New Beck Track: "I Won't Be Long"

All-star full album improv cover-jams, interviews with celebrities, a play-it-yourself album of sheet music, a cover of Bowie's "Sound and Vision" with a 160-piece band - how did Beck become so interesting again over the past five years? From a 12" single due July 8:

Musicians Writing About Musicians, Eh?

http://thetalkhouse.com/about

And unlike the 33 1/3 series, it's mostly musicians I care about including Andrew W.K., Robert Pollard, Melissa Auf der Maur, Flying Lotus, Richard Hell and Bowie. Duff McKagan also writes about KISS which appeals to at least a few people I know ... Check out the latest read which is by White Lung's Mish Way on Waxahatchee.

David Bowie Discusses the Pixies

"I found it just about the most compelling music outside of Sonic Youth in the entire 80s."

Magnetic Fields Can Be Heroes Too

Last month, a friend and I were talking about the Magnetic Fields, a genre-bending English band I'd liked in high school but completely abandoned a few years ago. My friend is still a big fan, and after he described the differences between several of Magnetic Fields' albums, specifically the fuzzy, "punkier" Distortion (Nonesuch Records, 2008), I decided to re-investigate Magnetic Fields starting with that very album (I'd only ever had the Fields' triple-album magnum opus 69 Love Songs). My YouTubing, vis-à-vis my decision, brought me to Magnetic Fields' 1996 cover of David Bowie’s song "Heroes." And what a fucking cover it is:



I'm mainly posting Magnetic Fields' cover of "Heroes" not only because it's awesome but because of this user-comment:

"… the drone and aimlessness and monotony are what make this an excellent cover. Bowie's version highlights on being a hero, but this version flips it on its head and focuses on 'just for one day.'? What do you have before and after? The monotony and drone of your everyday life.”

- pimcnulty

Fuck, that is a cool interpretation. Being able to see music or any piece of art that way, whether through my own perspicacity or someone else's, is why I love analyzing art sometimes. If I could make (and back up) such observations about music, I'd definitely try to make a living out of doing so. For now though, I'll resign myself to blogging about music, however insightfully or not, in my spare time.