covers

Any Way I Can

barbara — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Adam Rader is a solo pop musician who reminds me of John Mayer and Dave Matthews. Though his vocals are similar to Mayer’s and Matthews', I consider Rader's singing to be much smoother.

Two things surprised me about this "teaser" album. First, there are only two songs on it, and second, one of these songs is a cover of "In The Ghetto.” For some reason, this song will never be put out of its misery. It has been covered numerous times by various artists ever since Mac Davis originally spewed it forth in the 1960s. Once Elvis covered it, the song became immortal and forever doomed to keep popping up like a game of Whack-A-Mole. The last time I heard a cover of this song, it was being used on South Park, and that was only as a joke. The show's notoriously bigoted character Cartman was singing it while walking through his friend Kenny's repressed neighborhood. "In The Ghetto" is a tired, corny, offensive song that only belongs in a cartoon.

This brings us back to Adam Rader’s two-song EP. I'm surprised that a man who seemingly wants to convey John Mayer-esque sexuality would perform a song equivalent to a cold shower. Listening to his cover of "In The Ghetto" makes me cringe and laugh nervously. The song is musically solid and mellow, if you can manage to ignore the lyrics. However, ignoring the words is about as easy as sleeping with the lights on while your six-year-old nieces jump up and down on your bed, loudly demanding cookies and stuffed animals.

Rader's other song "Any Way I Can" is a light pop song. Again, John Mayer's face kept floating into my mind as I listened. I can easily see it being used on a television show or commercial, as well as an adult contemporary radio station. I look forward to seeing what Adam Rader puts forth in the future. Let's hope he picks better songs to cover next time.

Written by: Jacquie Piasta, March 17th 2011

The Freak of Araby

admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:47:00 +0000

By Sir Richard Bishop

Drag City

The Freak of Araby reminds me of my ten days in Turkey last year, touring around with an Istanbul native who is also one of my dearest friends, crammed into whizzing taxicabs and smoky pubs in which pseudo-mariachi bands crowded around our tables to encourage merriment. At midnight, we would stalk the city’s all-night, open-air diners in search of kebab and twice-baked potatoes. When something local wasn’t playing over the loudspeakers, it was a Turkish Shakira on a flat screen TV, showing a surprising amount of skin. East meets West, and in that context, I really preferred the former.

Sir Richard Bishop is an electric guitar master, and with his ensemble cast on bass and a variety of drums, his latest album is part homage, part bold move forward. Roughly half of the songs on The Freak of Araby are covers, though one would have to have a fairly well-rounded knowledge of Middle Eastern and North African music to distinguish between the remakes and the originals. Half-Lebanese, but of Detroit origins, Bishop has released a number of solo albums but is also well known for his previous near-three decades with Sun City Girls.

Bishop is at once a gypsy and a contained, methodical musician. While a six-minute song like “Sidi Mansour” takes time to devolve into its own little jam session, tracks like “Barbary” clock in under three minutes and never deviate from a predetermined end point. The album’s cover art—a lounging woman with one breast fully exposed—leaves a bit to be desired, but maybe you’re the type to buy a digital copy of the album anyway. This one is worth the purchase.

Written by: Brittany Shoot, August 10th 2009

Fuckbook

admin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:52:00 +0000

By Condo Fucks

Matador

Nineties alt-rock favorites Yo La Tengo have released a new album of cover songs under the moniker of Condo Fucks. Presumably taking its title from their 1990 album Fakebook, this eleven-song effort has been christened Fuckbook. A refreshing slice of lo-fi garage/grunge, these covers are the raw and dirty antithesis to today's pro-tooled mania.

Their cover of the Small Faces' “What'cha Gonna Do About It” kicks off the album and firmly establishes the stripped-down approach with its feedback and fuzzy guitars. “Accident” continues the noisy, in-your-face vibe and makes me feel like I should be at a party drinking beer. “This Is Where I Belong” is a little more mellow, but just as loud.

This is followed by two covers of Beach Boys classics: “Shut Down” and “Shut Down Part 2”. The rough punk approach works pretty well for re-interpreting surf music, and I especially enjoyed their spin on the instrumental “Part 2”, which is easily my favorite cut on the record. I also quite liked “The Kid With The Replaceable Head”, which I thought really nailed the perfect combo of in-your-face distortion.

Sixties and early seventies music dominates the setlist here, continuing with covers of the Troggs (“With a Girl Like You”) and Slade (“Gudbuy T'Jane”). The inspiration of these classics is evident in the way the Condo Fucks embrace such a raw method of recording—it sounds like the band were actually in the same room playing at the same time when they made this album! Imagine that! I just love hearing this kind of primal rock that hasn't been polished or prettied up. I know not everyone will share my enthusiasm; Fuckbook will probably be unlistenable to a lot of people. But I think that's the whole point.

Written by: Beeb Ashcroft, July 24th 2009