October 27th, 2022 7:22pm
40 Different Shades Of Black
Say Sue Me “Elevate Me Later”
This version of Pavement’s “Elevator Me Later” – aka “Ell Ess Two” – does the best cover move, which is to fully honor the melodic and structural character of a song while totally changing its feel. Say Sue Me transform the song into a melancholic bossa nova tune, a move that makes total sense in retrospect the moment you hear how the chords and melodies fall into this template. The original from Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain aimed for a sort of antsy melodrama – emphasis placed on “those who sleep with electric guitars” and “the city we forgot to name” – but this one feels more like the gentle shrug of someone who’s learned to lower their expectations, the emphasis placed on “so why you complaining? Ta!” I love the busy high note noodling they added around the groove here, it fills out the space in the song nicely while bringing a bit of nervous energy to the mix.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
10/27/22 9:26 pm
I already like this band somewhat but I was a little skeptical going in since I’m picky with covers. But this was more fun that I expected, and I was particularly surprised they kept in some version of the outro (if you can call it that, I just don’t know what else to call it).