Departures - Pillars MP3

Start with a somehow frantic yet spare drumbeat, add simple ringing/grinding guitar chords, then double those guitars, toss in some low-mixed sung-spoken vocals, layer more guitar and bass, let the voice naturally grow more tense and agitated. End up with a track that could have been/will be produced in 1980 or 2020, a version of The Church that turned post-punk instead of psychedelic college rock, maybe bowed down to Sonic Youth and Sylvie instead of Robyn Hitchcock. Anyhow, it's well done, isn't it?

It's quite embarassing when Pitchfork is telling the world about a band from your town that you don't know at all. Dan Gordon's Song of the Day page on facebook hipped me to this one, then Stereogum shared it too. Don't know much about Departures except that they are from Winnipeg and I can't wait to hear the rest. The album Still and Moving Lines is out October 2, and it is was produced by Howard Bilerman (the man who was in Arcade Fire and produced Handsome Furs, The Dears, Grant Hart, and Wolf Parade, among countless others).





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Covers 6: Beck and his gang, Arcade Fire, Decemberists, Spoon, My Morning Jacket

Following up on the covers we threw you last week, here's the next two instalments of Beck's Record Club, more INXS from the Australian band's Kick.

Record Club: INXS "Devil Inside" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Record Club: INXS "New Sensation" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

On to other covers, You Ain't No Picasso has continued to share some interesting artists doing other artists, recently unveiling an Arcade Fire collection including their covers of Springsteen, Pixies, Violent Femmes, The Clash, Lennon, and so on. Check out YANP's covers archive for more collections for Spoon, Decemberists, and of Montreal. Some of them are live and the sound quality is not for audiophile purists, but there's definitely some cool and unusual song choices. Hearing The Decemberists and/or Colin Meloy solo doing Robyn Hitchcock, Heart, Bjork, Cheap Trick, Squeeze, The Soft Boys and more makes me appreciate The D's even more. And I love Spoon, so anything's appreciated, but Guided by Voices, The Kinks, Wire, Julian Cope covers, among others? No wonder Spoon turned out so durned good. And included in the My Morning Jacket collection? INXS's Never Tear Us Apart. Is INXS cool these days?