SNL Says Goodbye to Kristen Wiig // Featuring Arcade Fire & Mick Jagger
I know it’s everywhere this morning, but it’s hard not to be a little moved and impressed that Saturday Night Live took a special moment to say goodbye to their MVP of the last seven seasons, Kristen Wiig. Doing so by providing a faux graduation ceremony and farewell dance soudtracked by Arcade Fire performing covers “She’s a Rainbow” and “Ruby Tuesday”. It’s an incredibly sweet moment, made all the sweeter by seeing the differentiating interactions between the cast members; Wiig starting to cry upon hugging Hader, Armisen staring directly into her eyes with a huge smile before saying what appears to be “I love you”, Samberg coming in off the wrong side with a big swinging hug like saying “fuck it” to the tears, but maybe saddest of all, Jason Sudeikis who from the opening of the skit appears to be dealing with some heavy emotions, nearly bringing the dancing to a stop when he gives her an extended hug before slipping off into the back. By the time “Ruby Tuesday” kicked in and everyone stormed the stage, it was a big party and Amy Poehler’s provided the best template for the celebration, just jumping around having a great time with a smile as big as the stage, because in the end, it’s not fun to lose some of the best cast members that have ever graced the SNL stage, but it’s exciting as all hell to thinking of what can come next from Wiig (and apparently Samberg and Sudeikis, who are also exiting). So, it appears we’re back to rebuilding years on SNL, but atleast we got to see a fantastic send off for one of the best that has ever been.
“Abraham’s Daughter” by Arcade Fire // The Hunger Games - Official Soundtrack (2012)
Entertainment Weekly scored a nice little treat by posting one of the new Arcade Fire tracks from the forthcoming soundtrack to “The Hunger Games”. Oddly, it immediately reminded me of the “Romeo + Juliet” soundtrack from back when I was a teenager, then reading the interview Win Butler, they cited that as an inspiration (Radiohead’s “Exit Music” to be precise). Smart move. As for the track itself, it’s an eerie, dark, and atmospheric piece that has one foot in a youthful, choir - marching band sound and the other in a sinister sounding blend of americana and space rock. It’s definitely a cool song that seems to evoke the themes of the book and film. It’s good stuff. Press play and check it out.
“Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) by Arcade Fire // Official “Traditional” Video (dir. Vincent Morisset)
Arcade Fire are back with a couple of videos for their excellent track “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”. The first is a more traditional video featuring Regine Chassagne singing and dancing about, while the other is another interactive video that reacts to your movements by using your webcam. Really cool stuff. Check the Interactive Video HERE.
(tie) “Person Pitch” by Panda Bear // “The Reminder” by Feist
* for some reason Spotify is missing most of these albums, so no playlist for 2007
These lists are getting closer to the present, so it’s getting harder to find too many faults with these lists. I would still pretty much agree with this list completely with the exception of switching the placements of Arcade Fire and The National. What can I say, “Boxer” was a grower.
Sure, if you look back through these lists you won’t be surprised in the least to see Radiohead in the top spot again, but truth be told, “In Rainbows’ is probably my favorite Radiohead album and I’m old enough to have actually bought “Pablo Honey” on cassette when it was released (my report card money wasn’t the best, sometimes I had to buy what i could afford and I distinctly remember not being able to afford the CD), so one could reasonably make the argument that “In Rainbows” is my favorite album of all time and your argument would be valid, but that’s an ever-shifting list if we’re talking “all time”, but it’s certainly a contender right next to “Strangeways, Here We Come”, “In The Aeroplane Over the Sea”, “Disintegration”, and “Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain” (to name but a few). Enough talk of Radiohead.
The rest of the choices stand on their own. I was not as taken with “Person Pitch” as many of my friends were that year, but it certainly hit me in the right place. I was just mostly obsessed with LCD Soundsystem’s giant leap forward with “Sound of Silver” for most of the year (Radiohead was a late year release). The Feist choice, is wholly representative of being unable to avoid it most of the year, but also because those are some incredibly well written pop songs sung by one of my favorite female artists on in music.
All in all, 2007 (for me), is one of the best years for music that I’ve ever experienced first hand. It was loaded with incredible albums and even more mindblowingly good stand out tracks. Let’s talk favorite songs, shall we…
This collection of albums, while very good, would not be the same five if i were to choose them today. “Funeral” would probably stay on top, but I’m positive that there would be major shake ups within the rest. Most notably, I would not have included a film score that was primarily made up of pre-existing material, but then again - that score is fucking perfect. I’m no longer in awe of Sam Beam’s Iron & Wine work as I once was, and I’m pretty sure that in the years since 2004, I have fallen madly in love with Xiu Xiu’s “Fabulous Muscles”, but that wasn’t so much until early 2005, so i’m pretty sure I would swap those albums up at this point.
There were a few albums that I had in my notes that weren’t placed in a top five list, but would certainly be candidates today and those would be “The Milk-Eyed Mender” by Joanna Newsom, “Seven Swans” by Sufjan Stevens, “Fall Back Open” by Now it’s Overhead, and “Antics” by Interpol. I think the big issues with this particular year was that about midway through, I had moved to New York and in the excitement of shifting to a new world, I just sort of stopped keeping track until toward the end of the year when i was finally settling into a normal routine. So, where as 2004 is more of a muddled mess with a lack of thought put into selections - 2005 is overloaded with great songs and albums because I had much better outlets to supply my music addiction as well as having more time to be absorbed by them. So, in the meantime - here is a half baked idea of what my favorite albums of 2004 were in the year of 2004. Make sense? Probably not.
Here you will find a collection of covers from the catalog of The Magnetic Fields, as performed by indie bands over the past decade. I have actually had this sitting around for a few months and had forgotten that it was never posted, but lo and behold, I found it and figured it was time. This is a bit smaller than the previous Covered Mixtapes, but that’s all right because there is not a sore recording in the bunch.
So, without further ado, here’s a collection of songs originally performed by The Magnetic Fields as re-interpreted by artists over the years.
PLAYLIST: (click on the band name for more info on the artists)
PLEASE SUPPORT THE ARTISTS THAT YOU FIND AND ENJOY. BUY THEIR MUSIC, MERCHANDISE AND TICKETS TO SEE THEIR SHOWS. SUPPORTING THEM IS THE ONLY PURPOSE IN DOING THIS BLOG. CONTRARY TO THE OPINIONS OF SOME, MUSIC BLOGS ARE A GREAT WAY TO DISCOVER NEW MUSIC, BUT THERE WILL ONLY BE SO MUCH NEW MUSIC TO GO AROUND IF THESE ARTISTS CAN’T AFFORD TO SUPPORT THEMSELVES THROUGH THEIR ART AND COMMERCE. ONLY USE THESE MIXTAPES AS A GUIDE TO FIND SOMETHING TO THROW YOUR (FINANCIAL AND EMOTIONAL) SUPPORT BEHIND.
Well this looks pretty nifty and the choice to use the Arcade Fire cover to soundtrack the promo was a nice touch. This is the first look at Disney’s long-in-the-works version of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars series. Visually, it looks pretty incredible and I’m happy to see Taylor Kitsch getting solid work outside of his wonderful work on “Friday Night Lights”. The rest of the cast is pretty great as well and includes Samantha Morton, Dominic West, Polly Walker, Willem Dafoe, Lynn Collins, Bryan Cranston, Ciaran Hinds, James Purefoy, Thomas Haden Church, Mark Strong and Daryl Sabara. Here’s the official synopsis:
John Carter is a sweeping action-adventure set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars). John Carter is based on a classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose highly imaginative adventures served as inspiration for many filmmakers, both past and present. The film tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.
“Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” by Arcade Fire // Acoustic & Live via WBEZ Sound Opinions
Arcade Fire performed a couple of in studio tracks for Sound Opinions, which resulted in some new arrangements. Including this synth-free take on live favorite, “Sprawl II”. This one sounds pretty similar, but the changes are still interesting. . Check out the strings-filled version of “We Used to Wait” at WBEZ.
“We Used to Wait” by Arcade Fire // Acoustic & Live via WBEZ Sound Opinions
Arcade Fire performed a couple of in studio tracks for Sound Opinions, which resulted in some new arrangements. Including this stripped back, strings filled take on “We Used to Wait”. Check out the synth-free version of “Sprawl II” at WBEZ.
“Culture War” by Arcade Fire // from the deluxe edition of, The Suburbs
A shimmering, driving new Arcade Fire track for a hot day is just the ticket. I vastly prefer this track to “Speaking in Tongues”, but maybe that’s just me. This would have been an excellent addition to first release of The Suburbs. No matter, you have it now.
Here you will find a collection of covers from Bowie’s catalog as performed by indie and alternative artists from the past couple of decades. I tried not to source too hard from any one tribute, and did my best to keep away from random live covers (there are only 3 included). All in all, I stuck with some of my favorites and some new ones that I had previously not known existed. Are there some covers that I missed - sure. Most of those were instances of choosing who I felt covered a particular track the best.
So without further ado, here are classic songs by David Bowie as re-interpreted by artists over the years.
Playlist (click the band name for more info on the band):
Please support the artists that you find and enjoy. Buy their music, merchandise and tickets to see their shows. Supporting them is the only purpose in doing this blog. Contrary to the opinions of some, music blogs are a great way to discover new music, but there will only be so much new music to go around if these artists can’t afford to support themselves through their art and commerce. Only use these mixtapes as a guide to find something to throw your (financial and emotional) support behind.
THE UNDER the COVERS SHOW // EPISODE ONE // MAY 4th, 2011
A podcast hosted by Steve from PerfectMidnightWorld and dedicated to cover songs.
- Featuring -
LCD Soundsystem // My Gold Mask // Surfer Blood // Pavement // The National // Grant Lee Phillips // Bon Iver // Grizzly Bear // Metric // The Shins // Arcade Fire // The Antlers // Kitteh Fur // Snow & Voice // Devics // Failure // Ellie Goulding // TV on the Radio // Papercuts // Gayngs
- Covering The Music Of -
Joy Division, Kim Carnes, Pavement, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Psychedelic Furs, The Church, Tom Petty, Hot Chip, The Strokes, The Magnetic Fields, Doves, The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Knife, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Don Henley, and Sade
(download) The Under the Covers Show : Episode One // May 4th, 2011
Hopefully everyone enjoys the song selections. Next episode will probably head more into a theme territory. So send your suggestions the askbox or to the above email address. Thank you for listening!
Please support the artists that you like and reblog to share with friends.
“Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by Arcade Fire // Originally by Cyndi Lauper
The recording isn’t the best, but rest assured, this is exactly what you’d expect Arcade Fire covering Cyndi Lauper would sound like. The recording comes from a surprise gig at a hotel in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti that was captured by Esquire.
“Scenes from the Suburbs” Trailer (dir. Spike Jonze)
Here’s the trailer for the short film that Spike Jonze and Arcade Fire did based on the album “The Suburbs”. It’s currently playing the SXSW fest in Austin.
