Posts in Music

This is a two part post: partly to announce that Pitchfork.tv has launched and is awesome, and partly because I love the M83 video for Graveyard Girl. There’s also a lot of other great videos up there, especially if you like to watch Thom Yorke rock the drums in versus mode.

A friend turned me on to this album a while back and I’ve been getting into again lately. In this age of image-less MP3 downloads it’s easy to forget that’s there’s probably some great cover art behind the music you’re currently enjoying. Somehow I never noticed this cover until last week and I must say I really like it. I wish the lower portion was a little less busy, but overall it’s a great take on that 60’s jazz record vibe. And of course the music isn’t half bad either.

Cold War Kids – Hospital Beds

[audio:hospital.mp3]

Stereogum asked me to design a cover for their latest tribute compilation. Entitled Enjoyed: A Tribute to Bjork’s Post, the collection features covers by the likes of Dirty Projectors, Xiu Xiu, and Atlas Sound to name a few. You may remember the post about Drive XV, the REM tribute, this is the follow up to that release.

In the spirit of the tribute album, they asked that I base my cover off the original. I really enjoy this sort of work as it’s a lot of fun to approach an existing composition and try to see it from another perspective.

Below is a taste of what’s in store. Check it out then download the full album for free from Stereogum!

Dirty Projectors – Hyperballad

Some good stuff from Erlend Øye’s other project.I never get tired of hearing him over this sort of stripped down dance-rock.

Whitest Boy Alive – Burning

[audio:whitest.mp3]

Thanks to my parents and their friends I grew up on bands like Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Rolling Stones, et al. and if asked my favorite band of all time now I think I would still have to say Led Zeppelin (after a long internal debate between them and the latter-day Beatles). Of all Zeppelin’s albums I always enjoyed 1973’s Houses of the Holy most. I really love all of their album covers; the imagery they employed is so organic and transcendent. I have an original copy of Led Zeppelin III with the 2 piece cover and rotating artwork, I’ll post that one soon.

There’s a great discussion of the origin of the Houses of the Holy cover art on wikipedia.

Led Zeppelin – Over The Hills and Far Away

Worry Wort from Radiohead’s Knives Out ep. One of those amazing songs that somehow slipped through the cracks. Great synth work on here. That cover on the other hand….not so good.

Radiohead – Worry Wort

[audio:worry.mp3]

This was a poster from Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible tour that could be folded into what they described as a "shadowbox". Found it while searching for something to post alongside this song. Neon Bible is incredible, I still find it hard to believe they outdid themselves after 2004’s Funeral, but here we are.

Arcade Fire – The Well & The Lighthouse

[audio:well.mp3]

Aphex Twin is one of my favorite composers and his 1995 album "I Care Because You Do" will always hold a special place in my collection. I have to admit I really don’t care for some of his work; the more harsh experimental stuff is not really my style. But when he gets all melodic and ambient there is none better. This track here is one of my all-time favorites.

Aphex Twin – Alberto Balsalm

[audio:alberto.mp3]

An old favorite from Icelandic group Múm’s Finally We Are No One album.

Múm – We Have a Map of the Piano

[audio:mum.mp3]

My friend and yours, Dusty Brown, recently covered Elliott Smith’s "Can’t Make a Sound" for a tribute album and it turned out incredible, dare I say, better than the original. You be the judge, have a listen below.

Dusty Brown – Can’t Make a Sound (Elliott Smith Cover)
Available on the album Hope You’re Happy

Incidentally, the last two images above are of the wall in Los Angeles that was used by photographer Autumn de Wilde as the backdrop for the Figure 8 album cover. Since Smith’s death it has become a sort of memorial for fans.