Posted by Avanhizzle in Hand Me Down tuesdaY | 0 Comments
hand me down tuesdaY: So you say you want to cover the Pixies, eh?
I suppose we all have a couple of go to’s. Coffee is my go to beverage. Fruity Pebbles is my go to cereal. Shoes are my go to footwear. And the Pixies are my go to loud and aggressive alternative rock band. While I can’t listen to them every day, every week, or every month, every now and then I’ll get this weird feeling in the back of my brain that tells me I need to scroll down to “pixies” and click play. While they are extremely capable of creating sugary sweet melodies, think Doolittle, they have come to dominate my headspace more for their brand of abrasive rock, bone chilling guitar riffs, vocals better suited to scream along to, and most prominently for participating in soundtracking the best credit sequence EVER.
Lyrically strange on both accounts, “Gigantic” and “Where is my Mind?” can be found on the Pixies critically acclaimed first full length, Surfer Rosa. And if you ask me, both are perfect examples of what the Pixies sound is; beautiful carnage. If you listen close you’ll often discover chaos is afoot and looming while melody and harmony interject just enough to make the song great. For instance, the howling in “Where is My Mind?” cradles sanity and offers stability to one of the greatest and most intense songs in my library. Another important variable in the equation is the presence of Kim Deal. Her bass lines are consistently a perfect ground wire and her vocals are certainly enough to satisfy your sweet tooth. Both are all over “Gigantic.”
Covering these two classics are Bloodshot Records recording artist Bobby Bare Jr. and the Oscar winning duo, The Swell Season. In my opinion, Bare Jr. does an incredible job capturing the insanity and intensity of “Where is My Mind?” with just a scratchy voice and an acoustic guitar. And Glen Hansard of The Swell Season adds laughter, lyrical ambiguity, and soothing vocals to “Gigantic”. This one gets two thumbs because it was recorded in Milwaukee with the Whitefish Bay Middle School Choir and I was there. Download & Enjoy!
BUY: Surfer Rosa/ The Longest Meow/ Strict Joy
MP3: Pixies- Where is My Mind?
