Because I wrote about Title Tracks’ versions of songs by The Flamin’ Groovies and The Merseybeats earlier this week, and because Bob Dylan’s truly atrocious new disc of Christmas standards leaked yesterday, I’ve been thinking a lot about covers.

Let’s put aside the illustrious history of ill-advised tributes (read: the entire Me First and the Gimme Gimmes oeuvre). A good cover can both satisfy a simple, dorky impulse—to hear one artist you admire spin another in an interesting way—and prove rather instructional. For example, it can tell you that Title Tracks frontman John Davis is probably a sucker for semi-obscure gems (he is), as well as a student of infectious, pop-classicist hooks. With that in mind, I’ve collected some recent covers by local artists.

My short list, after the jump, is fairly folk- and indie-centric, and by no means complete. Tell me what I missed in the comments.

Read More “Your Local Faves, Playing Other People’s Songs” »

So, you like Daniel Johnston’s music. And maybe you’ve glanced over the Waller, Texas-based outsider artist’s drawings—surreal folk-art interpretations of Superman and Casper the Friendly Ghost, along with other, harder-to-define images—and liked those, too. So how’s about getting lost in a three-dimensional labyrinth where his drawings spring to life and gyrate to  his greatest hits?

Last week Austin, Texas-based game company Dr. Fun Fun released Hi, How Are You, an iPhone game based on Johnston’s work. It’s pretty weird.

It’s also habit-forming: In terms of rock-nerd esoterica, Hi, How Are You beats the pants off of Brian Eno’s snoozy iPhone-based ambient music generator, Bloom.

Maybe some other outsider/folk artists, or their estates, should consider getting in on this as well. A couple of  recommendations:

Read More “Three More Outsider Artist iPhone Apps” »

David Byrne’s had his hands in many a cookie jar. The ex-Talking Head and Luaka Bop label founder played a building (literally), designed cheeky bike racks, and released one of 2008’s best records with fellow ’70s-era musical-genius-who-just-won’t-quit Brian Eno. Now Byrne’s got a new concept album in the works (via Stereogum via BBC).

Inspired by Imelda Marcos, the high heels-happy wife of ex-dictator of the Phillipines Ferdinand Marcos, Byrne penned the album with Fatboy Slim. Together they’re recruiting different vocalists for each track. So far, Santigold is on board as well. Byrne told BBC’s 6 Music:

There is a different singer on every song including Sharon Jones from Amy Winehouse’s backing band The Dap Tones, Alice Russell and Tori Amos. There’s a lot of singers, it goes on and on.

“On and on”? How many tracks are on this album? Here’s hoping Byrne doesn’t jump the shark with this one.

What is David Byrne interested in as a musician? What does he like, and what makes him cranky? There’s probably no multiplatinum-selling rock frontman who’s more deliberately Sphinx-like—he’s usually had some complaint or other to make about consumerism, but he’s more likely to soak those messages in abstraction (”Heaven”) or irony (”[Nothing But] Flowers”) than in anything resembling outrage. Saying that he’s a tough guy to figure out, though, is not the same thing as saying he’s disinterested. For an hour and 45 minutes at the Warner Theatre last night, he played an energetic set that was drawn largely from his collaborations with Brian Eno, from their new album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today back to their work with “other musicians,” as he said at the start of the show. Maybe saying the words “Talking Heads” is what makes him cranky.

Read More “David Byrne @ the Warner Theatre 11/9″ »

Seriously, it’s been on repeat in the office all morning and doesn’t appear to be losing steam. “Strange Overtones,” they call it, and it rocks—in the offbeat, bouncily bittersweet way that you’d probably expect. It’s tight but expansive, rhythmically impeccable and certainly not—whatever Byrne may sing in the chorus—”slightly out of fashion.”

Download it here (free and legal!), or watch the, er, video below.

Everything That Happens Will Happen Today is available for digital download on August 18.