Friday Night Videos – Covers Night!

Hey!  Been a while… Before I get on with the post, I wanted to thank everyone for stopping by this week.  Each day has been the “best day ever” for traffic to this site, and I’m really touched.  So, thanks!

For this installment of Friday Night Videos, I’ve decided to throw some covers at you.  One of the things about YouTube that really amazes me is the staggering number of people performing songs in their cars/bedrooms/showers and uploading them for the world to watch.  There’s some really awful stuff, naturally, but there’s also some absolutely wonderful music, too!  And more than that, there’s a serious amount of home audio/video editing going on here.  For the most part, this is impressive.  At other times, it sobers me with the reality that my beleaguered high school band was probably the worst band ever.  Sigh.

Anyway, rather than just throw you in the deep end, I’ve elected to give you a mix of unknown and famous covers.  So, without further ado (and because I really have to get on with my dissertation), let’s get to it:

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The Besnard Lakes: The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night

It can be a little bit unfair – describing bands by their relation to ancestors – but there’s something about The Besnard Lakes‘ “Albatross” (from their new release  on Jagjaguwar: The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night) that makes me instantly think of The Jesus and Mary Chain.  Well, The Jesus and Mary Chain going supernova, anyway.  This is a song of epic architecture: of honey-coated vocals layered on top of waves of fuzz and driving beats.  There is something about this Montreal band that is both immediately familiar, and yet fascinatingly new.  And what makes them all the more intriguing is that every song is strikingly singular in its composition.

From “Disaster,” which wanders through more styles than a Brian Wilson album, to the “My Bloody Valentine jams with early-U2 in space” feel of “Thomasina,” I have this sense  that I’ve discovered a handful of bands that are kindred spirits, rather than just the one.   And it seems that I’m not quite alone in this feeling.  As the folks at Jagjaguwar describe The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night:

The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night calls upon the influence of ELO and finer parts of the Alan Parsons Project in its orchestration. Still helped by the Ghost of Beach Boys Past, the album is more Dennis Wilson than Brian, and more Peter Green Fleetwood Mac than Lindsay Buckingham. That said, standout track “Albatross” has all the swagger of a Stevie Nicks-led Fleetwood Mac classic or Roy Orbison reimagined as a rollicking, snakeskin-booted Mazzy Star — dousing it all in gas and throwing the match as we hear its tale of Vancouver’s skid row and its inhabitants.

Perhaps it’s for this reason that I’ve been playing their superbly intense, uncompromisingly emotive music over and over since I first heard it.  And now you can, too!  Check out “Albatross,” and then go visit the above pages, and their myspace page,  for more.

[audio:https://www.shh-listen.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/albatross.mp3|titles=The Besnard Lakes – Albatross]  Download

Now Playing: March 18th, 2010

Sometimes, it’s important to refuel.  I have some albums that I slip on every day, and they fit like my favorite pair of jeans.  I will never, ever get tired of hearing R.E.M.’s Life’s Rich Pageant, or Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins.  That’s just how it is.  I don’t necessarily look for them every day, but they always find their way back to me.  Of course, which albums stick around the house for a while is really up to the season.  Sun Kil Moon works better in Fall and Winter, and The B-52’s are a Summer band.  That’s life.

But for all of this, it’s important to keep bringing in the new.  Music affords us one of the few, endless adventures in life.  There are so many bands – doing so very many things – that there will never be time for it all.  You like Indie Rock, do you?  Well, there are thousands of bands you have never heard of.  No matter how hip.  There’s someone, at this moment, doing something in a garage that’s going to be your next favorite song.  Shouldn’t everything be like that?  It’s awesome, and it’s the reason I’m here on this here website.

So, in this quasi-weekly installment, I’m going to share with you some of the amazing things that have come to me… well, since the last time I wrote this thing.  As this is the first time, let’s stick with March.  Some of this will be new, and some old, but hopefully it will all be awesome.  Let’s get started… if you’ll just follow me:

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!  I’ve thrown together a few things to help make the day a little more musically satisfying.  There’s a nice playlist I put together over at Grooveshark, some videos on YouTube, and some links to other fine sources of entertainment.  Hopefully, there’s something for everyone!  As for me, I’ll be passing St. Patrick’s Day in that most traditional of places… an English jail.  (Well, all right, university.  But there’s not much aesthetic difference, I’ll tell you that!)

Now, just click the link to see the good stuff, and enjoy!

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Happening: South by Southwest 2010

Oh, sure.  I could go to South by Southwest.  Have my mind blown by an onslaught of bleeding-edge web development, films, music, and awesome people.  I could, but then I’d have to give up the charms of Northern England in March.  I’d have to leave exciting York (“Hey, there’s a Minster!  And, erm… it’s big!  Did you know that Constantine became Emperor of Rome while in York?”).  I’d have to give up my ascetic life, and my beloved dissertation.  Yeah, right.

Actually, there’s a bit of a funny story about the Minster.  In the Nineteenth Century, a young man named Jonathan Martin tried to burn the thing to the ground.  It seems that God told him to do it.  Oddly enough, that’s my name.  Hm.  Dear future employers: Please be thorough in your Googling of my name, and move beyond the words “Jonathan Martin,” “York,” and “Arsonist.”  Thanks.

But for some of you, this year’s SXSW is a perfectly pleasant alternative to day jobs and real life.  Sort of a Pleasure Island for hipsters.  Well, if you, like me, want to experience some of this excitement vicariously – and, more importantly, from the safety of your own, rain-drenched houses – then I’ve got you covered!  Let’s start with music.  An awesome, enterprising fellow has gathered up tracks from all of the artists playing this year’s SXSW.  They’re all public domain, and you can find the formidable five gigs of torrents here.  Definitely something to keep you busy for the duration of the festival!  In addition, NPR is giving away 11 tracks via iTunes.  You can get the code, and the details, here.  There’s tracks from Spoon, The Walkmen, and more!

As for video, I’d suggest hitting the SXSW page over on YouTube.  You can get film trailers, musical performances, talks, and stuff from previous years.

And that’s pretty much all.  In all seriousness, I’m so immensely jealous of the folks that are in Austin, and the ones that are on the way.

Have a great time…jerks.  😉