The Raveonettes' cover of The Stone Roses' I Wanna Be Adored is cool, neither destroying the song or being too reverent. Supposedly You can download the track, as well as some other dodgy covers for free at a Doc Martens website, but I guess you have to be in England or Europe or something - Canadians are not allowed to partake. That pisses me off, just like when artists and labels throw free tracks or compilations up on Amazon US that Canucks like me cannot access. But who knows, maybe you can access a download here, 'cause I'm helpful like that.
When a band you like covers another artist you enjoy, maybe hopes are raised as little too high, like with Shout Out Louds' cover of Band of Horses' Is There a Ghost. A mellow take on the original, a ghostly, muted heartbeat instead of the quiet-to-loud epic build - not what I would have expected, which would have been a sunny, sparkly pop version. It seems people like to do stripped-down versions of BOH songs, though, like Torontonian Serena Ryder's cover of Band of Horses' The Funeral below.
A is for Albatross, not just an old Monty Python catchword, but a nifty litle tune from the new Besnard Lakes disc, The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night.
I is for Infinite Arms, the new album from Band of Horses. You can also check out thee band's newest video, For Annabelle, here, as well as hearing the whole thing.
J is for Jim Kerr and his new thing, Lostboy. Get a free download here.
K is for Kathryn Calder (New Pornographers, Immaculate Machine), who will be releasing her debut solo record Are You My Mother? on August 3rd. Cool-lookin' cat, huh?
L is for Lefty by Wheat Pool. Walking in high heels in the snow, big white sky, Manitoba mention in the lyrics - that's the prairies.
M is for Martha and the Muffins - Mess. It ain't Echo Beach, or even Danseparc, but it's all right for a comeback single.
N is for New Inheritors, the song Wintersleep want you to stick on a mixtape.
O is for Orono by The Wilderness of Manitoba. Of course, the band's from Toronto, not the keystone province, but The Wilderness of Ontario was not rustic or romantic enough for a nom de plume. I'm guessing.
P is for The Police. The always fine Music Ruined My Life blog has given us a series of posts sharing earlier stuff, and it is good, very good.
Q is for Queensryche. And Dio.
R is for Rome by Dog Day, dreamy indie-pop with a pretty little zombie video. Why are zombies so popular these days? Recently, a couple of kids in my grade 10 English class tried to sneak zombies into every conversation and every assignment. Although I'm not one of those zombie-obssessed fellows, my reading material has taken on a living dead bent lately. John Ajvide Lindqvist, the author of Let the Right One In, has written a thankfully unique take on coming back to life, Handling the Undead. I recommend it. I also picked up The Dylan Dog Case Files, which weirdly enough contains a scene in which a stereotypical "punk" band plays Somebody Super Like You from the Phantom of the Paradise soundtrack.
S is for San Antone by White Oklahoma Cowbell. Free download here.
T is for Winnipeg's The Telepathic Butterflies. From the new album out June 15, Wow & Flutter!, here's Circle Man, as well as A Scathing Report from 2008's Breakfast in Suburbia.
U is for ukelele and Sanfordandsongs's bluegrass blitz.
W is for When Will This Heartache End from the upcoming (June 1st) reissue of The Blue Shadows record On the Floor of Heaven. You remember Winnipeg's Jeffrey Hatcher, don't you? Billy Cowsill? These guys were both ahead of their time and excellent revivalists, I hope they get noticed this time around.
X is for the Goo Goo Dolls Extended available from the aforementioned Music Ruined My Life blog. Covers of I wanna Destroy You by the Soft Boys, Hit or Miss by The Damned, a couple more good ones and a couple I'm not sure about - tell me what you think.
1. The Apples in Stereo - Atom Bomb 2. Chuck Prophet - Bring On The Love 3. Bell X1 - The Snowman 4. Peggy Sue - Alice In The Kitchen 5. Dave Alvin - Krazy and Ignatz 6. John Doe - The Big Blue House 7. Liam Finn - I Will Explode 8. Drink Up Buttercup - King Day 9. Paul Weller - Rise and Fall 10. Los Straitjackets - Twist and Slide 11. Reckless Kelly - Pickin' Up Cans 12. Robyn Hitchcock - No Way Out of Time 13. The Gourds - Drunk Song
Halloween. I remember being dressed as the devil at the first, last, and only performance of a band I was in one Halloween; we went down like a lead balloon. We enjoyed ourselves anyhow, and thankfully no one recorded it. Remember when you could do goofy things without fear of someone pulling out their phone and uploading to YouTube? I don't think every mistake you make in public should be immortalized, but we are voyeurs, aren't we? Anyhow, I tripped across one of Steve Chasmar's Halloween photo series, and these pics deserve to be looked at.
Band of Horses - Is There a Ghost (download mp3 here)
This song by WWP is my favourite tune this month, pretty melody and harmonies, restrained chiming guitar, solid drums, funny lyrics. Dress up as a pirate or a wolf, either way is good.
The verses of this song always seemed spooky to me, as if paranoia, claustrophobia, and naked fear bubbled and percolated in the studio when the track was created. I'm not necessarily in love with the chorus, but I've always loved when Mr. Hine intones "Halloween...without a pumpkin, Halloween" and later "Trick or treat..or lies".
This tune is not scary or spooky at all, but maybe Ryan Adams collectors will be able to tell us why it is subtitled Sad Dracula demo and why it cuts out after 1 minute 20 secs. But maybe many songs in this world would be better if they cut out at that point, cut out the filler and the fat. Huh?
mp3s will be posted for a limited time and are for promotional purposes only. If you like it, buy the albums, go to the shows, buy the t-shirts - support the artist so they can keep on keepin' on. Artists - if you would like an mp3 or video removed, please contact me directly at chrisyakchart@hotmail.com.
If you've got something Scruffy should hear, same email. Snail mail is cool too.
Scruffy the Yak 34 Allenby Cres Winnipeg Mb R2C 3J4
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