This weeks installment of BtB's evolving cover song project tackles...
SUPERWOLF - "Only Someone Running"
Superwolf is the love-child of indie stalwarts Bonnie "Prince" Billy [ed. - his myspace page has an incredibly annoying hip-hop pop-up song nested in the comments section. you can scroll down to turn it off, but it's worth going to the site just to see the photo of Will on the right side of the page. that's some funny shit] (aka Will Oldham) and Matt Sweeney. Oldham's prickly stage presence is legendary, but his songwriting, released under a wide array of different monikers (Palace Music, Palace Songs, B"P"B, his God-given name) routinely garners critical acclaim (Billy's LP "I See a Darkness" was given one of the few 10.0 record reviews ever awarded by indie taste-maker Pitchfork), and his warbly, Appalachian-inspired, indie-folk tunes have made him a cult favorite on a international scale. He also dabbles in acting, and has done some pretty messed-up interviews from time-to-time. Sweeney has had a far more varied career musically, from fronting the prototypical 90's indie rawk band Chavez (responsible for one of my favorite mix-tape staples), to joining the arena-ready semi-supergroup Zwan (admittedly, "Honestly" is a great song), to playing sideman in Guided By Voices (ed. - got tix for the classic GBV line-up reunion show in ATL... yay.) and to Neil Diamond (!).
Oldham is the chief songwriter in this group. In Amanda Petrusich's review of the 2005 Superwolf LP, she describes Oldham's musical restlessness as his being an "..oddly charismatic songwriter just as well-suited to coughing up death-ballads as he is to giggling out ditties about his penis." At times the band rawk out (albeit slowly, but with purpose), and other times they maintain a charming, spare pretty-ness. "Only Someone Running" is of the latter camp, with loopy three-chord verses, a devastatingly beautiful descending chorus, creaky call-and-response vocals, and a perfectly ridiculous whistle solo. For my version, I went lo-fi, straight into GarageBand using the on-board microphone, recording the guitar, vocals & harmonica all in one take, then overdubbing harmony vocals and percussion later. I love this song... The overall feel is one of longing and a suspicion that the song's narrator doesn't feel worthy of the object of his desire, even though the tone of the music is ultimately hopeful, if not explicity so.
Stream Superwolf's version here.
Stream my version here.
Please enjoy! We'll talk soon....
Marquez
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
I Am Bitchin' & Drinkin'.....
Me and the boys in The Train Wrecks are at LiveWire tonite! We have the pleasure of sharing the stage with the always-awesome Josh Roberts & the Hinges. Played a show with them in Charleston, SC, a coupla weeks back at Home Team BBQ. Eric Libetrau from the City Paper wrote a review of the show. Kind, well-deserved praise for the Hinges. He even kinda-sorta seemed to like us. Thanks? In other cool honest-to-god, printed on newsprint news, Bill DeYoung from The Connect wrote up a nice, long and candid article on us. They even put our ugly mugs on the cover. Keep that issue away from the kids, they'll be scarred for life.... You should check Josh's tunes out. They're all fantastic, but my go-to jam at the moment is "Nautilus". Go listen! Now.
More to come....
Marquez
More to come....
Marquez
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Howdy, interwebs!!!!
So, here it is. Another blog! Just what the iWorld e-needs!!! But I have high hopes for this. I'm hoping to turn BtB into a place where different musicians and artists can come and have their own voices broadcast to whomever is gracious (or bored/unemployed/undate-able) enough to come by and spend some time with us. I'm pretty much gonna wing it, so new features will be poppin' up at random & inappropriate times. Just like this one:
COVER-TASTIC TUESDAYS!!!
So to kick thangs off, I've cooked up this idea that I (and hopefully others down the line) would take one of their favorite songs and record a cover of it. Once a week. Tuesdays. Talk about the original tune, tell embarrassing stories of how such & such song reminds us of a horrible romantic encounter gone wrong, etc., discuss our interpretation, have you guys tell us we suck, or we're awesome. Whatevs. By the end of a year of this, if my calculations are correct (*carry the 11, divide by pi*), we'll all have 52 more songs out there for the world to never hear about. Or maybe it'll be something completely amazing.
First up: Will Johnson - "The Re-Run Pills"
Will Johnson occupies an entirely enviable position in the world of indie rock. As leader of the Denton, TX, rawk juggernaut centro-matic, as well as the more pastoral South San Gabriel, and his singer-singwriter-y solo releases, he's responsible for a tremendous amount of music that, while prolific and quite varied, is astonishingly consistent in quality and tone. Like a rural Robert Pollard singing about strip malls, or The Flaming Lips without nearly as much acid damage, he's hit a groove in his career where he can, in practical terms, certainly pay his bills. But he also has earned himself countless opportunities to collaborate with other talented musicians and performers while keeping a firm grip on his own artistic integrity, gaining critical respect along the way.
Here's Will playin' guitar w/ Patterson & Brad from the Drive-By Truckers.
Here's Will playin' drums w/ the Monsters of Folk on Leno!
Alright, NBC shut that video down, but here's a consolation clip.... Gettin' to play with Jim James, M. Ward & Conor Oberst! Pretty good work, if you can get it. I bet the paparazzi is a bitch. But we here at Below the Basement aren't jealous of Will at all. (ed.-we're totally jealous. damn.)
His work with centro-matic is a fuzzed-out affair, with overdriven drums (that still maintain that swing), warm, economically-but-lovingly-recorded guitars, and typically inscrutable lyrics about blood banks and hi-fi jams and imaginary superheroes. South San Gabriel brings on the keys and the violin, and is a slower entity, veering into funereal dirges and southern gothic tunes that sound like they've been coated in cough syrup, but to hypnotizing effect. His solo work has been compared to the likes of Heartbreaker-era Ryan Adams, as well as fellow downbeat & weird troubadour Cass McCombs.
In "The Re-Run Pills", Will takes a relatively straightforward lyrical tack in expressing sadness and regret to a significant other, but not without an undertow of resentment. Whether it's autobiographical, or just good, ol' storytellin' sung from the viewpoint of a made-up character, the narrator seems to take his partner's jabs to heart, apologizing for things that he feels are only problems from her perspective, and he seems to be less than sincere with his pleas for forgiveness. It's ultimately his fault, he knows, but it's still hurtin' his pride to say it, and that makes him mad. Even at his quietest, Will exudes a sort of quiet storm that lends urgency to even his most plaintive songs. His melodic rasp notwithstanding, the way Will phrases his words, and draws out single words into multi-syllable things of wonder ("sound" = "sow-hee-yow-hee-yow-ha-hound-hahhh-ound") turn what could be average songs in lesser hands into whispered masterpieces.
Here's Will performing the song on Glorious Noise:
And here's my cover.
Or you can stream the tune from The Train Wrecks myspace.
This cut was recorded over at the Sound Design building at Savannah College of Art & Design. My good friend Nathan Hager was behind the boards, Eric Dunn on stand-up bass, me on whatever's left. I chose to pick up on the driving feel of the song, even though I've never heard a version of the tune with drums. Ain't no thing without that swing. Hope you enjoy it. It's an iTunes file (somebody fill me in on how to convert .m4a's to .mp3's, please!), so let me know if there's any problems with any of the links on this site, and I'll fix it and'or send ya somethin' fer yr troubles....
I'll be back soon!
Marquez
COVER-TASTIC TUESDAYS!!!
So to kick thangs off, I've cooked up this idea that I (and hopefully others down the line) would take one of their favorite songs and record a cover of it. Once a week. Tuesdays. Talk about the original tune, tell embarrassing stories of how such & such song reminds us of a horrible romantic encounter gone wrong, etc., discuss our interpretation, have you guys tell us we suck, or we're awesome. Whatevs. By the end of a year of this, if my calculations are correct (*carry the 11, divide by pi*), we'll all have 52 more songs out there for the world to never hear about. Or maybe it'll be something completely amazing.
First up: Will Johnson - "The Re-Run Pills"
Will Johnson occupies an entirely enviable position in the world of indie rock. As leader of the Denton, TX, rawk juggernaut centro-matic, as well as the more pastoral South San Gabriel, and his singer-singwriter-y solo releases, he's responsible for a tremendous amount of music that, while prolific and quite varied, is astonishingly consistent in quality and tone. Like a rural Robert Pollard singing about strip malls, or The Flaming Lips without nearly as much acid damage, he's hit a groove in his career where he can, in practical terms, certainly pay his bills. But he also has earned himself countless opportunities to collaborate with other talented musicians and performers while keeping a firm grip on his own artistic integrity, gaining critical respect along the way.
Here's Will playin' guitar w/ Patterson & Brad from the Drive-By Truckers.
Here's Will playin' drums w/ the Monsters of Folk on Leno!
Alright, NBC shut that video down, but here's a consolation clip.... Gettin' to play with Jim James, M. Ward & Conor Oberst! Pretty good work, if you can get it. I bet the paparazzi is a bitch. But we here at Below the Basement aren't jealous of Will at all. (ed.-we're totally jealous. damn.)
His work with centro-matic is a fuzzed-out affair, with overdriven drums (that still maintain that swing), warm, economically-but-lovingly-recorded guitars, and typically inscrutable lyrics about blood banks and hi-fi jams and imaginary superheroes. South San Gabriel brings on the keys and the violin, and is a slower entity, veering into funereal dirges and southern gothic tunes that sound like they've been coated in cough syrup, but to hypnotizing effect. His solo work has been compared to the likes of Heartbreaker-era Ryan Adams, as well as fellow downbeat & weird troubadour Cass McCombs.
In "The Re-Run Pills", Will takes a relatively straightforward lyrical tack in expressing sadness and regret to a significant other, but not without an undertow of resentment. Whether it's autobiographical, or just good, ol' storytellin' sung from the viewpoint of a made-up character, the narrator seems to take his partner's jabs to heart, apologizing for things that he feels are only problems from her perspective, and he seems to be less than sincere with his pleas for forgiveness. It's ultimately his fault, he knows, but it's still hurtin' his pride to say it, and that makes him mad. Even at his quietest, Will exudes a sort of quiet storm that lends urgency to even his most plaintive songs. His melodic rasp notwithstanding, the way Will phrases his words, and draws out single words into multi-syllable things of wonder ("sound" = "sow-hee-yow-hee-yow-ha-hound-hahhh-ound") turn what could be average songs in lesser hands into whispered masterpieces.
Here's Will performing the song on Glorious Noise:
And here's my cover.
Or you can stream the tune from The Train Wrecks myspace.
This cut was recorded over at the Sound Design building at Savannah College of Art & Design. My good friend Nathan Hager was behind the boards, Eric Dunn on stand-up bass, me on whatever's left. I chose to pick up on the driving feel of the song, even though I've never heard a version of the tune with drums. Ain't no thing without that swing. Hope you enjoy it. It's an iTunes file (somebody fill me in on how to convert .m4a's to .mp3's, please!), so let me know if there's any problems with any of the links on this site, and I'll fix it and'or send ya somethin' fer yr troubles....
I'll be back soon!
Marquez
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