Run For Cover is a weekly music column comparing cover songs to the original version. Prepare for a major bending of rules as we hear musicians throw around genres, tempos, style, and intent. Whether they’re picking up another’s song out of respect or boredom, the results have impressed us.
Contrary to popular belief, good elevator music exists. The secret is that it’s only made by Stereolab. A six-piece UK-based band founded in 1990 by Tim Gane and Laetitia Sadier, Stereolab mixes 1950s pop with lounge music and krautrock to create a comforting, repetitive, synth heavy sound that sees Sadier singing in both English and French. Despite their songs having a simple flow, though, their reliance on complex Moog rhythms and irregular time signatures make the music difficult to emulate.
Oh, to be that cultured.
Stereolab saw their biggest success with their fourth studio album, 1996′s Emperor Tomato Ketchup. Named after a 1971 Japanese film, the record sees them meddling in obscurity, throwing out futuristic bleeps and gurgling alien sounds that match the Microsoft Paint homage album cover. Things kick into overdrive with the pulsing single “The Noise of Carpet,” where Sadier’s vocals guide us along scratchy guitar and Andy Ramsay’s relentless drumming. As one of the first bands coined as “post-rock,” they proved their huge scope was under control.
This experimental sound made them an underground hit, as did their avant-garde political references to John Cage, Stan Brakhage, and numerous Surrealist organizations. Despite their cultish fans and continuous critical acclaim, Stereolab was dropped from Warner Music due to poor sales. Looking back, there’s some comfort in the pain; the label cut The Breeders and Third Eye Blind for the same reason. Riding on the wave of their own label Duophonic, Stereolab and their lasting impression still hold up today, albeit often in the background.
Earlier this summer, Toronto noise band Greys released their debut album, If Anything. It’s a sarcastic, dissonant full-length that let’s them make a name for themselves with songs that flutter around the two-minute mark. Their relentless noise manages to jump on its own back to grow taller and taller, revealing itself to be a bigger beast than it appears to be. They thrash. They growl. They push post-punk off a cliff. If only all punk bands were this way, especially on their debut.
In anticipation of their upcoming European tour in support of the equally loud duo Death From Above 1979, Greys have released a cover of “The Noise of Carpet” — and so the eyebrows are raised. Considering Stereolab’s version sees the band at their rockier side, it’s a somewhat logical pick, but learning how to tackle that groovy undertone is no easy feat, all genres aside.
Greys have raised the standard: more punk bands should cover Stereolab.
From the opening riff, Greys launch into the Emperor Tomato Ketchup pick with a frenetic speed and melodic vocals that see a vein popping from their singer’s throat. They chose the cover for a reason, and there’s not a single moment wasted. ”The Noise of Carpet” pushes forward with garage force that gets in your face. Every slide up their guitar whirls like a dizzying carnival ride before the song eventually gurgles the blood they’ve bashed and spits it into the sink.
If a modern day Fugazi act sits down to choose a cover song and votes Stereolab the winner, they’re doing it right. Yeah, the Polvo and Jesus And Mary Chain influences are easy to spot, but it’s the unrelated admirees that speak volumes about a band. Greys are making plenty of noise over in Toronto, but their cover awards them more decibel points just for how flawlessly they pulled it off.