Easy All Stars (feat. Sugar Minnot) - Exit Music (for a Film) (4.07 MB mp3: right-click and Save As to download)You almost. have. to. like. this. Really. Listen -- it could be a lost track by the Abyssinians -- absolutely stonkin' roots reggae 70s harmony vocal styles. Sugar Minnot is a legend of Jamaican music (Wikipedia). The Easy Star All-Stars are a collective family of some of the finest reggae musicians in the New York area (as individuals, the band's vocalists and instrumentalists have toured and recorded with Gil-Scott-Heron, Burning Spear, Toots and the Maytals, The Toasters, The Meditations, Bernie Worrell, DJ Logic, MC Solaar, King Django, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, The Scofflaws, Diana King, Dennis Brown, Monty Alexander, Sister Carol, and many others) -- and responsible for the hugely successful Dub Side of the Moon "cover album" (Wikipedia) of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. (No comment -- yet). The rhythm is solid, lead vocal is gorgeous and the harmonies are immaculate. But wait.. they're fading out on the repeated lyric "We hope.. that you choke.. that you choke". WRONG. Oh my god, SO wrong its heartbreaking.
It turns out this track is from Radiodread, the "cover album" (Wikipedia) of Radiohead's OK Computer. Goddamn it....
Darkwave old-timers Miranda Sex Garden (Wikipedia) do it pretty faithfully and end up with something that is nice but ultimately inconsequential:
Miranda Sex Garden - Exit Music (for a Film) (4.29 MB mp3: right-click and Save As to download)
Considering their origins as a trio singing madrigals, it's actually pretty impressive that they almost manage to out-huge-fuzz-bass the original.
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I don't really have much to say to massed girls choirs (at least not that I'm about to admit to here), but on this occasion to Scala (Belgian, even!) I say "please stop":
Scala - Exit Music (for a Film) (6.43 MB mp3: right-click and Save As to download)
Although on this occasion it's mystifyingly pleasing to hear them singing "We hope.. that you choke.. that you choke".
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Now we're getting into the real dregs. Christopher O'Riley is "an American classical pianist and public radio show host, who is also known for his piano arrangements of songs by alternative pop artists" (Wikipedia):
Christopher O'Riley - Exit Music (for a Film) (4.13 MB mp3: right-click and Save As to download)
As much as (I think) I'm a humanist, I'd like to line up and shoot people with a proclivity towards creating, recording and releasing piano arrangements of songs by alternative pop artists.
And finally, The String Quartet:
The String Quartet - Exit Music (for a Film) (6.18 MB mp3: right-click and Save As to download)
And as for string quartets with similar tendencies, I wouldn't even give them the decency of a christian burial. Don't. Stop it. Just.... stop.
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Look, am I being unfair? Really? Is nothing sacred? Did they have to go and do Iron Maiden, as well?The String Quartet - Wasted Years (6.86 MB mp3: right-click and Save As to download)
Argh. It's truly upsetting.
3 comments:
"And as for string quartets with similar tendencies, I wouldn't even give them the decency of a christian burial. Don't. Stop it. Just.... stop."
Can an exception be made for the Balanescu Quartet? Any string quarter that's on Mute Records can't be all bad.
Tom: I take your point.. I'll have to hear those Kraftwerk covers before I make up my mind though :)
They're pretty damned fantastic, IMO. Mostly, they just show up the strength of Kraftwerk's melodies and intricate simplicity (I know, that's a terrible oxymoron, but I think it's appropriate), but there's an intriguing segment in their version of Autobahn when the cars zoom past and play melodies with the Doppler effect. Acoustic instruments imitating analog synthesisers imitating cars playing tunes: that's so postmodern my head hurts!
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