Another Form of Relief

I’ve been dealing with server and domain related issues for a large part of this evening, so tonights scheduled post on Holiday With Maggie has been postponed for a day or two in favour of something wholly simpler. It’s time for another batch of covers. I know it was only a mere nine days ago that I put up a batch, but I’ve got so many of the damn things, and a ton of them are awesome. Regular service will resume again tomorrow, but for now, enjoy this not in the least bit thrown together in five minutes batch of randomness:

MP3 Weezer - Velouria (expired) (Pixies)
I’m going to commit a little musical blasphemy right now and admit that I like this version more than the original. The original Velouria is of course a fantastic song, but there’s something about this Weezer rendition that grabs me more. It just seems to have a grittier feel to it all, and that suits the nature of the song. I also think it has one of the best Rivers vocal deliveries, actually better than the vast majority of Weezer songs. It’s one of the few times where his voice actually sounds confident, and it works perfectly.

MP3 Nina Gordon - Straight Outta Compton (expired) (NWA)
Continuing our mini series of rap songs transformed into something completely different, we have Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt. She somehow manages to take NWA’s defining song and turn it into a slowed down, almostly bluesy acoustic number. And sounds damn good doing it. It might be littered with profanity and incredibly violent, but when it sounds like this, it really doesn’t matter.

MP3 Nick Cave - Disco 2000 (expired) (Pulp)
Another cover of the “is this the same song?” variety. I’m sure that most people will be familiar with Pulp’s classic Disco 2000 (if not, why not?). You may remember it as a jangly, upbeat nostalgia trip. In the hands of Nick Cave though, it becomes a mournful, depressing song. Which is absolutely nothing against it at all as it suits Cave very well this way, and just makes me wish he’d had a go at Common People too.

MP3 Bide Ou Balde - Buddy Holly (expired) (Weezer)
Finally, we have a cover version that is just downright hilarious. I’m not sure whether it is supposed to be viewed as a serious cover or not, but regardless of that, it makes me laugh an awful lot. Weezer’s Buddy Holly was already dangerously close to being novelty record territory, so what better way to cover it than to keep it almost identical to the original? With only one minor change. The lyrics are translated from English to Portugese, as Bide Ou Blade (from what I can find out) are a Brazillian band and really decided to make this their own. I have no idea how good the translation is, other than some parts obviously couldn’t be done as they remain in English, but it manages to crack me up every time. This is probably the point where I’ll find out it is actually a serious cover or something, but no matter.

That’s all for tonight. I’ll be back tomorrow with a couple of new artists posts as I’ve been discovering some really excellent stuff over the past few days. It also strikes me that I’ve been doing this for a month already. That time has gone scarily quickly.

It seems kind of silly to come to such conclusions, but Belle & Sebastian just might be my favourite band ever. A cursory glance at my Lastfm page proves I have played them more than anyone else, and nearly twice as much as my beloved Rilo Kiley, who come in a distant second.

Yet despite all of this I was incredibly late to the Belle & Sebastian party. I first heard them a long time ago, when, if I’m not mistaken, they picked up a Brit award. Yes, this was long enough ago that I actually watched the Brit awards. Anyways, they won a couple of awards and the parts of songs that I heard there sounded awful. And that was it. I’d dismissed them as boring crap and never gave them any more thought. That was until hearing I’m A Cuckoo blasting out of 6 Music. Of course I had no idea who it was, I just knew that I loved it. I was slightly taken aback to discover that it was the “boring crap” band, but it did encourage me to explore more of their material and I haven’t looked back since. I certainly wouldn’t label them as boring crap now, even if I still dislike a number of their albums (Arab Strap, Fold Your Hands..).

2003’s ‘Dear Catastrophe Waitress’ was the first album that Belle & Sebastian actually released singles for. Sure, they had singles for, but each was it’s own unique EP, containing nothing you’d find on any of their albums. You’ll find these collected together in the awesome ‘Push Barman To Open Old Wounds’ compilation. Still, singles meant b-sides, and a bunch of songs a lot of people may not have been lucky enough to hear.

(from Step Into My Office, Baby)
MP3 Belle & Sebastian - Love On The March (expired)
MP3 Belle & Sebastian - Desperation Made A Fool Of Me (expired)

We start off with two songs that perfectly represent the transition that Belle & Sebastian have gone through over the years. Love On The March is of the modern B&S variety, a cheerful, slightly retro number that wouldn’t feel out of place on either of their past two albums. Desperation Made A Fool Of Me on the other hand, is a throwback to the classic sound, and proves to be the best song on the single. Stuart Murdoch captures world weary with a hint of optimism perfectly, and that is what this song is. It’s the kind of misery with a smile tone that has unfortunately been missing from the modern sound.

(from I’m A Cuckoo)
MP3 Belle & Sebastian - Stop, Look And Listen (expired)
MP3 Belle & Sebastian - (I Believe In) Travellin’ Light (expired)

Stop, Look And Listen is seven minutes long, and sounds like one of the happiest things you’ll ever hear. Look a little underneath though, and the song is so much darker. I love songs that are like this (you might have noticed by now), and this is no exception. I’m not such a fan of the guitar part at the end, but the rest of the song is rewarding enough to make up for it. The second song, (I Believe In) Travellin’ Light is a Stevie song rather than a Stuart one, but don’t let that put you off. I generally find his songs to be the weakest on the albums, and that is the case here, but it’s still pretty darn good.

(from Books)
MP3 Belle & Sebastian - Your Cover’s Blown (expired)
MP3 Belle & Sebastian - Your Secrets (expired)

Your Cover’s Blown is one of my absolute favourite Belle & Sebastian songs. It beggars belief that it wasn’t deemed album worthy as it really is among their best material. NME even dubbed it the ‘indie Bohemian Rhapsody’. That may not be the greatest of comparison, but the constant time changes and Murdoch’s variations in singing styles do turn it into quite the epic. Your Secrets isn’t the most complex song B&S have put out, but it’s just too damn cheerful to dislike. And really, who can argue with anyone who calls themselves a doozer in all seriousness?

I know that there is a love them or hate them thing with Belle & Sebastian on the most part, but if I can’t make you at least appreciate them with the variety of this lot, there really isn’t any hope. Their newest album, ‘The Life Pursuit’ didn’t click with me at first, but now I’m gradually finding myself liking nearly every song on there. Their latest single from it, ‘The Blues Are Still Blue’ will be released on April 3.

In site related news, updates will be a tad slower over the upcoming days as we carry out a switch to a vastly superior server. This will hopefully decrease the amount of downtime we’ve been experiencing and work out far better all round for everyone.

Swearing At Motorists are Dave Doughman and Joseph Siwinski. They are from Daytona. Swearing At Motorists, despite line-up changes, have existed for more than ten years. This took me by surprise given they only came to my attention a year or two ago with me stupidly thinking they were some great new band. Two of their previous albums, ‘Number Seven Uptown’ and ‘This Flag Signals Goodbye’ quickly became favourites of mine. Their upbeat misery and to the point songs worked perfectly for me, even if they didn’t break any new ground. It’s simple music that isn’t trying to be experimental or surprise us, but the songs are catchy and lyrics absorbing enough for none of this to matter.

Just to prove how far out of the loop I can be, I didn’t even know that they had a new album out. In fact, 2002’s ‘Goobye’ was the last new material I’d actually heard of them and hadn’t given them a great deal of thought. So while browsing around the Secretly Canadian website, I was pleasantly surprised that they had recently released a new album, entitled ‘Last Night Becomes This Morning’. Best of all though, two mp3s were sitting right there for my consumption.

MP3 Swearing At Motorists - Northern Line
MP3 Swearing At Motorists - Lost Your Wig

Northern Line is the kind of SaM song that I like. The kind of thing that needs to be played out loud just to spread a little of the melancoly around. Oh, it’s just me that likes to do that? Ok then. I’m not quite as convinced on Lost Your Wig, as I always prefer the upbeat to this kind of thing, but the lyrics are good enough that I imagine it’ll grow on me given a little time.

You can find out more about Swearing At Motorists on their website. You can purchase most of their albums from most of these new fangled online store dealies. And of course like any mildly internet savvy band these days, they have a Myspace for you crazy kids.

I can’t quite remember where I first discovered Jenny Owen Youngs (I’m thinking Skatterbrain, but I’m not sure). It’s one of those cases where I downloaded ‘Fuck Was I’, played it once and then didn’t give it any more thought. A little while back though, Itunes threw it up for me and it grabbed me. I got past the issue of dismissing it entirely based on it’s name, previously assuming it was of little value, relying on shock value more than anything else.

Second time around though, the whole thing just clicked into place. Her vocals are akin to Cat Power, just considerably less annoying. The songs themselves are lyrically strong, but the kind where you have to actually listen to the words to appreciate the complexity. And she uses a lot of strings, which always scores big in my book.

MP3 Jenny Owen Youngs - Fuck Was I

This is one of the few albums I’ve gone and bought solely on the basis of one song. I’d comment on what the others are like but the damn thing hasn’t arrived yet. Anyways, you can pick up a copy for yourself either through her website or the awesome CD Baby. Oh, and here’s the obligatory Myspace link.

Betty By Alone are from Brazil. Their influences include REM, Teenage Fanclub and Guided By Voices. Beyond that though, I couldn’t tell you a single thing about them. Although they sing all of their songs in English, their website is entirely in Portugese, meaning it’s all gibberish to me. From what I can see though, they appear to have a blog, a detailed history of the band and details about their albums, so if you can read Portugese (less than 1% of you based on my stats), you can find out a ton more about them. Oh, and if I babelfished one part of the site correctly, they also seem to like file sharing and refer to the RIAA as the devil, which makes them ok by me.

MP3 Betty By Alone - Candle Lights
MP3 Betty By Alone - Jumpin’ Fish

I can certainly hear their influences in these songs. Not so much REM, but there is a clear Teenage Fanclub and Guided By Voices thing going on, particularly on Candle Lights. The lyrics have a certain charm to them, mostly because their command of English isn’t entirely perfect. It’s almost as if they wrote the songs in Portugese, put them through babelfish and then sang whatever it gave them. Which may not be the best way to go, but it gives the songs a certain quirk anyway. I don’t think they have released anything outside of Brazil, but given that Woxy gave them some love last year, hopefully some exposure will be coming their way.

Good News Everybody!

Following in the footsteps of the Family Guy resurrection, Billy West has confirmed on his forum that Futurama will be returning for at least 26 new episodes. There’s been talk of this for a while, although it initially seemed that DVD movies were the way they were going. Now though it seems that Fox have finally seen the light and will be producing entirely new episodes after all. Let’s just hope they don’t turn out anywhere near as shit as the new Family Guy run, which isn’t even a fraction as funny as it was during it’s original run. Still, if they just pick up pretty much exactly how they left off, it should be entirely awesome. Not that I’m getting too excited about it or anything.

There is just about one thing that I find more interesting than music in this world: politics. Now I realise a ton of you have just written me off as being entire insane, but I can live with that. Nor do I particularly hide my politics, being a card carrying (literally) liberal of the (hopefully) non-loony variety. As such, it seemed fitting that the first mix I’d put together on here would be a combining of my politics into what I usually do here.

So in celebration of another glorious raping of our civil liberties that the public don’t give a shit about, Another Form of Relief is proud to present The World Is A Mess, But Our Hair Is Perfect. This is an updated edition of a mix I originally made last year, and seems depressingly more relevant than that. I know there’s a certain irony in most of the songs being by American bands about American issues, but god knows British bands aren’t getting political which would make this thing pretty damn short.

Note: This will only be available for a limited amount of time, so if you want any part of it, get it now, as I’ll be taking it down within a week of this post.

MP3 01 - The Robot Ate Me - The Genocide Ball (expired)
MP3 02 - Koufax - Why Bother At All (expired)
MP3 03 - Actionslacks - This Damn Nation (expired)
MP3 04 - The Rakes - Terror! (acoustic) (expired)
MP3 05 - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Counting Down The Hours (expired)
MP3 06 - The Decemberists - Sixteen Military Wives (expired)
MP3 07 - Ben Folds - All You Can Eat (expired)
MP3 08 - The Wading Girl - Amber Waves (expired)
MP3 09 - Stars - Celebration Guns (expired)
MP3 10 - Elliott Smith - A Distorted Reality Is Now A Necessity To Be Free (expired)
MP3 11 - Ben Kweller - Jerry Falwell Destroyed The Earth (expired)
MP3 12 - Desaparecidos - Greater Omaha (expired)
MP3 13 - And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Worlds Apart (expired)
MP3 Bonus - The Rakes - The World Was A Mess, But His Hair Was Perfect (expired)

The additional Rakes song doesn’t really fit the rest of the theme, but the title fits perfect and it’s a rather good song, so I thought I’d throw it in there. There’s an 18 minute version of it with a massively extended pub conversation, but that seemed a tad overbearing so I kept it to the shorter version.

I’m not sure how well it flows together, but I tried to assemble it the best I could so it had some sense of cohesion to it at all. I know it can be a little preachy at times, and this may grate for some people, but I like my music to actually have a message, and everything here certainly has one.

I’m going to try and put up some kind of new mixtape every fortnight, but seeing as I’m exceedingly lazy it’ll probably end up being every couple of months instead. Still, enjoy. Normal service will resume sometime tomorrow.

And until then, Good Weather For Air Strikes have a complete Belle & Sebastian concert up in awesome quality that is certainly worth your time.

Sparrow House is the solo project of Jared Van Fleet, a member of the mighty Voxtrot. If you’re expecting a sound anything even remotely like that from Sparrow House though, prepare to be surprised.

The sound of Sparrow House can only be described as folk, and will inevitably draw comparisons with Iron & Wine. The songs began as part of Van Fleet’s thesis at the University of Texas, and although this project was abandoned, some of the songs have now been salvaged and form the basis for debut EP.

MP3 Sparrow House - When I’m Gone (expired)

You can hear two more songs, and of course be his friend over at his Myspace. The debut EP, entitled ‘Falls’, will be completed and released as soon as time can be found in between Voxtrot duties.

Apologies for the brevity of this post, due to me currently being in something of a hurry. Rest assured, a more concise post, including our first “mixtape” (”mixmp3s” just sounds dumb) will follow later on tonight.

I’m pretty tired tonight (it’s amazing just how exhausted I get from bowling and then working, but no matter) so this’ll be a brief one. We’re also going for a non-standard type post, and I’m just going to post a bunch of covers that I’ve been enjoying a lot lately. I’ll admit now that I’m a massive fan of covers. As such, this’ll probably become a regular feature. By regular I mean when I can be botherd, not having a set day for them or whatever. I’ll leave that to Chad at Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands (saturdays in case you are wondering). I know there are a bunch of people that hate them as if they take something away from the original song or something, but I always like hearing what artists can do with other people’s material. Covers that I’m currently liking a lot:

MP3 The Mountain Goats - The Boys Are Back In Town / Ignition Remix (expired) (Thin Lizzy / R Kelly)
Sorry for the slightly crappy quality on this one, but it seems to have been recorded from a French radio stream. It’s worth it though as not only do The Mountain Goats turn Thin Lizzy’s rocking song into something considerably more laid back, but they also suddenly burst into a cover of R Kelly’s Ignition Remix toward the end, which has to be one of the strangest medleys in quite some time.

MP3 Arctic Monkeys - Love Machine (expired) (Girls Aloud)
When I said I was a fan of covers, I forgot to mention that I’m particularly a fan of ones that really shouldn’t work, but somehow end up being rather awesome. This is a prime example of that. Take a generic pop song by a rather crappy girl band (I know they have their fans, but come on), give it to this weeks “saviours of rock and roll” (copyright NME 1995-2006) and you get an alarmingly catchy outcome. I still think the song is still rather dire, but the way the Monkeys give it their all, play it straight (mostly) and actually manage to pull it off is quite an incredible feat.

MP3 Ben Folds - Bitches Ain’t Shit (expired) (Dr. Dre)
Yet another “shouldn’t work, but somehow does” cover. Quite how one would go about turning a gangsta rap song into a pretty mellow piano song. It’s one of the most foul mouthed things you’ll ever hear (unless you listen to gangsta rap regularly I guess), yet somehow it’s entirely great. I can’t stand rap on the most part yet I really like this, despite the song itself being pretty dire. I suppose it’s more respecting the achievement of it than anything else, but I like it a lot.

MP3 Stars - This Charming Man (expired) (The Smiths)
I’m not a massive Smiths fan, no matter how much I try to appreciate them. However, This Charming Man is one of the few songs that I really enjoy. Which made me slightly worried about this cover of it given Death Cab’s complete and utter slaughtering of it on their You Can Play These Songs.. album a few years ago. I shouldn’t have worried though, as Stars don’t make the mistake of trying to be Morrissey. Instead, the make the song their own, turning up the electronica and slowing down the pace. It’s not as good as the original, but it’s dares to be different, and that’s what a cover should do.

Seeing as this blog is becoming my primary place to write, I’m going to use it to occasionally vent about other things given I’m not updating my regular blog anymore. As such, I’d like to register my disappoint with HBO’s Big Love. I guess it’s mostly my fault for expecting it just be a pologamy themed Six Feet Under. I was really getting my hopes up after another awesome HBO credit sequence (honestly, have they ever made a bad one?) but it collapsed quickly after. It was just kind of a nothingness. With the addition of a little comedy it could be something great, but played entirely straight it just doesn’t really work without coming off as dull. It might improve, and I’ll give it a few episodes, but I’m really not convinced so far.

Ok, so that ended up being far more than just a brief one. Now I’m going to go to bed before I collapse and wake up tomorrow morning in a heap on my floor.

Like many people, I owe my discovery of The Light Footwork to Matt over at You Ain’t No Picasso, who has seemingly been on a one man crusade to get them the recognition they deserve. Which seems to be paying off given I’m seeing them all over various music blogs now, which can only be a good thing. This does lead to an inevitable question about why I’d still write about them here, but I’m not attempting to constantly “break” new bands here, I’m happy just writing about the ones I’m enjoying right now.

And for me, The Light Footwork is about the most interesting thing that I’ve currently got on my iPod. It didn’t happen straight away though. I downloaded these songs several weeks ago and it’s only in the past week or so it’s hit me just how good they really are. So don’t dismiss these after a single listen, it’s the kind of music that grows on you. As for what they sound like, I suppose the closest connection would be Beulah (some of their band members actually play on TLF’s album), but the most interesting similarity is Pavement. I read that comparison on a number of pages, but it didn’t really sink in until I heard Rapture Good Rupture Bad which could quite easily have come straight off of Crooked Rain Crooked Rain. Anyone who knows me will also know I’m a sucker for male-female vocals, meaning the back and forth vocals on songs like The Art Of Everyday Communication Part 1 work perfectly for me. Check them out:

MP3 The Light Footwork - Coastlines Are Landmines (expired)
MP3 The Light Footwork - Rapture Good Rupture Bad (expired)
MP3 The Light Footwork - The Art Of Everyday Communication Part 1 (expired)

You’ll find their self-released album ‘One State Two State’ availble seemingly exclusively from Insound (I’ve looked elsewhere, found nothing). If you’re looking for more on The Light Footwork, you can’t really go wrong with the fascinating interview with them recently posted on YANP.

I’d also like to welcome all of the new visitors I’ve been getting over the past couple of days, largely thanks to Take Your Medicine and Mocking Music both linking here. That might not seem like a big deal in itself, but having two sites of such calibre linking here within my first fortnight feels pretty damn good to me. I’d tell you to go and check out their fine work, but seeing as you’re all coming from there anyway, it seems rather pointless. Still, feel free to stick around and enjoy the (hopefully) awesome music.

The words used when I first heard about Odeon Beat Club were “Scotland’s best kept secret”. Evidently not the best kept given that I managed to find out about them all the way “down south”, but I’m certainly not going to complain about that one.

They seem to be getting themselves established rather well, playing a record 25 gigs in one year, and also supporting other major acts like Snow Patrol and Babyshambles. But only in Scotland. From what I can tell they don’t seem to like coming any further south than that, but no matter. Maybe once they finally get the recognition they deserve a full tour will be in order.

As for what they sound like, I’ve been trying to come up with a way to describe it, and failing miserably. I think we’ve already established that I’m not that great at the more precise side of music writing. Although to be fair, I’m not sure the band are, given their Myspace lists them as sounding like “old men fighting”. Not the most accurate description, so probably best that you just have a listen for yourself.

MP3 Odeon Beat Club - Take It Off
MP3 Odeon Beat Club - Time’s Up (expired)
MP3 Odeon Beat Club - Trouble Ticket (expired)

Their forthcoming single, entitled ‘Last Gasp’, will be released May 1. You can purchase their previous releases, as well as check out their (rather amusing) bio on their website. You can also be their friend on Myspace.