Posts Tagged ‘scott’

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Poor concert etiquette, illustrated

July 9, 2008

Guest blogger Scott, who’s familiar with my preferences regarding singing at concerts, says:

This isn’t necessarily a great cover, but it’s one of the best illustrations imaginable (short of a performer actually stopping and berating someone, which would be awesome) of why you don’t sing from the audience. Everyone is basically behaving themselves, except for one guy, who drunkenly sings along (and then mis-sings along) at the quietest parts of the song.

MP3: The Dresden Dolls – Karma Police [Radiohead cover]

Previously: Concert etiquette: miss debcha speaks; Listen local: The Dresden Dolls

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Coverage: The Dresden Dolls, “Pretty in Pink”

June 17, 2008

Pretty in Pink poster

Guest blogger Scott says:

This comes from a CD of 80s movie theme covers by various artists. Some of the other tracks are nice, but this is the only one that I really feel sounds like the artist tried to make it their own. And I had seriously never listened to the words of the verses before this. The original emphasizes the chorus, and its association with the Molly Ringwald oeuvre caused me to assume that it was just a “Hey, look at that girl” standard. Amanda really makes the verses tell their somber story much more effectively.

MP3: The Dresden Dolls – Pretty in Pink [Psychedelic Furs cover]

More Dresden Dolls: website myspace amazon

Previously: Coverage: Emm Gryner, “For What Reason”; Coverage: Vampire Weekend, “Exit Music (for a Film)“; Coverage: I Hate Kate, “Major Tom”

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Coverage: Emm Gryner, “For What Reason”

May 22, 2008

Emm Gryner

Guest blogger Scott says:

I’d call Emm Gryner the Canadian Tori Amos, except that Amos’s covers almost universally terrify me. Sure, it’s nice to have her there so you can actually understand the lyrics to “Smells Like Teen Spirit” for a change, but her affectless approach to Eminem’s “’97 Bonnie and Clyde” or The Boomtown Rats’ “I Don’t Like Mondays” leaves me expecting her head to spin around and start vomiting cherries. Anyway, Gryner does a better job with Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” than with this. But you asked for indie, so indie you get.

[ed: Ozzy is cool with us, and we love the cover – stay tuned!]

Three fun facts about Emm Gryner: She toured with David Bowie (backup vocals and keyboards), including playing Glastonbury. She started her own record label, Dead Daisy, and signed In-Flight Safety. She was on the Mayor’s Honour List [pdf] of her hometown, Sarnia, in 2004.

MP3: Emm Gryner – For What Reason (Death Cab for Cutie cover)

More Emm Gryner: website myspace amazon

Previously: Coverage: Vampire Weekend, “Exit Music (for a Film)“; Coverage: I Hate Kate, “Major Tom”; Coverage: Self, “Ana Ng”

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Coverage: Vampire Weekend, “Exit Music (for a Film)”

May 8, 2008

Guest blogger Scott says:

Yet another example of “literate, geeky bands with overeducated lead singers.” Vampire Weekend isn’t the sort of sound I normally like, but any band that writes a song that starts off “Who gives a fuck about the Oxford comma?” is okay in my book. I have an idea for a project in which I develop a CD of music for each stage and process of a typical audit process [ed: Scott’s day job] that comes entirely out of my blasting “Oxford Comma” into my headphones for most of a week while I dealt with our copyeditors back in February.

So I wanted to include Vampire Weekend on this, but wasn’t aware of any covers that they had done. Fortunately, they made it comparatively easy to find by contributing to a tribute to OK Computer. Radiohead, like Vampire Weekend, is a band that, based on how I generally think of my musical preferences, I shouldn’t (and initially didn’t) like. Given their joint residence in the “music I don’t understand why I like” zone, a Vampire Weekend cover of Radiohead just seems right. Add to that the fact that the original comes from the closing credits to a film that, for all its flaws as Shakespearean theatre, still managed to be a solid cover movie, as it were, and I think this fits in very nicely.

MP3: Vampire Weekend – Exit Music (for a Film) (Radiohead cover)

Vampire Weekend: website myspace emusic

Previously: Coverage: I Hate Kate, “Major Tom”, Coverage: Self, “Ana Ng”, Coverage: The National, “Mansion on the Hill”

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Coverage: I Hate Kate, “Major Tom”

May 1, 2008

Guest blogger Scott says:

There are so many things that ought to be wrong with this song. Peter Schilling wrote a conspicuously 80s new wave song that wasn’t so much a cover as an, I don’t know, elaborate retelling of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”. In the U.S., at least, he was a one-hit wonder with this song. And, let’s face it, “Space Oddity” is a musically interesting Bowie song, but the lyrics don’t have enough of a story to really merit retelling them with different words. It’s not a good songwriting technique.

I Hate Kate seems like more of a Creed/Korn-esque pseudo-punk band than indie rock. Checking on some of their original songs would support that assessment, but the consensus seems to be that this makes their genre “alternative rock I don’t care for,” not “other than alternative rock.” Regardless, not my cup of tea. But apparently, poorly-written new wave synth-pop + screechy-voiced “goes to eleven” frat boys = something that evens out reasonably well in the middle. It’s the new math.

MP3: I Hate Kate – Major Tom

More I Hate Kate (if you must): myspace

Previously: Coverage: Self, “Ana Ng”, Coverage: The National, “Mansion on the Hill”

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Coverage: Self, “Ana Ng”

April 22, 2008

Guest blogger Scott says:

I have it on good authority from my other purveyor of indie rock opinions that Self is “made of industrial-grade awesome”. This being their only song I’ve heard, I can’t really offer insight into that conclusion, except to say that, were that so, you’d think I’d have an easier time finding their album for purchase somewhere other than Amazon for ridiculous import prices. Additionally, I’m not aware of any facilities for processing and refining high quality awesome. Maybe overseas in an industrializing country with lower environmental standards.

Like so many impressionable geeks, I was introduced to They Might Be Giants by older, cooler friends at a young age (in my case, sophomore year of high school). And, after years of addiction, obsession, withdrawal, and relapse, I’ve reached a point where of course I buy a tribute album to them. This song is the highlight.

MP3: Self – Ana Ng (They Might Be Giants cover)

More Self: website myspace amazon

Previously: Coverage: The National, “Mansion on the Hill”

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Coverage: The National, “Mansion on the Hill”

April 12, 2008

My friend Scott, who is an aficionado of cover songs, was kind enough to make me a mix CD, including a set of amusing and insightful annotations. I prevailed upon him to be a de facto z=z guest blogger and he graciously agreed; I’ll be posting some of the songs, together with his notes, over the next few weeks.

Here’s what he says about The National’s cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Mansion on the Hill”:

Further proof that indie rock stars can occasionally be just as pretentious and minutia-obsessed as some of their fans. God forbid you’d cover a Bruce Springsteen song that somebody had heard of, or even a lesser-known track from one of his hit albums. No, “Mansion on the Hill” is a track that never charted from one of Springsteen’s least-popular albums, Nebraska. If it didn’t sound so good, I’d ask for my money back.

MP3: The National – Mansion on the Hill

Image: The National by Flickr user faithdesired, reposted here under its Creative Commons license.

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