How To Cover A Song Called ‘Ominous Cloud’
The newest Paris Street album, 15th Street – Others, features 10 cover songs, the majority of which were recorded by request from various friends. Since last week, I’ve been doing the same shit I did with the prior three albums, rambling on a bit about each song. These will be shorter than the other ones, which I said last time and that turned out to be a total lie. Anyway, enjoy!
Whose song is this a cover of? It’s by Broadcast. I saw them play twice in 2003, in Toronto and Montreal, with my friend Katrin. This was just before Haha Sound came out. My expectations at that first show were low. They ended up blowing me away – both of those shows are among my favorite concerts ever. My musical holy grail is a good-quality recording of either one of those shows.
When was this cover song recorded? It was started last year in Sacramento. I finished it up this past May while in Fargo.
Who asked you to record this cover, i.e. whose to blame? This one was my call. These postings have hopefully made it clear that I rarely have an inclination to cover anyone else’s music, but I’ve been wanting to give this one a shot for a long time.
What sets this cover apart from the original? I based this cover on my (fading) memory of the way they performed the song at those shows in Toronto and Montreal, where it had a much longer outro than the album version. I also tried very damn hard to do justice to the memory of Broadcast’s co-founder, Trish Keenan, who passed away at a devastatingly young age in 2011.
Earlier this week (on Trish Keenan’s birthday), the excellent website Aquarium Drunkard posted an equally-excellent mix of Broadcast rarities. You should go over there right now and give it a listen.
That’s all. Thanks for reading. Come back in a couple weeks for rambles about 15th Street - Part Four, which comes out on 14 October.
15th Street – Others is available now, exclusively through Bandcamp. It’s totally free to download, so have at it. Parts One, Two, and Three of 15th Street are available now via Bandcamp, Spotify, and all the other streamers. A sampler of songs from each album in the 15th Street series can be listened to here.
Previously: . . . Baby One More Time, Cry Cry Cry, The Little Baby Hefner’s Xmas Song For Holland, Hard Candy Christmas, A Marshmallow World, Sugar Looker, I Have The Moon, In The City In The Rain, I Put A Spell On You