Tunes Consumed: the Poutine Silver Platter

[Your first helping of Gravy was back in June.]

I’m guessing you’re all familiar with the Now That’s What I Call Music! series of compilations, where big-wig corporation EMI tries to commercialize even further singles that were, to be frank, whored way too much throughout the industry already. The formula is simple: blindly throw together 40 chart-topping hits, slap a brand on it, and sell it to the slathering masses. There’s no discretion, there’s no sequencing appeal or concept behind it. Just full-out party cds for the kids who don’t listen to enough music to define their own tastes, but can quickly and easily fake it with a NOW mix.

Usually I glaze over things like this, you know, like the fact that they now have their 66th edition out, and the fact that it has dear Lily Allen right next to U2 and Beyoncé. As if that wasn’t heartache enough already, they’re now trying to capitalise on the indie market with their This Is NEXT compilation (it was originally thought to be called Now That’s What I Call Indie!). Maybe I’m a little protective of my baby, but seriously, just look at this tracklist:

01 Bloc Party - “The Prayer”
02 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - “Cheated Hearts”
03 Sonic Youth - “Do You Believe In Rapture?”
04 The Shins - “Phantom Limb”
05 Spoon - “The Underdog”
06 Bright Eyes - “Four Winds”
07 Cat Power - “Lived In Bars”
08 Neko Case - “Hold On, Hold On”
09 Of Montreal - “Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse”
10 Deerhoof - “The Perfect Me”
11 The Hold Steady - “Chips Ahoy!”
12 Cold War Kids - “Hang Me Up To Dry”
13 Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - “Colleen”
14 M. Ward - “Chinese Translation”
15 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! - “Satan Said Dance”

So now, even if you’re such a casual listener that you want in on the indie scene, but are too lazy to inquire into anything yourself, you can just snap up one of these priceless babies (sic) and rejoice! It saddens me that songs like Of Montreal’s can be taken out of context like that (Hissing Fauna, is afterall, a concept album), or that Clap Your Hands’ track is one of the least defining tracks that could have possibly been chosen to represent them. Clearly, we all need to start using the term post-indie now before it’s too late!

In some other news, there’ve been a few sweet covers I’ve been meaning to share. The first one I was turned onto by YANP, a cover of The Magnetic Fields done at a live performance by John Vanderslice & the sweet St. Vincent, like a match made in heaven:

… and here’s the original Yeah! Oh Yeah! by The Magnetic Fields.

Second comes to the tune of a song I’ve heard WAY too much. Peter Bjorn and John’s “Young Folks” ohh that whistling… it haunts. There wasn’t a single bistro in all of North America that didn’t play this for the last three(?) seasons. Despite how many times I’ve heard it though, it still makes me grin like a fool. Kanye West does some rapping over-top the familiar sound, always and again rapping about who else but himself: Kanye West - Young Folks. (cheers to lycanthropy for finding this first).

And finally, to end on an even more laughable cover, the culture of me dug up one of Smells Like Teen Spirit over on the Tubes, and it’s not your typical band. They’re uh, Korean, and so there’s some missing “s” sounds on the end of words, and a lot of “l”s become “r”s, but you gotta give it to them, they really have the energy (and the lights).

just the sauce:
Kanye West - Young Folks
The Magnetic Fields - Yeah! Oh Yeah!
St. Vincent & John Vanderslice - Yeah! Oh Yeah! (The Magnetic Fields cover)