If It's Too Loud...

In the latest edition of Tanya Donelly's Sunday Series of covers, she's chosen to take on The Pixies's iconic "Here Comes Your Man." For those of us obsessed with the 80's and 90's Boston music scene, this cover choice is particularly wonderful. Donelly keeps her version perfectly faithful to the original but still sounding like herself. It's a little more laid back than the original, but I think that would be expected. This is just a glorious cover. Donelly chose this song as a birthday gift to a fan, Tom Wethern. She has sung it for him on his birthday before at Great Scott. This choice acts as a two-fer, since it is also a tribute to Great Scott, the legendary Boston club that announced it will not be reopening at the end of the COVID-19 crisis. Proceeds for this song will go to the staff at Great Scott and local musicians. You can listen to Tanya Donelly's cover of "Here Comes Your Man" below. This week she was joined by som...

Photo by Ron Yamaski It's probably not a surprise that a band named Gouge Away are fans of the Pixies. The Fort Lauderdale band have decided to not cover their namesake, but instead the classic "Wave of Mutilation." Despite it being a very faithful cover, singer Christina Michelle brings a ferocity to the song not heard in the original. That's not to say that this is a hardcore version of the song: There's definitely a spirit of fun to be had, and maybe a sense of brattiness more like The Muffs than the Pixies.  You can listen to Gouge Away's version of "Wave of Mutilation" below. 25% of the 7" sales for the single ("Wave of Mutilation" is the B-side) are being donated to rescue.org . You can get your copy through B andcamp . For more on Gouge Away, check out their website .

An interesting new release week for us this week, let's dive right in: Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots : Damon Albarn, lead singer of Blur and member of Gorillaz finally puts out a solo album of his own. To be completely frank, this album would be a lot better if it didn't carry the baggage of Damon Albarn with it. It's got a bit of a slow electronic feel to it which may not be the most exciting thing in the world, but it works in a lot of places. It's just...well, he's the guy from Blur and you end the album wanting more of that. It's worth a listen, but it's likely to be a little polarizing on a whole. The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger (The GOOAST) - Midnight Sun : This is the current project of Sean Lennon and his girlfriend. I've been a fan of what Sean Lennon's been up to from way, way back when he released his first solo album through Grand Royal back in the 1990s. It appears, though, that Lennon has effectively stopped trying to preten...

Remember how I hated "Bagboy" and then the Pixies released "Indie Cindy" and I decided all hope was not lost? I was wrong. Today the Pixies came out with their newest video for "Andro Queen" and it's officially the nail in their coffin. If you have any friends that are huge Bryan Adams or Def Leppard fans, you'll want to share this with them. It's a pretty little ballad with cornball lyrics and plenty of tremolo on Frank Black's vocals. Oh, and then he starts ranting in Spanish, because that's edgy. I guess.  RIP Pixies.

OK, this is more like it. Since the release of the horrible single "Bagboy," I had all but given up on the Pixies following the departure of Kim Deal. I may have been a wee bit premature. Yesterday the band released a new EP on their website called EP-1 . Of the four tracks, none of which are "Bagboy," they have a video out for "Indie Cindy." The track isn't great, but it's really, really good. It follows Frank Black's patented spoken word rants by getting quieter (throwing off the loud/quiet/loud dynamic, but perfectly) and strangely beautiful. It's a surprising return to form that thankfully has us skeptics doubting ourselves. You can buy EP-1  in the format of your choosing over at the Pixies' website , and check out the video for "Indie Cindy" below.

Seemingly out of nowhere comes the brand new song by the Kim Deal-less Pixies, called “Bagboy.” The song and video came out on Friday, but I wanted to give it some time before I made a final decision. Well… it’s awful. First off, it doesn’t even sound like a Pixies song. I get that they need to change up their sound a bit so they’re not just rehashing their late 80s/early 90s indie sound, but they’ve updated it to sound like a late 90s Fun Lovin’ Criminals throwaway song. It features a bizarre chant alongside Frank Black’s talk-singing style previously heard in “Subbaculture.” At no point does the tempo change from its mid-tempo plod, and drives straight into boredom. Kim leaving is a huge deal, so the absolute last thing they would want to do is bring in someone to sing who sounds just like Kim, right? So they do, bringing in Frank Black’s friend Jeremy Dubs for the chorus. Black says it’s a coincidence, but he sounds enough like Kim that Black had to address the internet reports...