Heavy Rotation: Fiery Furnaces, Animal Collective, Maximillian Colby

There’s all kinds of out-of-the-ordinary happening in this week’s installment of Heavy Rotation: covers of “Norwegian Wood,” rare post-hardcore 7″ singles in their entirety…what other strange aural experiments are to come? Catch the high concept on the homepage on the right-hand column.
Jan & Dean, “Norwegian Wood”
Wow! Really high-concept Heavy Rotation contribution from LJ this week: not one but two covers of The Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood” by not one but two of LJ’s All-time Faves, who are both making Heavy Rotation history by being the first two bands to be featured not once but twice in the HR database. Apparently there was a lot of internal Jan & Dean drama about the release and production of this song; I guess Dean didn’t like Jan’s production and didn’t want to release it as a single because it would be “embarrassing.” I definitely see both sides of the coin on this one: yeah, it’s crazy-lame compared to the actual Beatles version, especially when you put the sitch into the proper historical context. It’s also fabulously theatrical in the classic Southern California Gothic J&D tradition; wow, I can’t say anything else right now because I just blew my own mind with my own smartness by coining the term Southern California Gothic on the spot. Nice work, LJ. (LJ)
Yo La Tengo, “Tom Courtenay”
A friend of mine used to have (still has?) a t-shirt that says “Yo La Tengo for President” across the front. I actually think Yo La Tengo would make a terrible president, and I’m really relieved they decided not to run this year. In fact, I don’t have much use for the band in general, though the one time I saw them – playing between Luna and Sonic Youth on the Brown University quad in the spring of 1998 – they were mostly amazing. But I recently rediscovered this song and got pretty crazy for how exciting/life-affirming/nerdily fist-pumping the last minute and half or so is. Good job, guys. You’ve got my vote for zoning board chair at least. (Liz)
Animal Collective, “Cuckoo Cuckoo”
I haphazardly got really into this song around the time Heath Ledger died, so in some corner of my brain it was decided that this song is actually about Heath Ledger. Which it’s not, but I just looked at the lyrics for the first time and it’s kinda uncanny how accidentally intuitive I am. (Up until now I hardly knew one complete line of “Cuckoo Cuckoo” – for me, Animal Collective’s vocals aren’t so much words as they are just swirly-whirly sounds layered over all the other swirly-whirly sounds, and it’s generally best not to try to unravel much.) Soooo…the reason I’m posting this is I saw The Dark Knight a couple Fridays ago and loved it wildly of course, and now I wish I could watch it everyday for as long as it’s at the picture show. R.I.P. Joker. (Liz)
The Fiery Furnaces, “Norwegian Wood”
Boy! Was I ever thrilled to death (x 49085749873 to the power of 3.14) when I learned this song existed! I actually telephoned my ex-boyfriend the exact second after hearing it to let him know the awesomeness of what had happened for me. Some things just can’t be kept to oneself. I attempted to sing him the Friedbergered melody variation, but it came out sounding like an awkward/highly shoddy Bob Dylan impersonation, which led me to believe that Eleanor may be consciously aping Dylan with her vocal on this one. Which is cool, because this is a “consciously aping Dylan” John Lennon song, and so this proves that “it all comes full circle” (maybe?). Sadly, my vocal abilities are nowhere near advanced enough to capture the intricacies of “Eleanor Friedberger aping Bob Dylan aping John Lennon aping Bob Dylan.” Whoa. (Laura)
Maximillian Colby, “One Gallon Alda”/Rye Coalition, “Dover”
I’m doing something kind of strange this week and putting up an entire 7″ single from 1994 as my contribution to this week’s “Heavy Rotation.” I predict there are about three readers out there that will appreciate what a wondrous thing this is or understand how utterly, fiercely psyched I am — it’s taken me years to find these songs on mp3, having searched high and low and hunted websites devoted to post-hardcore and/or proto-emocore and contacted many a strange and eccentric character through tape- and record-trading venues. Basically all you need to know is this: Maximillian Colby were from Virginia, were beloved by a fervent few in the early 90s hardcore scene for combining the chaotic hardcore with the oblique song structures and dynamics of art-rock bands like Slint, released a few 7″ and 12″ records on really obscure labels and then various MC members went on to bands like Sleepytime Trio and Rah Bras. Rye Coalition had a different fate: they originally were part of that same scene but were from New Jersey, went on to develop a more (unfortunate) jock-rock kind of sound, opened up for Foo Fighters and now are in some sort of weird record label/band limbo I believe. Rye Coalition are not nearly as interesting now, but back in the day both Rye and Maximillian Colby made music that was urgent, dynamic, chaotic, intuitive and beautifully noisy — the sound of hearts and speed and smoke and fever. Now, if anyone out there has the Shotmaker/Maximillian Colby 12″ on mp3 — I’d love you forever. (Kat)