The Contest Winner

Thanks to everyone who submitted a response for the contest! It was silly-hard to pick the "best" band or album I'd like to hear the Walkmen cover, but it's done.

The winner is: The Faces' A Nod Is As Good As A Wink... To A Blind Horse

congratulations to Patrick Hayden, proud new owner of the Walkmen's Pussy Cats... starring the Walkmen cd/dvd and a limited edition silkscreened poster, signed by the artist

Here are the responses I liked best:

Clem Snide - No One's More Happy Than You [mp3]

This song has the drunken shamble that the Walkmen do so well, and the "Louisiana" horns I love so much.

Them ft. Van Morrison - If You And I Could Be As Two [mp3]
from Here Comes The Night

This was my second-favorite response, a superb album that displays an energy the Walkmen could match. As the commenter noted, Hamilton's howl would suit a young Van Morrison's wonderfully.

Fleetwood Mac's Tusk

To hear the Walkmen play "What Makes You Think You're The One" would be special, and I'm surprised they haven't already adopted "The Ledge"'s goofy bounce.

Sheryl Crow - If It Makes You Happy

When you're done snickering, consider how well it would work.

Broken Social Scene - Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day)

This the most Walkmen-esque song in the B.S.S. catalog, and one of their best anyway. I'd really like to hear the band cover something as momentous as this.

Dwight Yoakam - Sorry You Asked

Proclamations like "You'll be sorry you didn't ask why" could easily have come from a Walkmen song, only they'd have more sting and conviction.

The Faces' A Nod Is As Good As A Wink... To A Blind Horse

I'm sorry I don't have an mp3 of this, but I'll say it's got all the right ingredients: the swagger, the energy, the awesome vocals (Rod Stewart sang in the Faces). It's the best fit, and it's not one that came to my mind quickly.

Animal Collective - Grass [mp3]

Jamison was right, Matt Barrick's drumming is an absolutely perfect match for this propulsive number. Have you ever seen Matt Barrick drum? He bounces (gleefully). Of course, if they played this song they it would intensify, and the bounce would be in full effect.

The Ronettes - Be My Baby [mp3]

Yes, they've already done "There Goes My Baby," which is close enough in my mind, but they do it damn well.

Thanks again to all who entered! I didn't dare dream of such a success.

The Walkmen's Pussy Cats... is out now (stream it!) (buy it!), here's another track:

The Walkmen - All My Life [mp3]

Pet Politics and some Fun

After some great loss, the issues with my mail have been sorted (ha!) and I can again e-purchase with abandon. I was able to recover, with help, some of the things I was sent but never received, like Pet Politics Spring EP.

Magnus Larsson's singing voice, honeyed and sweetly accented, sounds close-by, but the music is seemingly from a different time. It's all familiar, the bright instrumentation and the benign melody, which gives it a refreshingly complete feel. "Life Goes On" closes the EP with a slow push, perfect for an afternoon's languor.

Pet Politics - Life Goes On [mp3]

buy Pet Politics' Spring EP from Catbird Records for a measly $3.50

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Make Your Own (Halloween) Mash-Up!

Yesterday while sat at the piano, a friend noted that the Pipettes' "Pull Shapes"' melody is so ubiquitous, especially in songs of the era they're mining, that it could be mashed up with any number of absurd songs. His suggestion? "Monster Mash." It's more fun to mash up "live," by singing the Graveyard Smash over the Pipettes. Also, because I have no idea how to mash up a song.

The Pipettes - Pull Shapes [mp3]

buy the Pipettes' self-titled album here

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Did you enter the Walkmen contest? It's still going on, FYI.

Don't any of you music bloggers want to join me, Goose and others in the fantasy basketball league?

Walkmen Contest

THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED! THANKS FOR ENTERING.

Friends and readers, today is special: it's my birthday and it marks the first Bows + Arrows contest. Naturally, it is a Walkmen giveaway!


As many of you know, the Walkmen are releasing an album this Tuesday, a song-for-song remake of the Harry Nilsson classic Pussy Cats. To celebrate, and it's a terrific album, I am giving away:

a copy of the album and a special, limited edition silkscreened poster.

Frame it. Also, this is a cd & dvd version, the latter featuring a 20-minute making-of documentary.

So, to win? I'll make it easy:

Leave a comment naming a band or album you'd like to hear the Walkmen cover, along with your email address. Alternately, send your suggestion in an email to brian@bowsplusarrows.com

Be creative! I'll pick my favorite suggestion a week from today.

Here's a few covers they've done to this point, with my favorite being the opener from Pussy Cats, the classic "Many Rivers to Cross."

The Walkmen - Many Rivers to Cross (Jimmy Cliff via Harry Nilsson) [mp3] [buy]

The Walkmen - Another One Goes By (Mazarin) [mp3] [buy]

The Walkmen - There Goes My Baby (Drifters) [mp3] [buy]

The Walkmen - Fly Into the Mystery (Modern Lovers) [mp3] [buy]

The Walkmen's Pussy Cats starring The Walkmen comes out October 24, pre-order it here and view their ecard here

Watch for an interview with the band in the next couple weeks, and good luck!

Go Big

Langhorne Slim - Restless [mp3]

You can't hide Langhorne Slim's voice, but then, why would you want to? It's sharp and bright, as if designed to commandeer the listener's attention. You don't mind, though, because these songs' shamble and shake are compellingly mellifluous, from "Sweet Olive Tree"'s sparsity to the barnburning "Honey Pie." The Engine EP, though it comprises only four songs, is a remarkable little release, certainly one that's managed to capture my regard. Looking back at my favorite releases, I realize this is the case with most of Brian Deck's productions. Hmm.

Langhorne stopped by Daytrotter last week and recorded a wonderful set - do yourself a favor and check it out, especially the wonderful "By the Time the Sun's Gone Down" and the unreleased "She's Gone."

buy Langhorne Slim's Engine EP here

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You know, Albert Hammond, Jr.'s song "In Transit" isn't that bad. I don't know why, but I had it in my head that his new solo album Yours To Keep would, by default, follow the trajectory mapped by the Strokes' discography (not good). It's sweeter, unabashedly poppy, but those laser guitars keep it interesting.

Albert Hammond, Jr. - In Transit [mp3]

buy Albert Hammond, Jr.'s Yours To Keep here

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How did I miss this Oxford Collapse song? Probably the asinine title. But no, it's good! It's great! It's got vocals that remind me of Wilderness, which remind me of something else altogether. Let's continue this trend (go big!), yeah?

Oxford Collapse - Please Visit Your National Parks [mp3]

buy Oxford Collapse's Remember the Night Parties here

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The new Patrick Wolf song is glorious, the way it keeps slipping away from itself, the way it can't keep together. It's something altogether different than "The Libertine," my favorite from Wind in the Wires, but it somehow strikes me as the song he was itching to make. Maybe it's the hair, maybe it's the video. Don't watch it.

Patrick Wolf - Accident & Emergency [mp3]

Patrick Wolf's The Magic Position comes out early next year

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Next week sees the first Bows + Arrows contest take place! Stay tuned. Also, if you haven't yet, listen to that Colour Revolt song. Please.

Ash In Our Pockets

I try not to say X sounds like Y too often, especially when Y is a band like the Arcade Fire. But, man, when I listen to Colour Revolt's "Mattresses Underwater," I'm taken somewhere eerily close to the Funeral site. Somewhere out in the snow, where youth circle garbage fires, wracked by worry and passion. They sing in "we"s of the terrible truths they've discovered - "We should probably get used to it, but we don't." Gripping.

Colour Revolt - Mattresses Underwater [mp3]

buy Colour Revolt's Colour Revolt EP here

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Last night's Sufjan Stevens and My Brightest Diamond concert was perhaps the best show I've ever seen. The songs, embellished with strings and horns and the Pacific Mozart Ensemble choir, were improbably huge and impossibly flawless. I have no doubt that Sufjan Stevens is the finest musician today.

!

From the Wrens newsletter:

- charles is doing a split single with Will Sheff from Okkervil River. Charles covers ‘it ends with a fall’ done live w/ loops and Will’s doing ‘ex-girl collection’. A funny little story how it all came about, but one probably best told another time. Probably winter maybe.

I can't begin to tell you how exciting this is! Favorites and favorites. I say "Ex-Girl Collection" is, lyrically, one of the finest songs ever. That's right, we're speaking in evers.

Okkervil River - It Ends with a Fall [mp3]

buy Okkervil River's Down the River of Golden Dreams here

Will Sheff mp3 blogs!

I Don't Know any Pretty Redheads

Teen Idols - 20 Below [mp3]

This came up randomly the other day and, happily, sounded good as ever. See, sometimes when I open time capsules I can no longer relate, and it's saddening. But this song, it's irreducible and flawless pop, and it's rock. A dialogue between cheater and cheated doesn't deserve to be this fun, or end so quickly. As a bonus, when singing along, choose either harmony, or make up your own. See? Still sounds good!

buy the Teen Idols' Pucker Up! here

Hellogoodbye - Here (In Your Arms) [mp3]

I'll spin this into a confession: A few years ago, my then-girlfriend was excited about a band called Hellogoodbye, who she somehow knew or kind-of-knew. She played me a song, I couldn't process the pop of it, and I took my defense and mocked it. The Velvets-aping album cover, the inane lyrics, the name - like that. Now when I happen across a song by the same band and fall hard, I can't help but feel ashamed. I'm sorry, I'm sorry everybody, I am.

Oh yeah - I like it because it reminds me of "Do You Believe in Live After Love?" (bad idea?).

buy Hellogoodbye's Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! here

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Help Stereogum find those Decemberists b-sides!

I'm seeing Sufjan and My Brightest Diamond tomorrow. I heard talk of a 24-piece choir. I can only think about it so much before passing out.

Let's Address the Issues of the Day

First, the new Hold Steady record. My love for Separation Sunday has been documented here before, and I couldn't imagine how the (mostly Pitchfork-generated) rumors and hints of Boys and Girls in America could possibly hold true.

Now that I've listened, I can say these are good songs. At least, that's what I think - I can hardly make out what Finn's saying-singing in these songs because they're mixed so poorly. I can hardly bring myself to listen to the album, even though I know there are some killer tracks on there, really, it's tragic. I had been waiting to hear a studio version of "Stuck Between Stations" for a long time, I guess I'll stick with the version they played on The Current last year (I'd rather hear him too loud).

The Hold Steady - Chips Ahoy! [mp3]

The Hold Steady - Stuck Between Stations (live on The Current) [mp3]

buy Boys and Girls in America

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Second, the new Decemberists album. It's exciting to listen to them, how, with each new album, they hone their idiosyncratic vision to something more forceful and fantastic. The Crane Wife isn't precious or grating, no more sea-chanteys, but it's still quirky and entirely accessible. The "Crane Wife" suite (that's 1-3) is, simply, amazing. The first two combine to recall "California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade," and the third opens the disc rolling downhill, gathering momentum and gusto. Also, Moistworks pointed out that the Shankill Butchers are a very real thing. Terrifying.

On iTunes, download the bonus track "After the Bombs."

The Decemberists - Summersong [mp3]

buy The Crane Wife

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Third, the new Blood Brothers album. Check the video for "Lazer Life" here. How, how can you not like the Blood Brothers?

pre-order Young Machetes (October 10)

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Here's one I haven't seen around, but was prompted to consider. It's by a band called Princeton, and it's lo-fi mop-pop whatever, charming. I'm moved to mention it not only because, well, it's quite nice, but also because when I listen I hear the singer's tongue hanging out, I see it, and I want to laugh and tuck it back in. Funny.

Princeton - Tokyo, Japan [mp3]

buy A Case of the Emperor's Clothes

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Does anyone else get a thoroughly lukewarm feeling from the Swan Lake songs and their accompanying reviews? I guess I'll come out and say I'm disappointed.

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The new addition to Pitchfork's Infinite Mixtape is pretty damn sweet - Christopher Willits' "Colors Shifting." It makes me want to go back to my Fennesz albums I haven't heard in too long.

Christopher Willits - Colors Shifting [mp3]

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I apologize for my feed's misbehavior. I was unaware, and I have no clue how to fix it.

Four Girls

Bob Dylan - Girl From The North Country [mp3]

I've got a couple versions of Dylan (and Dylan & friends) doing this one, but it's this beautifully measured and simply picked original, from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, that remains the most affecting.

M. Ward, Conor Oberst and Jim James - Girl From The North Country [mp3]

This, a typically ramshackle live number, feels good (and probably felt even better if you were there). But the collaboration, of course, recalls the Dylan/Cash version from Nashville Skyline, which I don't like nearly as much. It's not as stately or clean and clear as the solo Dylan take, so while it works well as a buddy-buddy-buddy set closer, something's inherently lost in translation.

Mojave 3 - Girl From The North Country [mp3]

Secret Machines - Girl From The North Country [mp3]

These two sound, unsurprisingly, like a Mojave 3 song and a Secret Machines song, respectively. But while Halstead & co. bore it up some, turning the original to air and smoke rising (slowly) and dissipating, the Machines fare better by taking the epic (nine minute!) route. Like their best, the song evolves from a swirling, panned nascence to a momentous, heavy and gorgeous statement. I wonder if Dylan would like this (probably not). Freakin' cosmic.

Buy the original here, the Mojave 3 version here and the Secret Machines version here.

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Also, hooray for Page France's Daytrotter session!