« Neon Lights: Titus Andronicus | Main | Numerology: Giving Our Regards to 42nd Street »
February 27, 2008
Retrohump Night: 90's on 90's Crime
the Breeders - "Shocker in Gloomtown"
(Guided by Voices cover)
I've been listening a bit lately to the digitally liberated Breeders album, Mountain Battles and though not entirely knocked out, it is clearly a pretty solid record. But unavoidably, when a long time artist of some considerable nostalgic heft releases a new disc, thoughts turn quickly to greater glories. Searching through the YouTube flotsam, I came across this Guided by Voices cover that I'd somehow missed in its heyday. The GBV song came from 1993's Grand Hour EP, and the cover's conception is easily traced to the two bands' shared Dayton roots. I never really saw the Breeders as lo-fi Ohio refugees. Whether It was their Convertible riding "Cannonball" iconography, or just lingering Pixies associations, I always had California on the brain. So the imagery of this video is surprisingly appealing in theory. I'd like to think of small rainy Midwestern towns in the nineties having row after row of garages filled with kick ass bands. But in spite of that lo-fi romanticism, this version (released on the band's Head to Toe 7") doesn't quite work for me. Some Pollard songs would benefit from flexing the guitar muscle, but not this one. I'm now daydreaming about what the Deals could do with "Glad Girls" or "Back to the Lake" though.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at February 27, 2008 09:20 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.merryswankster.com/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/1457
