I love it when bands take compositions and really screw with them. Today's track is a Depeche Mode song, one of their later ones - 'I Feel You' from 1993. Get a load of this...
It's a song that has been much covered by the likes of Placebo, Johnny Marr and Apollo 440 giving it a once-over. Now there has been a three-way collab between Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (busy with that At The Drive In re-reformation) and Terri Gender Bender (Le Butcherettes) and Baltimore's With Lions, who have just released their own record Fast Luck - and it has taken on a decidedly Chelsea Wolfe meets Ennio Morricone vibe, which I am hardwired to love. I won't be able to listen to another version of this, even the original, ever again.
Surprise surprise, The Body are back and as cheerless and dire as ever. You thought I Shall Die Here was the nadir of their nihilistic loathing? Their new album, out on Thrill Jockey next month, is called No One Deserves Happiness. And judging their work alongside Thou and Wrekmeister Harmonies, it’s more than likely that the duo will push the black envelope further out into the void (they are quoted as saying they want this record to be the grossest pop album of all time). ‘Shelter Is Illusory’ shows off their new tangent in all its misery-inducing glory – the synthetic handclaps, the soaring production, the calibrated, pummelling drums. It feels windswept, a dark chasm with smoke machines and a toga-flailing Syren calling forlornly across eternity. Finding new ways to hate and self-flagellate.
The Body are hitting Europe in April, see below for details (London’s show is at Electric Brixton on the 13th - with Converge no less! Get tix here).
So we reach another week's end - thank fuck, amiright??? SO I have something special for you. I have mentioned Chelsea Wolfe in the past - she is pretty damned incredible. Well she has done a cover rendition of the seminal Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' 'I Let Love In'. I'm in love with this lady, so this seemed like a no-brainer. And guess what? Smashed outta the park...
I must admit Ive been behind the eight-ball on this one. By about four or so months I reckon. I first heard some stuff by Chelsea Wolfe a few days before I left London, back in January this year. My sister and her fella were gushing over her, saying that she held a style and sound very similar to Zola Jesus. I have to say that there are slim similarities, but Wolfe's oeuvre is somewhat darker - yet it is bubbling under the same gossamer sheen that Zola and other artists like Glasser utilise, thus making it even more menacing and captivating. That was The Grime And The Glow. If you haven't heard it, fucking hear it. It is dark, disturbed, and altogether beautiful. I am in its sway and thrall, like a voodoo curse. Be careful with this - its a narcotic you may not be able to return from...
