Don't Judge a Song by its Cover

 

I know, I know! I've been notable in my absence. Notably absent. Absence duly noted. Thankfully, Eliza's been holding down the LHNA fort in said absence. In my defence, I've been oh so busy; pretty much working non-stop since getting back from Spain a few weeks ago (more on that in the coming months...). And yet it's no excuse! So sorry, dear reader!
 
Here are a few pretty special recent covers (+ an older one) for your listening pleasure:

Grizzly Bear - Boy From School (Hot Chip)

Superchunk - Say My Name (Destiny's Child)

Jay Reatard - Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle (Nirvana)

Ted Leo - With Every Heartbeat (Kleerup feat. Robyn cover)

A Look Back: Primavera Club 2009

It was a tiring week (we're staying 30 minutes outside Barcelona and the daily back and forth was something of a challenge) but well worth it. We ate Pakistani food, visited our beloved Wok to Walk, saw a lot of the city and uhm, obviously a bunch of great bands!

 

 -Best venue: Sala Apolo (located in a beautiful 1940s dance-hall)

-Best performance: Beach House (Steven), Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard (Eliza) - I'm sure the fact that they played Bugs & Flowers specially for her had something to do with that ;-)

-Cheapest beer: Monasterio (€3.50)

-Best (and funniest) inter-song talking: So Cow

-Most fun: Devendra Banhart and the Grogs (though Eliza thought: "So yesterday we saw Devendra Banhart. It was packed, he was cool, did some cute silly dancing, the crowd loved him. But, this being the first time I'd seen him, I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. I've always felt his biggest strength lies in his quieter, mellower songs, the ones that bring out his voice. Todo los dolores. At the hop. This beard is for Siobhan. The Beatles. Mama Wolf. He played none of these songs. Highlights: Baby, Angelika")

-Best standing-in-one-place-dancing-and-looking cute-as-hell: Neon Indian's keyboard player

-Longest queue: Woods at Jamboree 

-Best surprise: Furguson

 

Best covers* we heard at Primavera Club: 

Neil Young - Out on the Weekend (Deer Tick)
John Prine - Sam Stone (Deer Tick)
Television Personalities - This Angry Silence (So Cow)
Nirvana - Sifting (Jeffrey Lewis)

 

(*These are all the original versions)

The Pastels - Sala Apolo

Furguson - Sidecar

Jeffrey Lewis merch table - Sala Apolo

Jeffrey Lewis & the Junkyard - Sala Apolo

Post Woods - Jamboree

 

So Cow - La [2] De Apolo

Neon Indian - Sala Apolo

(waiting for) Neon Indian - Sala Apolo

 See you all in May!

The Hanged Man

by Dave McKean

Last week I saw Batman Begins
which reminded me I have a borrowed copy of Arkham Asylum somewhere on a shelf
which has beautiful albeit creepy illustrations by Dave Mckean
which brought to memory the picture above
which in turn made me think of this song.

Nirvana - They Hung Him On a Cross (Demo Version 1989)
*I don't know if we can call it a Leadbelly cover, but it's an American folk song and the first recorded version that exists of it (1945) belongs to Leadbelly; in fact, Cobain apparently planned to record this for a Leadbelly tribute album

In a world so full of things, where could one find Nothing?

The Shortwave Set - Harmonia (Replica Sun Machine, 2008)
Nils Folke Valdemar Sings - The Taking Off of Pants (Songs Until You Tell Me to Shut Up, 2006)
[download full album from his official website]
Les Enfant Bastard - U R My Fucking Sunshine U Cunt (Bambi, 2006)
[download full album from Umor Rex]
Your Heart Breaks - Torrey Pines ft. Kimya Dawson (Torrey Pines/The Rolling Clouds, 2008)

+ head over to It's Hard to Find a Friend to hear Via Audio and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin performing each other's songs together (and covering Nirvana's Heartshaped Box and Radiohead's Weird Fishes)
+ Foggy Ruins of Time has been added to our blog list. Make sure to check it out, especially if you liked our Collective Family posts