Scored some sweet records:

on CD:

Yann Tiersen & Shannon Wright - s/t: Yann Tiersen did the music for "Amelie", and Shannon Wright is just awesome. It's spooky and ambient but still rocks out in spots.

The Mooney Suzuki - Electric Sweat: Garage rock isn't usually my bag, but I've been listening to the Sonics¹ a lot lately, and this CD was $4.00, so I figgered what the hell? Sure enough, it's pretty rockin'. From what I understand, the band teamed up with the folks behind Avril Lavigne's sonic drek, The Matrix, for their next record. Hrmph.

on cassette tape:

Quincy Jones - The Dude²: It's soooo 1981. James Inghram raps. Abe Laboriel channels Larry Graham. A Dave Koz clone rips out some gross alto sax solos. You can practically hear the lleyo being snorted off the mixing board. I like it.

3 Mustaphas 3 - Heart Of Uncle: I've been aware of these guys since about 1989 when I read a review of one of their records in Spin and it sounded really cool. I'm sad that I never actually procured a record until now. They take a kitchen sink approach, throwing in Middle Eastern, Baltic, and Carribbean bits together with vocals in French, Italian, and Hindi, and it comes out sounding pretty sweet.

Orleans - Waking And Dreaming²: You may recall that this album, which contained the 70s AM Gold hit "Still The One", also had one of the absolute worst album covers of all time*. Last night, Chris and I were listening to it, trying to imagine the band in the studio making this record, and not being able to figure how they could take what they were doing seriously. Dude sounds just like Peter Cetera. The music sounds like post-good Chicago. You can hear the cocaine on this album even more clearly than on The Dude. Definitely worth the $0.50 I paid for it.


(* PS: I will pay good American dollars for a copy of Devastatin' Dave's Zip Zap Rap.³)

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¹ A little over three years after I wrote this, I got to open for the Sonics at their first Seattle show in 35 years. Guess it's good that I listened to all that garage rock.
² I now also have both of these albums on vinyl. The warm, sweet, non-flutter-and-wow-y analog sound hasn't made the music suck any less.
³ This still holds true. Devastatin' Dave is my hero.

(Originally posted 07/20/2005)

covers

I've spent the better part of the last two days listening to Regina Spektor's cover of Madonna's clunker of a single "Love Profusion". Now, I love love love Regina, and I am ambivalent, if not downright hostile, toward Madonna. But I've found that there are several instances of artists making something more out of the source material at hand.

Sure, it's all subjective and crap, but sometimes these covers have led me to explore the original group's catalog. Sometimes I end up getting into the original artist, and sometimes not.

Cases in point:

• Joel RL Phelps - most of the Inland Empires EP (featuring songs by Iris DeMent, Townes Van Zandt, the Go-Betweens, others). I love this record. I bought Iris DeMent's My Life because of it, and did not like it one bit. I think it was the production moreso than the songs themselves that I didn't care for, but still - I sold the CD. Same goes for the Go-Betweens. I'd actually given them a shot a few years before the Phelps disc came out at the behest of both a girl I was dating, and Tim Cook. I was, and am still, distinctly meh about them.
• Silkworm - "The Chain" (Fleetwood Mac). I remember hating Fleetwood Mac as a kid. I thought their music was pure schlock (except for "Tusk" with all the marching band shit going on). But after listening to SKWM's version about a hundred times, I decided I at least liked the original.
• Shannon Wright - "I Started A Joke" (Bee Gees). I first heard this when I worked for KCMU/KEXP. I got a copy of Shannon's Perishable Goods EP for review, and having already been a fan, I pushed to get this some airplay. Sometime after this came out, I asked her after a show if she knew where I could get a copy for myself. (Before you ask: I didn't have a computer back then, so I couldn't just burn it.) She basically said "Good luck." About the Bee Gees? I own the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack on vinyl.
• Bauhaus - "Ziggy Stardust" (David Bowie). I've never had a problem with Bowie. I like Bowie. I just happen to like Bauhaus' take on "Ziggy" more than Bowie's.

Those are just a couple of examples. Hip-hop led me to soul, funk, and R&B, and covers lead me to...Fleetwood Mac. Or even Madonna.

The performance this track is culled from took place at the 2005 New York Jewish Music festival. It was kind of a tongue-in-cheek song selection, considering Madge's questionable Jewishness. Regina totally makes this song her own though, and I will keep enjoying it, despite myself.

Regina Spektor - "Love Profusion" (live at the 2005 New York Jewish Festival) [7.1mb]