Hey, mates, Sam here… I’ll be doing the music stuff in the blog. Without any further ado….
Grant Lee Phillips – Nineteeneighties This little cd that i got for 59 pesos is a nice gem. Grant Lee covers Joy Division (The Eternal), Pixies (Wave of mutilation), R.E.M. (So. Central Rain) and The Church (Under the milky way). I like the way he preserves the emotion from the lyrics (particularly in R.E.M. and Nick Cave’s songs) with a completely different arrange. The cd is very quiet, with Grant Lee playing virtually everything (including a toy piano in The Cure’s Boys don’t cry). Nice, calm music to relax by.
Check it out if you dig: Grant Lee Buffalo, Mark Kozelek, Codeine.
Mark Kozelek – What’s next to the moon Mark Kozelek (of Red House Painters fame) shows his adoration of crazed australian rockers AC/DC with this radical reworking of Bon Scott’s classics. Who could’ve thought that AC/DC lyrics could sound so … romantic? So pained? Filled to the brim with longing and pain, Kozelek works his magic through ten songs, being If you want blood and Bad boy boogie the bona-fide classics. No drums or bass are required on it, just good ol’ Mark, his soothing voice and his impossibly tuned guitar.
Check it out if you dig: Red House Painters, Tim Reynolds, Dakota Suite, Ida, Dave Matthew’s Some Devil or if you want to anger some AC/DC fans.
Sun Kil Moon – Tiny Cities This universally reviled album did the unforgivable sin of daring to cover Modest Mouse. I might like some of their output, but this cd is great. Some of the songs are a bit samey, but others elevate the original material to masterpieces (on top of my mind: Space travel is boring is changed from a screamadelic piece of crap to a little ditty to drive calmly in the forest). Very alternative guitar tunings are used on this one, with Kozelek and company hoping to alienate the Fashion Indie scene (you know the ones I refer to) by deconstructing and digesting the Indie Scenesters lovegods, Modest Mouse. Grey ice water, Convenient parking, Tiny cities made of ash and the already mentioned Space travel are easily the stand out tracks.
Check it out if you dig: Evan Dando, Mark Kozelek, Red House Painters, Duncan Sheik’s Phantom Moon, Coastal, Idaho, Rex or if you want to anger some Modest Mouse fans.
