Katy Goodman and Greta Morgan Are Releasing a Covers EP. Here's Their Replacements Cover.

Photo: Julia Brokaw

Take It, It's Yours

"Bastards of Young" has been getting covered a lot lately. It's been part of Beach Slang's set for a while now, and Titus Andronicus were doing it while on tour with Minneapolis native Craig Finn. Both of those versions remained pretty true to the distortion and messiness of the original.

Katy Goodman (La Sera, Vivian Girls) and Greta Morgan (Springtime Carnivore, The Hush Sound, Gold Motel) have worked, mostly, in the area of dreamy, retro-inspired pop. The pair recently released their take on the Replacements' crowd-pleaser as the first single from their upcoming EP of punk and new wave covers, Take It, It's Yours. In the hands of Goodman and Morgan, the Mats' major-label rock anthem becomes a vaguely country bit of crystalline pop that highlights Paul Westerberg's mastery as a pop songwriter. The focus here is squarely on the vocal harmonies, and that works to transform the song from its ramshackle youthfulness into something cool and assured.

This is a real re-working of a classic track, and I'm interested to hear what traditionalists think of it. The rest of the tracklist looks like it holds some even more intriguing opportunities for reinterpretation.

You can stream "Bastards of Young" now via Soundcloud. Take It, It's Yours is due from Polyvinyl on August 26th.



Take It, It's Yours
1. Over The Edge (Wipers)
2. Pay to Cum (Bad Brains)
3. Bastards of Young (The Replacements)
4. Sex Beat (The Gun Club)
5. Ever Fallen in Love (Buzzcocks)
6. Where Eagles Dare (The Misfits)
7. I Wanna Be Your Dog (The Stooges)
8. In the City (The Jam)
9. Dreaming (Blondie)
10. Rebel Yell (Billy Idol)

Hey Sandy, We're Still Here

52-track Compilation Album For Sandy Relief

Hey Sandy, We're Still Here. (A Hurricane Benefit) is available now for a minimum of $5 over at The Everymen's Bandcamp page.  All money will be donated directly to the American Red Cross.

In addition to The Everymen, the album features contributions, including some new or never before heard tracks and b-sides, from the likes of Real Estate, La Sera, Waking Lights, Cold Fur, Those Mocking Birds, and Nicole Atkins.

It cost me some valuable C-batteries; but Jersey Shore natives The Everymen, Nicole Atkins and others got me through some dark, cold nights right after the storm.  So help out their hometowns as well as the other areas affected by Sandy and get yourself some great music as part of the bargain.

La Sera, Sees The Light, 2012

Sunday Run Album Review

I was going to do a review of The Shins' Port of Morrow this week.  But then, I figured, there have been plenty of reviews of that record already.  They're all on the money:  the album's great; James Mercer is one of the best pop songwriters alive today; Mercer is The Shins are Mercer, etc.

While I won't do a review of that album here, I did want to acknowledge it this week.  James Mercer is really a mindie godfather.  I'm sure there are those who would argue, but I feel like the entire mindie genre was born the moment Natalie Portman put on those great, big headphones and smiled as she heard "New Slang" for the first time.  Even though Port of Morrow represents the first new Shins material in five years, Mercer's fingerprints are all over today's mindie pop.

With that as the back drop, I went for a run today with New Jersey's "Kickball" Katy Goodman and La Sera.  Sees The Light clocks in perfectly at just over thirty minutes, so there was no wandering the neighborhood this time as I listened to the last few songs.

La Sera is Goodman's side project from her regular band, Vivian Girls.  Where that band is all lo-fi, punk fuzz, La Sera is more polished.  Goodman plays bass in Vivian Girls.  Here, her collaborators Rob Barbato and Dan Allaire handle most of the instrumental duties.  The band's musical chops, combined with Goodman's vocal delivery, make La Sera a very different-sounding project from her day job.

The sound of the record comes closest to 50's/60's girl groups, but the jangly, arpeggiated chords on some of the tracks, like "I'm Alone," have a more 80's feel.  There's also a David Lynchian, B-movie darkness to the sound.  And, yes, I hear some Shins influence in the approach to mid-twentieth century atmosphere that permeates Sees The Light.

There really aren't any outright misses over the course of the short running time of Sees The Light.  Other album standouts include "Please Be My Third Eye," "Break My Heart," and "Drive On."

I mentioned to CoolMom while we listened to Sees The Light last night that, to the extent that there's a Jersey "scene" that's grown up around Titus Andronicus, Real Estate, Ducktails, Vivian Girls, and La Sera, the hallmark of it seems to be an updating of the sounds of rock's past.  Sees The Light plays with a lot of well-worn sounds and subjects, but it does a nice job with them and never strays into pure nostalgia.

Listen to "Break My Heart" here.

La Sera

New Music Video From NJ's La Sera

Jersey's "Kickball" Katy Goodman (Vivian Girls), performing here as La Sera, realeased this new video last night.  La Sera's new album, Sees The Light, comes out tomorrow (digitally, today).  Last year's self-titled debut was an enjoyable set of retro-style, reverby dream pop.  From the sound of this, the new record promises more like that.