Louisville Slugger Field, credit Richie Wireman]

Wilco plays someone else's songs

Hey do you like Wilco? Of course you do. And most everyone likes covers (especially me). This is a jawdropping treasure trove of lovingly-assembled covers that Wilco has performed in concert over the years.

In this batch, you get covers of everyone from Bob Dylan to the Replacements to The Stooges. Oh, and a sweet hip-hop version of She's A Jar, bitch.

WILCO: SOMEONE ELSE'S SONGS [via]
DISC ONE
Listen to Her Heart (9/10/95): Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Peace, Love and Understanding (4/17/96): Nick Lowe - (Golden Smog)
Love & Mercy (4/17/96): Brian Wilson - (Golden Smog)
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (1/11/97): Jane Taylor
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow (2/15/97): Carole King
Color Me Impressed (5/10/97): The Replacements
I Wanna Be Sedated (5/10/97): The Ramones
Drown (5/23/97): Son Volt
True Love Will Find You in the End (9/4/97): Daniel Johnston
Ever Fallen in Love (10/30/97): The Buzzcocks
Sunday Bloody Sunday (11/4/97): U2
Sugar Baby (11/7/97): Doc Boggs
Tear Stained Eye (11/7/97): Son Volt
If It Makes You Happy (11/7/97): Sheryl Crow
Won't Get Fooled Again (11/7/97): The Who
Ingrid Bergman (3/26/98 ): Woody Guthrie/Billy Bragg
John Wesley Harding (3/26/98): Bob Dylan
100 Years from Now (6/12/98): Gram Parsons
James Alley Blues (8/30/98): Richard "Rabbit" Brown
A Fool Such As I (10/19/98): Elvis Presley
I'm Only Sleeping (11/12/98): The Beatles
Yesterday (11/15/98): The Beatles
Rainbow Connection (12/30/98): Kermit The Frog
She's a Jar, hip-hop version (6/15/99): Wilco
Oklahoma USA (10/20/99): The Kinks
Thirteen (10/20/99): Big Star
Dreaming (10/21/99): Blondie
Any Major Dude (11/5/99): Steely Dan
Cock in My Pocket (11/5/99): The Stooges

ZIP: SOMEONE ELSE'S SONGS (DISC ONE)


Stay tuned for Part 2!

[image from St. Louis, credit Charles Harris]

The Morning Benders free Bedroom Covers

Berkeley's The Morning Benders have a sunny sound that I've recently raved about. Hot on the heels of their lovely release Talking Through Tin Cans, they've now gathered together some of their favorite covers, recorded them in their bedrooms, and are releasing them free to you.

Through a partnership with a few of us music blogs, The Morning Benders are releasing one track each day this week through a different site. The full collection will be available next Tuesday on their blog. For now, here is the Fuel/Friends debut, see below for locations of the other ones:

Lovefool (The Cardigans) - The Morning Benders

The band says:
"These songs sound the way they do, because we recorded them with a laptop and one mic. We used mainly acoustic guitars and shakers because that's what we had lying around, and we couldn't make much noise in our apartment anyway... We learned the chords and the lyrics (which was pretty easy because we've heard all these songs hundreds of times), and we played 'em."

OTHER SONGS ON THE EP:
via 3hive: He's A Rebel (The Crystals)
via MOKB: Mother & Child Reunion (Paul Simon)
via I Pick My Nose Blog: Pull Up The Roots (Talking Heads)
via Spinner: Temptation Inside Your Head (Velvet Underground)

Covers coming in the full batch next week will include songs by Fleetwood Mac, Randy Newman, and more. Check the Morning Benders blog for details. And rock on with the free summer covers music.

Last night: Supergrass covers 1978-era Police, before Sting went all tantric and Fields of Gold

[one spot of loud audio at the beginning - it gets better!]

Supergrass rocked what felt like a secret show last night at Denver's tiny Larimer Lounge, after the Foo Fighters cancellation at the larger venue up the road. "Hellooooo Red Rocks!" Gaz Coombes shouted as they took the stage, looking back at his bandmates with a grin. With three of the band members sporting matching fedoras, they launched into a short but intense set of songs drawn largely from their new album Diamond Hoo Ha, which all sounded ferocious --and very, very loud-- in the compact club. Three merry Britons next to me seemed elated by their dumb luck of seeing one of Britain's biggest bands of the Nineties (who regularly play to massive festivals and stadiums) in the well-loved confines of our Larimer.


[full pics here, one other video here]

The Lovecats (covered) :: Go and throw all the songs we know into the sea

I do not love cats by any means. Kittens, sure, and I've met a few decent cats but their overall redeeming qualities were their dog-like traits. The musical Cats also is something I never ever need to see.

This is my own personal seventh circle of burning hell.

However recently I was listening to the fine new Luke Doucet album (loved the last one) and found myself enjoying the twangy creativity of his cover of the 1983 Cure song "The Lovecats." It is a challenging song to cover, because it's so weird that really only Robert Smith and his eyelinerness can pull it off. I shuffled around to the sexy OK Go version of it (noble effort), then Googled out a few others. So now you can hear the lines, "We should have each other to tea, we should have each other with cream" through a variety of different lenses. Including (?!) Paul Anka, as much as that makes your skin crawl.

The Lovecats - Luke Doucet
The Lovecats - OK Go
The Lovecats - Paul Anka
The Lovecats - Jamie Cullum & Katie Melua
The Lovecats - Tricky

The original: The Lovecats - The Cure

Monday Music Roundup

Porca miseria! (That means pig misery. That's also exemplary of the reasons why Italian profanity is one of my interests). Italy lost to Spain yesterday in the Euro 2008 quarterfinals, despite the loudest cheers of my small viewing contingent. It's always agonizing and ultimately a bit unfulfilling to see big games come to penalty kicks, but Spain played exceptionally well and I can't begrudge them. Much.

And if you care not for soccer, you can walk away from that last paragraph with (at minimum) a great new Italian curse, suitable for work and use around your grandma. Pig misery!


Music this week --

Perfect Games
Broken West
Last time we heard from addictively delicious Los Angeles foursome The Broken West, they were topping all kinds of best-of lists in 2007 (including mine) with their album I Can't Go On, I'll Go On. The good news this week for fans of intelligent, robust, catchy-as-hell pop is that they are at it again. I absolutely love this song already, from the opening notes about spilling our ice cubes on the lawn, and the underlying sadness that subtly gnaws through the layers of memorable melody that I've been humming all day. Now or Heaven is due in September on Merge Records. [image from their recording sessions]


The Ground That We Stand On
Hawksley Workman
I got an important-looking courier package from Luxembourg this weekend, with Cartier listed as the sender. Diamonds? An exquisite watch? Nay -- instead of fancy jewelry, Cartier has lavished an eclectic sampler CD of music upon me. Heck, why not. They have a new campaign/website/charity thing called "How Far Would You Go For Love?" (second base?). Other contributing artists with original tunes include folks like Lou Reed, Grand National, Phoenix, Marion Cotillard (who won an Oscar for her role as Edith Piaf), and this Canadian artist Hawksley Workman. I'd never heard of him before but this was surprisingly my immediate favorite track on the comp, with a warm voice like Sea-Change Beck and wistful autumnal lyrics. Listen to this tune, like it, and then go download the other songs (for free!!) at Cartier's site.


Peace Like A River
(Paul Simon cover)
Spoon
The folks over at Daytrotter recently posted a top-notch session with Spoon, and as those Daytrotter guys are so good at doing, they enticed Britt Daniel and Co to play a little gem of a rarity for us -- this time in the form of a sandpapered Paul Simon cover. Spoon often has such a cinematic, evocative quality to everything they lay hands upon. Here they take a tune which originally ebbs with Paul Simon's smoothness wafting in the air tonight, and push it a bit more ragged and on-the-edge, making the song simmer with a touch of pounding mania. As for an album link, how about the new reissue of Spoon's 1998 album A Series of Sneaks on 180-gram vinyl? Yeah.


Divine Hammer (Breeders cover)
The Modifiers
Kim Deal is the bass player for The Pixies, and co-founder of The Breeders with her twin sister Kelley Deal and Throwing Muses guitarist Tanya Donelly. Deal is a formidable musical force whose creativity and innovative songwriting spirit is celebrated on a new tribute album from the excellent little American Laundromat Records. Songs of Deal's from her time with The Breeders and The Amps are covered by a wide variety of backyard indie bands of all stripes (The Modifiers are from Boston, but the rest of the featured bands are from all over). The liner notes are by Donelly, and the whole thing was mastered by Sean Glonek (who's worked with her ex, Frank Black). Gigantic is available now for your rocking out this summer, and if you order it from the label, they promise to ply you with "buttons, stickers, and other goodies with each order." I can vouch for their largesse.


Play Your Part (Pt. 1)
Girl Talk
An ambush addition to this week's roundup, Gregg Gillis (aka Girl Talk) popped in out of nowhere last week with a brand new album of schizophrenic, mile-a-minute sampling. Feed The Animals is out on his Illegal Art imprint and is another pay-what-you-want deal (but if you pay $0.00 you have to explai yourself, apparently). So come on - this song samples Temple of the Dog, Sinead O'Connor AND UGK's "International Player's Anthem"?! It's akin to the way my brain plays music snippets all right on top of one another when I flip through a really eclectic jukebox in a bar after drinking a few. It feels like that; disorienting but so nice. Girl Talk hits Colorado July 11th at the Fox Theatre in Boulder (for what is sure to be an insane show), and the album will see a physical release on 9/23.


[top image obv credit Getty Images]