so i just posted acoustaclaw record’s second cover throwdown and i’ve got to say i think we are really starting to get into “the swing of things”, as the a-ha song goes. we’ve got eleven submissions this time, some awesome cover art and an improved voting system…. things are looking up.

i’ve made no secret of it… i wasn’t thrilled with  the subject chosen for this throwdown. lyrically, musically, spelling-wise… i’m just not a fan. having said that, i’ve got to admit i listened to the eleven covers of “i would die 4 u” below in one sitting (rather happily) and then even went right back and listened to a few of my favorites a second time.

i’m sure the prince fans out there would argue that’s evidence in favor of the strength of the original, and they may have something, but i’m going chalk it up to the strengths of our participants. we’ve got eleven quite interesting and varied interpretations this time around, ranging from under two minutes to over five, from bare bones lo-fi acoustics to a pristine instrumental rendition and a lot of points in between… and there’s even a (much needed) female vocalist in the mix this time.

so give ‘em a listen and vote for your favorites here. we’ve made it so you can choose up to three artists to vote for this time, but you only get the one vote… so choose wisely! voting closes on feb 12.

1. richard schmitt – i would die for you
2. curtis williams – i would die 4 u
3. tin box time machine – i would die 4 u
4. the idles – i wood dye fore ewe
5. grumpy buddha – i would die 4 u
6. zachary serrano – i would die 4 u
7. quidnunk – i would die for you (young monarch version)
8. green gold wielder – iwdi4u
9. ulsd – i would die 4 u
10. saddam – i would die 4 u (prince)
11. ryan brogan – i would die 4 u

mp3: the hoosier hot shots – i like bananas, because they have no bones

we don’t like to whistle
can’t blow saxophones
we like bananas, because they have no bones

ratchet and clank future: tools of destruction (ps3)

mp3: kid tiger – future umbrella

mp3: daft punk – robot rock

mp3: david bowie – space oddity [re-recorded single b side, 1979]

little big planet: game of the year edition (ps3)

mp3: talbot tagora – we live in a sack

mp3: the shins – fighting in a sack

mp3: the flaming lips – my own planet

the conduit (wii)

mp3: pavement – conduit for sale (live)

mp3: pet politics – taken away by aliens

the legend of zelda – spirit tracks (ds)

[there are at least a dozen train related songs that this game brings to mind, but here are a few of the most pertinent]

mp3: the kinks – last of the steam powered trains

mp3: the olivia tremor control – a peculiar noise called ‘train director’

mp3: silver jews – trains across the sea (live)

insaneaquarium (pc)

mp3: the idles – bonus pet

wicked (broadway)

mp3: scissor sisters – return to oz

mp3: the flaming lips – if i only had a brain

mp3: the flaming lips – somewhere over the rainbow

touring mansions/manors where people get married

mp3: the microphones – the mansion

mp3: the m’s – mansion in the valley

mp3: the national – mansion on the hill

driving to ny, many other places

mp3: eels – woman driving, man sleeping

mp3: smog – driving

watching stupid movies

mp3: thinking fellers union local #282 – star trek

mp3: harry and the potters – sectumsempra

mp3: the cure – the last day of summer

sleeping

mp3: bonnie “prince” billy – bed is for sleeping

mp3: silver jews – sleeping is the only love (demo)

mp3: harry nilsson – are you sleeping

eating lots of stuff / reading good eats: the early years

mp3: mount eerie – cooking

mp3: malvina reynolds – the new restaurant

mp3: the mountain goats – jam eater blues

mp3: pavement – soul food

yesterday marked the end of my 4th year using last.fm. i’ve been capturing my complete artist and song charts on december 12th each year to track how my listening habits change over time. in addition to tracking the progression of my overall charts, i also note the top songs and artists of each 12 month period. so here are the 5 artists and songs that i listened to the most from 12/12/08 to 12/12/09…

Top 5 artists of 2009

1) Destroyer (723 plays)
2) Guided by voices (400)
3) Silver jews (267)
4) Kurt vile (242)
5) Andre ethier (227)

top 5 songs of 2009

1) bill Callahan – eid ma clack shaw (34 plays)
2) swan lake – paper lace (28)
3) swan lake – heartswarm (24)
4) virgin of the birds – ilona, you should still be my vampire attendant (23)
5) st. Vincent – the strangers  (22)
5) swan lake – ballad of a swan lake, or, daniel’s song (22)
5) swan lake – settle on your skin (22)

i’m glad to see some new names infiltrating the top 5 artists this year… it had been the same cast of characters for a few years now. the top 5 songs is also interesting in that it is proof of how rare it is for me to become truly obsessed with a single song these days. sometimes i wish we were an eagle, enemy mine, actor… they are all albums i’ve easily listened to 20+ times this year, so it’s no surprise to see songs from each dominating the top tracks listing. really, i’m surprised the play counts aren’t higher for these. but, virgin of the bird’s every rival ep on the other hand is a record i only heard for the first time maybe a month ago, so to have “ilona” at number four for the year really shows how rarely a single song commanded my attention in 2009.

in celebration of my most listened song of 2009, “eid ma clack shaw”, there are one million youtube videos after the break, plus a pretty cool cover. thanks to their respective posters.

mp3: bill callahan – eid ma clack shaw
mp3: Rose Polenzani and Friends – Eid Ma Clack Shaw …. [via cover lay down]

video: live at the Black Cat in Washington, DC on 6/12/09.

video: performed at Bottom Lounge, Chicago, June 19, 2009

video: Bill Callahan at The Troubadour, Los Angeles CA – Eid Ma Clack Shaw – July 1st 2009

video: Bill Callahan – Eid Ma Clack Shaw – live at Lido Berlin 11th August 2009

video: Bill Callahan live@St Georges Church Brighton, 18th August 09, Eid Ma Clack Shaw

Fredrik – Vinterbarn from The Kora Records on Vimeo.

dali's madonna of the birds

mp3: virgin of the birds – ilona, you should still be my vampire attendant

i am fat and forgetful. fat with music at least. my computer tells me i downloaded every rival way back in july, yet i just “discovered” it for the first time a couple weeks ago. i’ve listened to the ep over a dozen times since though, so i guess i’m making up for lost time.

on tracks 2-5, the singer continually brings dan bejar to mind, both in his voice and in the hazy, wine-soaked persona he summons. the opener “i love john” has got me thinking more along the lines of someone like jonathan richman though. it’s good, but it feels somewhat detached from the songs that follow, which may be why i’ve found myself electing to skip it over. but the rest… the rest is magic.

i want to talk about “ilona, you should still be my vampire attendant” though. it seems so simple, yet i can’t get enough of it. the relationship between ilona and the narrator has got me intrigued, to say the least, and i’ve spent many listens imagining scenarios to fill in the blanks between their established complicated past and the regretted ending, naked in a shower covered in blood.

my favorite part of the song though, is actually the fairly customary shout out of “rock!” that follows the final refrain. i think we can all agree that the music that follows, while awesome, would not be within the range of what one might normally imagine in response to the “rock!” command. but the song’s 400 year old narrator… you can picture her at that moment and in her mind the band is totally slaying it. maybe  just an interesting coincidence, but considering the extra layer of character that small piece adds to the song, i’d like to think there was some forethought there.

altogher, every rival is an excellent and generously under priced ep. and as it turns out a second ep, dear furies, has come out in the months since, that i am also due to catch up on. both are available for free download from abandoned love records.

mp3: dub narcotic sound system – monkey hips and rice … [buy]

i recently unearthed a mix cd that i unfortunately still remember making very late one evening in probably my sophomore or junior year of high school. i’m going to save myself the shame of recounting its contents.. but amid the various tracks expounding on the  joys of illicit substances and the like was one true gem i hadn’t listened to in years…. “monkey hips and rice”. aw, spaghetti arms, name your price. it’s a calvin johnson classic.

i’m not sure why i’ve haven’t paid more attention to dub narcotic sound system over the years. the halo benders (or their back catalog at least) were busy changing everything i knew about music around the time i made that mix cd… which inevitably lead to some exploration of beat happening, dub narcotic and anything else calvin had gotten himself involved in.  i obviously appreciated “monkey hips and rice” at the time and remember some flirtations with a dub narcotic meets the jon spencer blues explosion album… but i never caught the dub narcotic fever, not in the way the other projects had or would infect me.

i guess i spent several of the following years continuously stuck in a mood with which dnss’ funky/upbeat music just would not align well. that may have been it. johnson’s solo albums fit that period well, so maybe our moods were aligned at the time. either way, i’ve missed out on this indie-funk juggernaut for too long now. as unlikely as it may be, i’ll be on the lookout for boot party or out of your mind on vinyl at the record store tomorrow. and if not, k recs, i’ll be calling.