As it says on the sticker on the front......"Toronto ambient/shoegaze/drone duo NADJA illustrate their diverse roots by covering some of their favorite artists: My Bloody Valentine, The Cure, A-ha, The Swans, Codeine, Slayer, Elliot Smith and Kids In The Hall. This album contains eight carefully-selected covers re-imagined through NADJA's unique sonic blueprint."
Oh How they try....I love this sentence from the promo sticker..."carefully-selected covers re-imagined".Right.
When a musician has lost their Mojo,and are scrambling for ideas,they either steal them from lesser mortals and claim them as products of their undoubted genius, or they stoop to the 'Covers Album' reset mode and claim they are paying a humble tribute to the artists who inspired them in their formative years. David Bowie is one of the few artists who have done both in their lauded career,always being seen around where the action is before releasing another album in the series before the person he stole from,and even having them in the band,which made it easier.He also made "Pin Ups",his covers album,when he was devoid of ideas, and use his star power to cajole any gullible chums to nick the odd riff off;with no credit of course.
They've all done it those genius's, even the magnificent Duran Duran,with their sickeningly disingenuous "Thank You". Voted the worst album of all time by the equally sickening "Q" magazine,which included the famously cloth-eared recording of "911 is a joke" as made by millionaire white guys making a joke out of the rap classic about systemic racism.Don't you just love 'em.....I do and I ain't joking.
Last years bogie man Nick Cave ,when failing to find a way to not sound like every solo album he's ever made, tried to show us ignorants his impeccable taste by predictably recording tastefully selected forgotten country classics and crooning blues dirges;but also joining Duran Duran in fucking over a Velvet Underground number......that at least deserves some respect......not a lot....but some?
Elvis Costello did a drearily dreadful album of Country classics did he not? Another burk in the impeccable good taste club.
An accusation we can not repeat about Metallica whose consummately terrible taste, is responsible for wiping their arses on classics from Killing Joke, Motorhead and Black Sabbath? No clever reconstrustions of non-rock tunes done with a splash of humour like The Melvins' borderline 'good' "Everybody Loves Sausages" from 2013, when Buzz must have hit a creative wall.Notable high spots were a Throbbing Gristle Cover which is not actually a cover but an "interpretation", and a not to be missed version of 1st album Jam's "Art School",where the boys show off their finely honed English 'Oi' accents......I don't remember Dick Van Dyke being in The Jam,but apparently he was? I suppose I should name a cover versions collection that doesn't suck balls in any way whatsoever hadn't I,or you might think me a right cynical ol'Bastard twat Cunt?......The answer is not a musical version of 42, even though it certainly is.....i'm gonna have to say that "For Ladies Only" by the beyond great Killdozer is indeed the best covers album ever made.....go on,change my mind!.
It's all just a bit of fun innit,we all wanna make a covers album don't we?......here's one for the boys.....what would you put on your covers album? 12 tracks limit, answers on a postcard,entries arrive no later than the moment Putin's successor activates the Nuclear codes.
Although I could write about cover albums by narcissists 'til the cows come home, we are being distracted from the subject of this post,about the Covers album by Canadian Dreamsludge duo Nadja.
A duo whose sub-genre definition falls between many stools,but on this occasion, maybe just Shoegaze is appropriate,and cleansing in its simplicity.Especially as it opens with a crawling "My Bloody Valentine" cover dowsed in treacle played at 16rpm (why do these modern record players no longer have 16 or 78 as an option?).In fact if there is one criticism, it's that it's not slow enough.
Underrated Norwegian Pop Trio, A-Ha, get dragged through the sludge to great effect, as,predictably,does Swans.Maybe a Swans cover played in the style of The Wedding Present would have been a better idea methinks.....we know very well they're influenced by Michael Gira's slothful combo,and we know what they sound like too.
I had to look up Elliot Smith(track 6)......a dead bloke,who plays fragile minimal acoustic numbers. I suppose it makes a change from Syd Barratt?.......although one would have loved to hear a Dreamsludge version of "Dark Globe" one must admit.
Alas, as with all these cover albums, one,as the listener, is rapidly titillated at what these crazy katz are gonna do with your favourite songs,that it very quickly fizzles out then fades away,and we return to the original versions with a new vigor,'cus cover version are crap aren't they?
So as 'pop' music becomes the new Classical,and we all run out of tunes and new ideas, and music returns to the art of Interpretation only, as it has been in the Classical music world for the last two hundred or so years. No-one can berate the ol' Ludwig Van for having no new material anymore, except via those in the medium community of rip-off merchants and exploiters,who regularly channel new Beethoven pieces from the spirit world......even though some Pop Stars,musicians and their like, evidently think that they ARE Beethoven reborn.
Still waiting for that 10th Symphony Lud.......if possible an Ambient Doom version please Vielen Danke in advance.
Tracklist:
2. Pea 4:09
3. No Cure For The Lonely 6:56
4. Dead Skin Mask 10:06
5. The Sun Always Shines On TV 6:01
6. Needle In The Hay 4:45
7. Long Dark Twenties 6:35
8. Faith 12:47
