sorry attempts

I haven’t released a cover song yet this year, and here we are at the end of the year. So here is my third installment of Jacob vs James: my cover of “Sometimes (Lestor Piggott)”. I’ve been sitting on this recording for over three years. I just tweaked the mix a little today. I’m not sure why I sat on it so long. I think it’s probably the best cover I’ve ever recorded.

It occurred to me this morning as I headed to work on the bus that I had not released a cover song yet this year. The last cover I released was exactly a year ago, on New Year's eve 2013. So I decided to whip something up last minute!

I've been a fan of Snow Patrol for almost 15 years. Back in 2000, I briefly had a subscription to the digital music service emusic.com. It was a pretty good deal as I recall; $10/month for a bunch of downloads (I forget what the limit was), and they had entire catalogs of numerous good labels (such as Jeepster). As I recall, this was how I discover Snow Patrol (also other great bands like Elf Power). I downloaded SP's first two albums, and really got into them. Of course, their sound was a lot different back then.

Final Straw was their third album, released in 2003. I can't believe it's that old now! It was a great album; way bigger and bolder than their first two, and it saved them from obscurity. Final Straw propelled Snow Patrol to semi-stardom, cementing them as pop hitmakers. It had a whole bunch of infectious good tunes like Run, How to be Dead, Wow, and Chocolate.

I actually didn't like the next couple of albums by Snow Patrol, but I've enjoyed their latest album, Fallen Empires, a lot.

Anyway, here is my quick and dirty cover of Tiny Little Fractures. I like this tune; it's upbeat and catchy, and also crunchy and overdriven. I made it even more so, recording it completely with synths/midi, and really jacking up the noise/glitchy factor. It's a dirty, amateur cover, but what do you want for something I whipped up in a few hours?

I thought that it would be a fitting tribute to 2013 (which I thought, in general, was a really excellent year for me, but definitely a year of mixed turmoil for the world at large) to end the year with one last special cover song.

This past March, Jason Molina passed away. Yesterday he would have been 40. Molina was the songwriter/frontman of popular indie staples Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co. And I think that anyone who knows me and my music will nod in agreement that he has been a huge influence to me for over a decade. Indeed, the album from which this cover is taken, Josephine, was my favourite album of 2009 (and arguably the culmination of everything musically awesome that Molina ever did).

Molina's passing made me feel heavy of heart. And of course, it made me examine my own mortality, being so close in age to him. I wrestled with the idea of trying to do a cover that would rightfully honour his songwriting talent. Ultimately, I felt that there is little I could do musically to bring justice to his pieces. They were at once fragile and haphazard, yet brilliant and cohesive in their arrangements and lyrical poise. Molina had a certain rare gift of a true bard, that made people listen, and find both groove and meaning.

So, this is the best I could come up with. I've never done this before. Here is an A capella rendition of "Hope Dies Last", originally by Magnolia Electric Co., covered by yours truly.

Download my brand new cover of James' "Lost A Friend"!

A little over 16 years ago, one of the best albums of all time was released. It's pointless to argue; Whiplash by Manchester band James is a hallmark moment in music history. This album was a game-changer, and I think that most fans and critics alike did not know what to make of it, as it was truly ahead of its time.

James already had a comfy half dozen albums under their belt; a wealth of good pop material. They had honed their skills to the level of consummate performers. They had toured across the world tirelessly. And they could have gone on making britpop gems like those on Seven and Laid: two albums that sold a lot of copies and cemented them as hitmakers in the UK and in North America (getting Brian Eno to produce Laid was no small coup).

So what led to the bizarre and glorious album that is Whiplash? I have readily admitted my bias in the past; I firmly believe that 1997 was the best year in music, and it was a year that James shone. Despite that Whiplash is probably their worst-selling album, it is easily their most challenging, their most conceptual, their most intricate, delicate, complex, and most unique album. Despite? Maybe because of. As I mentioned, I think that Whiplash was ahead of its time. Though far overshadowed in popularity, Whiplash was not unlike its fellow 1997 masterpiece, OK Computer; both albums dealt with similar themes, in similar styles of music, and with a hybridized guitar-electronica slant that was years ahead of their time.

Perhaps one of the more benign, straight-up pop ballads on Whiplash is the second track (which is actually the first new track on the album, since "Tomorrow" was a redux from Wah Wah), "Lost A Friend". When I first heard this track 16 years ago, I fell instantly in love. The bass groove, the dystopic and forlorn lyrics, the aching guitars... this was James at their very best. Not surprisingly, it sets the mood (if not the genre) for the album: sombre yet uplifting; distant yet embracing.

Jacob vs. James track 01: Protect Me

for my friends who have known me for a long time, it is no surprise that James is just about my favourite band. i was introduced to James' music in the summer of 1994, as a brand new adult, and i have loved it since. that's 18 years; half my life, and the fandom has not waned. i own nearly all their albums. i have purchased their material on cassette, vinyl, cd, and digital; i have pins and t-shirts, and have seen them live thrice. James have been a big part of my life.

around the same time i started listening to James was when i was forming semi-serious aspirations to write and perform music myself. i think that i first started playing (or attempting) James covers around 1997. so i have been wanting to do something like this for 15 years, more or less. this will be the first of many James covers, and brace yourselves:

it's gonna sound nothing like the original. obviously, i do not have the technical prowess at singing/playing as the members of James. they are, without hyperbole, masters of their craft, and one of the best bands of our generation. so i won't even go there.

instead, i offer something entirely different: my interpretations will be unique takes on James favourites (and b-sides too). i do not think that i would do the songs justice if i attempted to record faithful reproductions of the original compositions. so, my arrangements will carry my own flavour (which some of you know and love, and others may think is weird, or dischordant, or horrible, etc.).

anyway. the first James cover song i offer up is "Protect Me", from the 1992 album Seven.

after i got into James through the popular (in North America) album, Laid, i purchased Seven, and fell in love with just about every song on it. "Protect Me" is not nearly my favourite song on the album, but it evokes a sense of nostalgia in me; it did this even the first time i ever heard it, as though i had heard it a thousand times before. it felt so haunting and pleading, while also being comforting and consoling. these are the feelings i hoped to capture and emphasize on my adapted version.

arrangement-wise, i completely deconstructed this track. the original is in 3/4 (or is it 6/8?) timing, and is a sweet little three minute track. there are various live acoustic versions, and it is a simple song that works well when stripped down. i took it in a heavier direction. i switched up the time signature, i gave it a downtempo beat, and used a lot of synths. i layered multiple vocal tracks, and i built the track over a looped guitar snippet from an early cover version that i recorded way back in 2002. so yeah, this cover is a decade in the making.

i hope you like it.

because i like to talk about music at great length, many of my friends know that i have a particular love for much of the music that comes out of Scotland and Australia. i don't know if there is a particular sound aesthetic that appeals to my ears, but whatever the reason, there it is.

one of my favourite bands of all time (from Australia) is Art of Fighting. i was introduced to AoF sometime around 2000-2001, by an online buddy in Australia, through a yahoo group that i moderated (now i'm dating myself). he sent me some mixed CDrs of aussie music. i loved almost all of it, but particularly AoF. sadly, i believe that Art of Fighting is now pretty much defunct (i think that their last album came out around 2007). however, the frontman continues on with a new band called Parallel Lions, and they are equally amazing.

circa 2009, i started keeping an actual document file - a log - of songs that i want to cover. this list does not include songs that i have already covered in recorded format, and i add to the list occasionally, when i think of a song from my childhood or hear a new song that i really enjoy.

here is a partial copy of my list of songs that i want to cover:

“how much for your wings?” – the Black Crowes

“Michigan” – Mark Kozelek

“honest pleasure” - James

“lion’s mane” – Iron & Wine

“the last snowstorm of the year” – Low

“holding back the year” – Lou Barlow

“along the run” – art of fighting

“drinking in LA” – bran van 3000

“gangsters” – Longpigs

“flashdance II” – Matthew Good

“high time” – Michael Penn

“you guys are awesome” – Paperjack

“what we want to believe in” – Catherine Wheel

“NYC” – Interpol

“blood embrace” – Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Matt Sweeney

“blue flashing light” – Travis

“cordova” – Limblifter

“written in the heart signs, faintly” – throw me the statue

“a girl in port” – okkervil river

“never tear us apart” – INXS

sometime around 1988, i got in my head that i wanted to sing. sometime around 1990, i got in my head that i wanted to be in a rock band, rich and famous. sometime around 1991-1992, i said to my friends, "let's form a band!" sometime around 1996, after much fumbling with words and instruments and chords, we started to do that. around 1998, we started getting good at it.

that's when this picture was taken. that's me on the far right, playing bass guitar. right from the get-go, we wrote lots of original material.

but even back then, i had tonnes of musical influences that i loved, and i wanted to cover ALL OF THEM. i love cover songs. i love the idea of reinterpretations and reinventions of ideas. i love hearing different renditions of the same songs, to see if the difference will make me love them less or more.

and of course, since i started playing music, i have been learning, playing, and recording covers. it has been one of the most formative methods that i have learned to play, and hone my skills as a producer and songwriter.

however, truthfully, the end product is more often than not a far cry less impressive than the process itself. in fact, usually my covers suck. but some have brilliant little moments. and i have gotten better over the years.

sometime around 2001, i decided that i wanted to start seriously recording and releasing a series of cover songs. over the past 11 years, that has never really manifested in the public ear. but sometime between 2003 and 2005, i gave a name to my ongoing series of haphazard cover songs: sorry attempts.

this new tumblr will be an ongoing collection of my cover attempts, from my archived recordings all the way back to 2001 (such as my bright eyes cover) all the way up to present day and beyond. i will start by selectively releasing some older material, and work my way up to material that i am working on today, including my aforementioned jacob vs. james project.