Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Patrick Watson - Fireweed

Nadja - Only Shallow

i didn't quite see this one coming - a covers album by the fuzzed-out Nadja! it kicks off, or rather meanders off, with perhaps a little too faithful rendition of only shallow (which of course means that it is still pretty damn good). it is not a stretch to see how Nadja's drone get's applied to gem's like Codeine's 'pea' but the real treats here are the covers of a-ha's 'the sun always shines on tv' (the album title cleverly combines the opening lines of 'pea' and the title and a-ha's 'classic') and elliott smith's 'needle in the hay'. and it goes far beyond being simply the 'oh look what they have done' sort of thrill. nadja actually adds something to a-ha's original and manages to preserve the spirit of elliott smith's song although it sounds vastly different. overall an unlikely success.

Saturday, May 02, 2009

Patrick Wolf - Vulture

Hmmm, interesting. After toying with orchestral pop on his last album, the Magic Position (see below), Patrick Wolf has now transformed into some combination of Marc Almond, Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails.

Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position