STEFAN THE KILLER

Back in October 2001 someone named Stefan Beck, then writing for the Dartmouth Review, discovered Built to Spill, and really dug the recently-released live album, "Built to Spill Live." Good news, I say — and another blow to the seemingly widespread belief that conservatives don't listen to indie rock. Except that he describes their 20-minute cover of Neil Young's "Cortez The Killer" as "self-indulgent" and "the album’s only real low point":

Why does Martsch want to call attention to the fact that he’s Neil Young’s vocal doppelganger? Here, he sounds more like Young than usual. In fact, he may sound even more like Young than Young himself does.

Thus, "Cortez the Killer" sinks to the level of grotesque parody. Its only redeeming quality is that it shows off the ban's chops. But lyrics like "on the shore lay Montezuma / with his cocoa leaves and pearls" sound pretty clunky in the mouth of an indie-rocker from Boise, Idaho. If I liked Neil Young, I'd say it was blasphemous. Since I don't, I’ll just say it’s lame, and leave it at that.

Pardon? I haven't listened to enough Neil Young to make a final call (although I do like his 7½-minute original), but I call this blasphemous! Both versions of "Cortez" are epic and haunting and rocking. He does like the equally-long "Broken Chairs" — including the unexpected whistling in the long jam that all but anchors the song — so what gives? And what does Boise have to do with anything?

A fairer criticism (and one staying within the Pacific NW rock genre) would be aimed at Isaac Brock's ill-conceived attempt at a Tom Waits homage, what Pitchfork called "a half-hearted Tom Waits pastiche," the abominable "The Devil's Workday."

As for someone you probably haven't listened to enough of to make a final call, Warren Zevon's Disorder in the House [mp3] should help you make up your mind. And in other Zevon tunes, he's a killer, too.

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posted by WWB at 10:43 PM |