Sounds Like... : Run Toto Run covers "Sleepyhead"

Oh goodness.



And I thought the original version was really stuck in my head.

Rachel Schain is playing in Baltimore tomorrow.

Hey guys,

Just a reminder that I'm playing in Baltimore tomorrow night at 8pm as part of the Ottobar's open mic night. I'm only on for 20 minutes so I promise not to keep you out too late on a school night, and besides, I will definitely be worth the visit.

See you tomorrow!

RSx

Wilmington, DE-based Rachel Schain is one of my best friends, my co-hort, and an inspiration. She'll be making her Baltimore debut tomorrow at Ottobar, and if you're free, you should go support her. In fact, even if you're not free, you should break your plans and see her.

Here's one of her latest tracks, "Rockstar Bitch," live at Mojo 13 in Wilmington :



And here's a rock band, The Promise, doing a cover of the same song :

Re-up : Stuck In The Sound, "Lola" (Kinks cover)

Last July, I posted about Stuck In The Sound's cover of the Kinks' hit "Lola," which they had released while working on sophomore effort Shoegazing Kids. Since then, I either deleted the file or zshare did it for me because it hadn't been downloaded in a while. As of late, however, I've gotten several requests for the file because it's pretty much impossible to find elsewhere on the Internet and it isn't up on their MySpace anymore. (Believe me, I've tried to find it, because I thought I'd lost the file for a while there.)

So I figured I'd do you guys a solid and re-up it for a little while, making my life a little easier and giving y'all the chance to hear it for a second time.

Stuck In The Sound - "Lola" (Kinks cover) [zshare] [ysi]

You can read my original post (in French, of course) here.

Sounds Like... / MySpace It : The Go Find cover The Chills' "Pink Frost"

Are sounds sent on a journey they come back in echoes. This compilation is widely traveled - around half of the world and to another time. To the 1980ies when just in New Zealand the archetype of what was called Indie Pop later on was pressed on vinyl and soon defined a new way of how Indie pop has seen itself, concerning sound as well as attitude. "Flying Nun", "Xpressway", "IMD" or "Corpus Hermeticum" were the names of the labels, The Clean, The Chills or Tall Dwarfs the names of the bands. Pop songs or rather hits were born in garages and pressed on screen printed seven inches. A relevant music culture beyond a big and global music industry was thought and lived. Maybe just because it has not reached New Zealand before.

Yesterday, Berlin-based label Morr Music put released Not Given Lightly - A Tribute To the Giant Golden Book Of New Zealand's Alternative Music Scene, a concept compilation of Kiwi pop covers from Morr's roster.

The Go Find, who, as I mentioned a week ago, are in the studio working on album number three, contributed a cover of The Chills' "Pink Frost." (Funnily enough, "Pink Frost" is the only song to be covered twice on the 34-track comp, also being sung by Masha Qrella).



You can hear The Go Find's cover on their 'Space. (I'm having trouble tracking down / getting an mp3 to work, otherwise I'd toss that in for you.) Their version of "Pink Frost" is pretty and ethereal; the bits and bobs I've heard of the rest of the compilation (in between my computer deciding to shut itself down three times) sound gorgeous as well. Some of the other tracks are up for listening on Morr's site, although if you can get the links to work, please let me know how you did it.

The Go Find's next record is expected sometime early next year.

Sounds Like... : Tinted Windows covered the Buzzcocks live.

They played "I Don't Mind" at the Fader Fort at SXSW :



Tinted Windows just released their self-titled debut. Given that the band is fronted by one Taylor Hanson (with some other cool dudes, like, say Adam Schlesinger and Bun E. Carlos, in case you've been under a musical rock for the past few months), and given that my former love for Hanson has not gone unprofessed, and that the whole record makes me think of, um, a bunch of Hanson-like songs in a throwback to late '90s nostalgia, you'd probably assume that I'd be in love with it. Such is not the case. Pitchfork gave it a 3.5, and I'm wholly inclined to agree with them. It's not terrible, but nothing stands out; the effort is mediocre at best. If you're going to be a "supergroup," you better be doing something "super."

le sigh.

(Kudos to Popshifter for sharing the link.)

Sounds Like... : Hot Chip and Peter Gabriel cover Vampire Weekend, oh my.

I'ma just jump on the posting bandwagon with this one and point out, like pretty much everyone else, that Hot Chip and Peter Gabriel went and covered Vampire Weekend's "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" (This feels so unnatural / Peter Gabriel, too).

Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa - Hot Chip & Peter Gabriel

I'm not sure I like the lyric change all that much - I think it may have been cheekier to just have sung the song as is, granted it must be weird to sing out your own name. Regardless, over all, I think it's a lovely cover. It doesn't necessarily take the song to any new "places," which is usually the mark of a great cover, but I think it's interesting enough to warrant attention.

(Which, ya' know, VW aren't getting enough of, considering it's "Make Top 10/20/50/100 Lists" season, and we all knew they were getting nods circa January.)

We're one year old! Yay!

Image patently stolen from elsewhere.

Well, to be technical, a year and a week.

That's right, 21st October 2007 was when I first launched this t1p!g project. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to breathe, much less post, in the past week (or the past several months - seriously, you should see my inbox, it's out of control), so I only just noticed now.

I feel like I should be doing something SUPER AWESOME to celebrate my blog's one year anniversary but alas, all I can do is give you this copy of The Ting Tings covering Altered Image's "Happy Birthday." (From some Nick Jr. show soundtrack. I don't know, I don't pay attention to these things.)

The Ting Tings - Happy Birthday (Altered Images cover)

Let's celebrate! Let's go drinking! Yeah!

Stuck In My Head : Dawn Landes, "Young Folks" (PB&J cover)

I have a bit of a sweet spot for bluegrassy, rootsy, folksy music. I'm not sure if that's surprising or not. My new Favourite Song:

Dawn Landes feat. the WST Band - "Young Folks" (Peter Bjorn & John cover) [link]


You can hear more of Dawn Landes' gorgeous work on her 'Space.

MySpace it/Stuck in my head: Everyone covers La Spears.

Less Lee over at Popshifter.com turned me on to Chicago band Local H's cover of B. Spears' "Toxic." She says, "This cover is the JAM." I say, it is pretty sweet, though I (sadly) have soft spot for the original. Love the guitar work on the intro, though.

Hear it over at their 'Space.


Funnily enough, just a few days ago, I picked up Machinae Supremacy's cover of "Gimme' More" from Pretty Much Amazing!, and that about sums it up. I don't like "Gimme' More," but I love this cover. The hard rock take on this song makes it feel so much dirtier- I just want to grab the first dirty skinny rocker boy I find and make out with him in a dark corner. Or maybe just table dance as I rock out to this song. Either of those sound like a good time.

Machinae Supremacy - "Gimme' More"

Video Throwback: Devo, Dead Milkmen, Adam Ant (plus the Spice Girls)

Because I'm too tired and lazy to write something intelligent-sounding, y'all are getting some videos tonight. (I like how I only ever update this thing around midnight.)

The last time I was up in Massachusetts, Erica, Will, and I somehow got on the subject of covers of The Stones' "Satisfaction." One thing led to another, and we wound up watching, amongst others, this video by Devo. Will then said I should post this in my blog. So this is mainly for Will's, er, satisfaction.

Anyway, there's a guy in skinny red pants dancing in front of some sort of paisley-esque background, and well, we all know what that reminds me of. (Ouch, ending with a preposition. Too lazy to change!)



As I was rewatching this video pre-post, it inexplicably reminded me of the Dead Milkmen's video for "Punk Rock Girl." Maybe it's because...nope, I don't really know why. But isn't Rodney adorable? I think he is. Also, zombies!



And then I wound up watching Adam and the Ants' "Antmusic." The first time I heard the original version of this song was when I saw this video on Vh1 Classic (also where I'd seen "Punk Rock Girl" for the first time); prior to that, I'd only heard this version. My mom came upstairs while it was on and exclaimed, "Adam and the Ants! I have this record downstairs!"

Which then prompted me to get my dad to set up the turntable, and my parents came up from the basement, clutching old Beatles and Adam Ants records. It was pretty amazing.

And now my dad's stashed the turntable away somewhere, and I've been too lazy to go find it.



Loves it.

Finally, is anyone else as mad as I am about Mel B. NOT winning Dancing With the Stars?? Other than my mom? (Not that I pay attention to this sort of thing! Please don't think that I do!)

Placate your anger by watching the Spice Girls' Tesco Christmas advert. It's funny, I promise.




New goal for next time: write a post without some sort of OK Go-reference, however thinly veiled.

New song/New release/MySpace It (for now): OK Go - "Gigantic" (Pixies cover) (&others)

Once upon a time, I was up-to-date on all the latest OK Go-related knowledge. Those days are no more because, dude, I've grown up a bit, and besides, a year spent in another country usually changes one's priorities. Also, they're sort of boring me now. (Make a new record already!)

*ahem* So I've known for a little while that they were going to do a song for Dig For Fire: A Tribute to the Pixies, but I didn't know what song, when it was coming out, etc. etc. because, as explained, I'm not so much for the paying attention anymore. Apparently they've covered "Gigantic" (as opposed to "Wave of Mutilation," which they were covering live over summer 2006), which I came across today on Facebook, of all places.

Not being a Pixies fan (I've just never actually pursued their music, to be honest), I can't compare it to the original. As an OK Go song, I quite like it, because it's new material and yet it reminds me of old school OK Go, circa Appendices. It sounds a lot more like, say, "Minuet in C# Minor" or "Letterbox" (another cover, this one of the They Might Be Giants' song) or even "Unrequited Orchestra of Locomotion". (In fact, I believe that some of those tracks off of Appendices, which is really OK Go-before-they-were-OK Go, were created by frontman Damian Kulash's Pixies-inspired college band, A La Playa. Which, in this case, makes total sense. This is a sound he's played with before.) It's got the elements you've come to expect from OK Go (say, Damian's falsetto) but with a harder edge.

And after nearly two and a half years of pounding down Oh No, it's ridiculously refreshing. It's interesting to see their sound sort of come full circle, from the distortion-filled noise of Appendices to the over-produced candy of OK Go to the more accessible, less polished Oh No (somewhat a product of its 2005 times) and back to this- the old mixed with the new.

If this is what we can expect from OK Go in the future, then, well, I'm all for that.




Dig For Fire: A Tribute to the Pixies is currently available on iTunes. It's released in physical format on 27 November. You can pre-order it here.

Full track listing:
Bedroom Walls - 'Stormy Weather'
British Sea Power - 'Caribou'
Bunnies - 'Alec Eiffel'
Charles Douglas - 'Bone Machine'
David Miller - 'Manta Ray'
Dylan In The Movies - 'Down To The Well'
Elk City - 'Monkey Gone To Heaven' & 'Number 13 Baby'
Fashion Victims - 'Hey'
Joe Harvard Band - 'In Heaven (Everything Is Fine)'
John Strohm - 'Where Is My Mind?'
Joy Zipper - 'Wave of Mutilation'
Julie Peel - 'The Happening'
kNIFE & fORK (featuring Eric Drew Feldman) - 'Motorway To Roswell'
Mogwai - 'Gouge Away'
Morning Theft - 'Ana'
OK Go - 'Gigantic'
PC Munoz - 'I Bleed'
The Commons w/Elizabeth Harper - 'Here Comes Your Man'
The Rosebuds - 'Break My Body'
They Might Be Giants - 'Havalina'

Listen to OK Go's cover of "Gigantic" on their 'Space.

Happy Belated Turkey Day!

And Happy Belated Birthday to myself.

I guess now that it's post-Thanksgiving and that the Christmas season has officially started (HAHA LOOK AT ALL OF YOU SUCKERS DRIVING AROUND THE MALL PARKING LOT, TRYING TO GET A SPOT HAHAHA....sorry....), I can't yell about people putting up Christmas decorations or playing Christmas music anymore.

So if you're going to get your season started, musically at least, then do it the right way: Benji Cossa, indie recording genius and the guy who brought you "What's That Sound?" for Hallowe'en, has released a Christmas record entitled Merry Christmas to Friends and Family. Love, Benji Cossa. Mostly long-standing Christmas carols and classics, offered up Cossa-style (think lo-fi, think banjos, acoustic guitars, harmonicas, and steel drums), plus a new song, "Friends and Family," by Mr. Cossa himself. (Check out this pretty awesome rendition of "Silver Bells".)

Best part of it all is that the entire record is available for free. Think of it as an early Christmas gift from Benji and SBR.

Click here to see track listing, commentary, etc.
Click here if you're in a total rush to download a .Zip file of the entire record.




Okay, I've got some leftovers to eat and some partying to do, so if you'll excuse me...


ETA: So it's a day late, but mixlist master EarFarm whipped together a Thanksgiving Day mix, so maybe you should listen to that one before you run out of turkey and stuffing.

Nothing's On Telly : Another reason to be upset about Tapper leaving WAS.

I've been hanging onto this one for a bit now.

Check this: Arcade Fire - "Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son" (Serge Gainsbourg cover)

What do I know about Arcade Fire and Serge Gainsbourg? Not much, actually. (I'm not much of a fan of Arcade Fire, although I do like some of the Arcade Fire EP and I admittedly haven't listened to Neon Bible. Serge Gainsbourg...I'm working on that.)

I do know, however, that this is a lovely cover, available only on the tour only split 7" (with LCD Soundsystem).

Listen over here at Prefixmag.com.

Thanks to Stereogum for the link.