Monthly Archives: April 2013

covers, general

Frank Turner: The Modern Leper (Frightened Rabbit cover)

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Another Record Store Day has come and gone. I’m less willing these days to wake up early and fight crowds, not to mention kill my knees by squatting to flip through records (I’m old, OK?).

Still, I was able snag what I really wanted on Saturday at Stinkweeds with the Built to Spill Live album on vinyl. I would have been overjoyed if I was able to find the At the Drive-In Relationship of Command reissue and/or the Frightened Rabbit Midnight Organ Fight reissue. But the reality is this: I rolled in at 11:30 a.m. There wasn’t a chance in hell there’d be any left for me, and that’s OK.

But just when I’m coming to grips with this, I see this cover of “The Modern Leper” by the English folk/punk rabble-rouser Frank Turner, who tackled the song at a Record Store Day in-store performance, and I’m reminded again of just how great Midnight Organ Fight is – my favorite of 2008.

Even Frightened Rabbit took notice.

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David Bazan, Will Johnson and Matt and Bubba Kadane are Overseas

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overseas-album-cover-500

Based on name brand alone, you’d have to figure Overseas has the making of something incredible. And then all you have to do is listen to “Down Below” for confirmation that, yes, this will probably be just that.

There’s David Bazan (Pedro the Lion, Headphones, solo career). And then there’s Will Johnson (Centro-matic, South San Gabriel), who trades singing duties with Bazan. And, oh, yeah, there’s Matt and Bubba Kadane (Bedhead and the New Year, who are freaking great). Pretty soon, people will start throwing around that “supergroup” word, though it’s hardly some glamour project. These guys share a pretty rich history.

As it is, I’m reaching obsessive levels with the song “Down Below.” I’ve already pre-ordered the album, which comes with an instant download of it, but “Down Below” is currently owning me and I really don’t want to listen to anything else. Bazan’s lyrics are gut-wrenching in ways I feel like I haven’t quite figured out yet.

The Overseas album comes out in June, or you should just pre-order it and get that instant download.

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The National: Demons

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national

If the lack of activity over the past month wasn’t a clue, I haven’t been feeling particularly inspired lately. Cue a new song from the National – just in time. I won’t even pretend to be anything other than the unobjective fanboy of the band I’ve been for the past eight years.

“Demons” is the first official leak from the forthcoming album Trouble Will Find Me, due out May 21. Where 2010’s “England” – and so many National songs before it – slayed me with triumphant crescendoes, “Demons” settles into a comfortable groove from the get-go. Matt Berninger, as usual, sings a tick behind the beat, giving the song an almost unnerving flow. But his talk-sing baritone keeps it together until the knockout, insecure chorus: “But I stay down, with my demons. I stay down, with my demons”

And I’ve been harping on this for years, but I think we can all agree that drummer Bryan Devendorf is the unheralded star of this and so many National songs. His drumming is a study in restrained control. As much as I love seeing a drummer become unhinged, there’s something similarly satisfying about a drummer who makes a statement by being understated, a composed level of self-control and confidence that reigns over a song. And Devendorf has done it here. Again.