what goes on

hola amigos! to keep the ball rolling here i've got a handful of Velvet Underground covers i'd like to contribute. not the most obscure band in the world, but arguably the best. and as the legend goes, everyone who bought copies of their records when they first came out went on to start their own bands. plus this was a group we can all agree was a big influence on us in high school. i'll try not to fuck up on adding the links. and i should add that while this mp3 blog is capable of so much more, who doesn't love a good cover song?

first off, here's antony & the johnsons covering "candy says." a fitting tribute to Andy Warhol superstar Candy Darling, whose 1974 photo graces the cover of their second full length, I Am a Bird Now. The song was recorded on 5/26/2005 at festival territorios sonoros in sevilla. also, antony and the gang are performing at the Tibet House Benefit at Carnegie Hall NYC on March 1st. if i were less than a three day drive away i would totally be there.

rilo kiley does a poppy version of "after hours." not sure when this is from but listening to jenny lewis' voice, it sounds like they did it a while ago.

finally, jeff buckley performed "all tomorrow's parties" at the knitting factory nyc on 2/4/97. his voice just soars.

gracias, and good night!

the first real(ish) post!!!

I've always been a huge fan of the cover song, it's great to find out what an artist draws on creatively while creating their own work, and also a nice way to see how someone interprets the work of their peers and predecessors. Plus, it's just plain fun when a band you love plays a song by another band that you love, and absolutely amazing when a band you love plays a song by a band you're not that fond of...

Here are a few covers that I've been listening to repeatedly for the last few weeks:

Here's an excellent cover of On a Plain from the Animal Collective (the reigning kings of Nirvana covers). It's from an acoustic instore at Other Music in NYC.

And here's a version of Jackson C. Frank's Blues Run the Game by Decemberists front-man Colin Meloy. This one comes from a live NPR show... Don't ask me about dates...

To buy music by either the Decemberists or Animal Collective, and you should, go here...

The first post

We here at Combination Block are all pretty excited to be entering the exciting and often daunting world of mp3/music blogging... We're going to have some pretty awesome stuff to share and some pretty smarmy things to say in the near future, so keep your eyes, ears and mice (mouses) peeled, until we can figure out one of those awesome RSS things that does the work for you.

By way of background, this blog is run/maintained by three friends who used to sit around and listen to a lot of records together, but who now live in three distinct and geographically diverse locales (none of which is particularly exciting). We envisioned this as a place where we can capture the lost nostalgia of adolesence and share/explore our musical tastes with each other and with you -- the anonymous reader. Or maybe i'm just speaking for myself. I guess we were all just a little bored.