Day 4: Remix
I needed something simpler for today and I'm feeling self-indulgent, so I'm gonna yap about this cover album that I've been a little obsessed with recently.
Deerhoof is my most scrobbled band on last.fm (2,506 plays as of my writing this, and counting). Somewhat recently I realized I hadn't listened to them in a while, and I learned it was because they pulled their music off of spotify, in response to the CEO's funding of military AI. Other artists have done the same, King Gizzard and Massive Attack being among the more notable ones.
It's undeniably a goated move, but that left the question of how I would go about streaming their music going forward. I'm trialing Tidal right now and it's pretty good. Consequently I've been bumping Deerhoof like crazy - 279 plays in the last month alone, as if I'm making up for lost time. Their album, Love-Lore, has been heavy in my rotation.
I haven't listened to a lot of cover albums, so I may just be lacking a proper point of reference - but Love-Lore is unique. It's a seamless, impassioned cacophony - 43 songs covered over 34 minutes in 5 tracks. The album was conceptualized and preformed for the Time:Spans festival in 2019. Benjamin Piekut, festival curator and scholar of experimental music, writes: "We wanted to think about the history of ... 'experimental music'—through many lenses, as practiced by many different kinds of subjects drawing on distinct yet frequently intersecting traditions. My first idea was to ask the band to perform a complete album, start to finish, but not one of their own. Ultimately, the band settled on a much better idea ...I loved this solution because it highlighted the active role of listening, the participatory dynamic of the vernacular, and the almost pedagogical quality of musical arrangement: 'Here is how we hear this one!'" Deerhoof's entry into the cover album canon speaks to a dynamism and raw craftmanship that, for me, is unparalelled.
I listen to a lot of music, but the unfortunate truth is that I'm not familiar with a lot of the aritsts and songs convered on this album. Those that I do recognize, like Electric Avenue and Rainbow Connection make for fun "easter eggs". My lack of familiarity with the source materials doesn't make the album any less enjoyable, but it does pose a fun challenge: that of widening my musical lexicon. Thankfully, people have already made playlists toward that effect, and I plan on working my way through them (whenever I'm not distracted by whatever earworm has me captive). I have to imagine that doing so will only further my enjoyment of Love-Lore, which would be impressive, since I already enjoy it a whole lot! And I'm looking forward to widening my breadth of musical familiarty (or, to be more frivolous, bumping up my stats on last.fm). It's a win-win-win!
Love-Lore is free, as all the best things are. You can stream it on Bandcamp, Tidal, or get the MP3s from Deerhoof themselves.