Christian Brothers

Queens of the Stone Age

Posted by AJ on May 10 2013

I promise I won’t post any more QOTSA. At least, not for a little while. Maybe. But this was just too intriguing to pass up!

While there are certainly a range of Elliott Smith songs that would be fodder for cover artists, I never expected one of them to be Christian Brothers: it is a tortured, haunting song (and full of naughty language). However, QOTSA have certainly done it justice here, and then some. Apparently, this cover appeared on some versions of Era Vulgaris, but it sure as hell didn’t appear on mine. Would’ve made the album a billion times better, I think!

Tagged under: Rock

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Queen's Night Out

Persephone's Bees

Posted by Hugh on May 9 2013

This is kind of a blast to the past for me, even though it’s just from 2006. Half of you weren’t alive then though, so it still counts! Anyway, they have a Russian singer who keeps enough of her accent to make her voice awesome and not so much that you can’t understand a damn thing she says! The music is catchy without being trite, and it’s just a wonderful song to play now that the weather’s starting to warm up (except in stupid ‘ol Australia!) Plus, AJ missed out on the 609th post, so like… man. It really sucks to be him!

Tagged under: Pop

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With a Little Help From My Friends

Jim Sturgess & Joe Anderson

Posted by AJ on May 8 2013

My golden rule with Beatles covers is that the artist behind it has to put their own spin on it. There is entirely no point doing a direct cover of a Beatles song, because there’s a band who did it better than you. They were called the Beatles.

Acquiring the rights to use actual Beatles music in films is apparently incredibly hard, I learnt recently, so most films that want a Beatles song resort to cover versions. This marvellous version of With a Little Help From My Friends comes from the otherwise saccharine film Across the Universe. Happily, it doesn’t break my rule, and it’s cracking to boot: a kind of punkish, British, ‘don’t take no damn guff’ version. Yeah, I know the Beatles were British, but this is a different kind of British??? Also, this version incorporates Joe Cocker’s rather famous rendition as well, so there’s something for everyone!

Tagged under: Rock

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Handle With Care

The Traveling Wilburys

Posted by AJ on May 7 2013

Supergroups, man. How could they possibly represent the combined talents of their respective members? Most of them don’t end up doing that, and they’re mostly resigned to either sounding a lot like one of its member’s songs, or just inherently simple. This song kind of skews to the latter, but it’s so darn wonderful at the same time that I dare not judge it.

In case you’re unaware, this is probably the greatest supergroup in the history of supergroups: George Harrison, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and Jeff Lynne. I’m not entirely sure how’d you’d trump a supergroup like that. Sadly, their time in the sun was fleeting: Orbison passed away soon after their inception, and Harrison is, of course, no longer with us either. Still, it’s a lesson in quality over quantity: they gave us this song and others in a two-year lifespan, whereas I’ve been writing on either/or for years and all I’ve produced is crap!

Tagged under: Country, Folk, Rock

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Basique

Mickey Mouse Operation

Posted by AJ on May 6 2013

Amazon decided to recommend this to me based on yesterday’s post: good work, Amazon! I know absolutely nothing about this group, but they play some mean downtempo (a little reminscent of The Sleuthound Fiasko, actually), and they have a song called Eitheror so this is now just too serendipitous to pass up.

Tagged under: Downtempo

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Hayling

FC Kahuna

Posted by AJ on May 5 2013

It’s Sunday night, and any notion of coherent thoughts being written on this page will be met with disappointment. I sure hope the previous sentence made sense, because I can’t be bothered re-reading it.

Since we’re all in a sloth-like stupor, here is some almost perfect downtempo. I say almost perfect because it does feature auto-tuned vocals: imagine how much sexier it would be with natural, female vocals behind it? Either way, this is plenty awesome, so good night m’dears and sleep tight.

Tagged under: Downtempo

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Rise the Falling Sun

Pete Van Dyk & the Second Hand Band

Posted by AJ on May 4 2013

If this is the kind of stuff the band are producing now, imagine what they could’ve done when they were brand new? It’s amazing what you can pick up in garage sales, I guess.

Ok, now that comedy hour is done, here is some rock from Canada. It’s a great, rip-roaring song, with just enough gruff in the vocals to make you feel like a bit of a bad ass, even when you’re dancing around and miming to it. Which is what I assume happens. Not from experience or anything like that at all!

Tagged under: Indie, Rock

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No More

You Are Plural

Posted by AJ on May 3 2013

I’m eagerly awaiting You Are Plural’s next album, which I’m told will be released sometime this year. Yep, I did my homework, and I was thankful they didn’t sneak out an album while I wasn’t looking because I’d get very cross indeed.

You Are Plural have featured on here a few times before, and I’m still as enamoured with their amazing combination of wurlitzer organ and cello as I ever was. It truly is utterly beautiful music to wile away a day to, and I’ve certainly wiled away many a day to it!

Tagged under: Indie, Pop

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My God is the Sun

Queens of the Stone Age

Posted by AJ on May 2 2013

I am a fairly large fan of Queens of the Stone Age. By that, I don’t mean I am overweight, but that my appreciation of them is rather extensive. Despite this, I somehow completely missed the fact that they’ve released one of the songs off their upcoming album, …Like Clockwork. So you get two Queens of the Stone Age posts in a row.

I will unabashedly say that if this track is any indication, it feels like a strong return to form (Era Vulgaris was a bit patchy for my liking). If anything, it’ll be interesting to hear what Elton John’s collaboration on the album sounds like. Yes, that Elton John.

Tagged under: Alternative, Rock

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Hangin' Tree

Queens of the Stone Age

Posted by AJ on May 1 2013

Today, while reading Pride and Prejudice, this song came through my headphones. Now, I dunno about you, but Victorian England period novels don’t normally suit rock music from 2002, but it was an interesting combination to say the least. I also remembered how awesome this song is, and with the group due to release a new album any time now (and with this song’s vocalist, Mark Lanegan, contributing), what better time to revisit it? Disregarding it’s rather amusing interruption to my reading, too.

Tagged under: Alternative, Rock

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