David Bowie - "Station To Station" (Tokyo, 1978)

One word: brilliant.

Life Without Buildings - Live at the Annandale Hotel

Sue Tompkins is the kind of singer that you can't imagine not being in a band, not making music, not singing. She was the singer for the sadly defunct Glasgowegian quartet Life Without Buildings. Equal parts Corin Tucker and Mark E. Smith, her fiery phrasings never forsook melody. The boys in the band weren't too shabby either. Drummer William Bradley, guitarist Robert Johnston and bassist Chris Evans were bridge-wire taut. Their jerky, martial beats and spidery guitar-lines make for easy comparisons to Rough Trade's late 70's/early 80's roster (The Fall, The Smiths) as well as some of CBGB's more cerebral inhabitants (Television, Talking Heads, Velvet Underground). Sadly, I only discovered Life Without Buildings recently through their outstanding, posthumous live album, Live at the Annandale Hotel, which was recorded in Sydney, Australia in late 2002 (the year they disbanded). Over the course of their brief existence, Life Without Buildings released one sterling full-length, Any Other City, and several singles. Live at the Annandale Hotel proves that a concert would have been the optimal way to hear the band. Standouts include the crestfallen "Juno," galloping anthem "PS Exclusive" and the smashing, 7 1/2 minute version of "New Town."

3 of the album's tracks are streaming here.

Carrie Brownstein: Renaissance Woman

Although Carrie Brownstein's band, Sleater-Kinney, is on hiatus for now, she's been plenty busy. NPR has given her her very own music blog, Monitor Mix, which she updates several times a week. They've even started a video component to the blog which can be seen below. Also, Carrie and SNL castmember Fred Armisen have formed ThunderAnt - an outlet for the duo to create offbeat comedy sketches. Check out their newest video, "The Perfect Song," which features a cameo from fellow Sleater-Kinney member Corin Tucker and her husband, documentary filmmaker and music video director Lance Bangs.

2007 regrets, I've had a few...

Since the curtain will be falling on 2007 in a matter of days, I wanted to quickly throw the spotlight on a few albums that I wish I given more attention to this year. Some I loved earlier in the year and unfairly forgot about (Menomena, Miracle Fortress) and some I didn't hear until only a couple of weeks ago (Jens Lekman).

Miracle Fortress - Five Roses



Miracle Fortress is the brainchild of Ontario native Graham Van Pelt. This one-man band creates layered dream-pop that’s filled with luminous synths, ringing guitars, steady basslines and lots of reverb. Van Pelt is blessed with an angelic voice that, depending on the song, can sound uncannily like Brian Wilson or Sufjan Stevens. Many people have dwelled on the indisputable Brian Wilson/Beach Boys vibes in Miracle Fortress's music. However, Miracle Fortress evokes many other musicians just as easily: Yo La Tengo, Brian Eno, Panda Bear, The Shins and My Bloody Valentine are the first that come to mind. The Instrumental opener, “Whirrs,” wouldn’t sound out of place on Another Green World or Loveless. The easiest target for the Beach Boys comparisons," Maybe Lately," nicks the drumbeat and part of the melody from "Don't Worry, Baby." Cool fact: Sunset Rubdown guitarist/drummer Jordan Robson-Cramer is also a member of Miracle Fortress' touring band.

3 of Five Roses' tracks are available as streams and/or downloads here.

Menomena - Friend or Foe



Friend or Foe was a favorite of mine at the beginning of this year, and, somewhere along the way, I lost sight of it. I regret this. Menomena's sound has few reference points, but feels familiar all the same. The Flaming Lips, Deerhoof and Animal Collective are the only bands I can think of that are relatively similar. All three members of Menomena share singing duties and a skronking sax is present on many of their songs. Bandmember Brent Knopf also created a computer program called the Digital Looping Recorder which aids in keeping the songwriting process democratic. Stylistically, Friend or Foe's tracks are all over the map. "Air Aid" has a majestic "Kashmir" stomp to it. "Wet and Rusting" is a gorgeous, glitchy piano-led ballad backed by a propulsive drumbeat. "Muscle'n Flo" is a blustery anthem that could easily pass for The Flaming Lips circa Clouds Taste Metallic. Added bonus: the fantastic artwork for the album was done by graphic novelist Craig Thompson (Blankets, Goodbye Chunky Rice).

Five Friend or Foe tracks are streaming here.

Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala



This Swedish songwriter deftly mixes samples with live instrumentation to create unique pop gems. Although his songs can sound like baroque pop at times, his methods are more in line with hip-hop. His integration of sampled strings, horns, beats and a barbershop quartet is barely noticeable except for the occasional soft crackle of vinyl. The real and the fake meld into heart-on-sleeve songs of love lost, love found and everything in between. His blended genres bring to mind an assortment of references: The Magnetic Fields, David Bowie’s "plastic soul", Burt Bacharach, Tropicalia, the Vince Guaraldi trio, Belle & Sebastian, Morrissey and Jonathan Richman. "The Opposite of Hallelujah" and "A Postcard to Nina" are two of the best pure pop songs of the year.

Download MP3: "The Opposite of Hallelujah"
Download MP3: "Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo"

Radiohead Widget

Top 10 Albums of 2007

Ok, here it is. The bearded cephalopod will be on vacation hiatus until January 1st, unless there is something I just absolutely have to share with you. Happy Holidays!

10) M.I.A. - Kala

If you didn't enjoy Kala this year, I feel pity for you. M.I.A.'s pan-global hip-pop is beyond irresistible. "Boyz," "Paper Planes," and "Jimmy" are the kind of songs that cross boundaries - country, race, class or otherwise. This is precisely because she sees no boundaries in music. Whether she is quoting the Pixies ($20) or sampling the Clash ("Paper Planes"), M.I.A. makes every genre, sample, beat and lyric her own. She's a modern day Dr. Frankenstein blazing into unexplored territories and creating bold, new musical forms from the most exotic and unlikely places.

9) The Besnard Lakes – Are the Dark Horse



This was a true grower for me. Over a period of a few months, I went from being “meh” to ecstatically in love with this album. As I stated in my post about the band a short while back, their sound is equivalent to the Beach Boys fronting Sigur Ros while covering the Twin Peaks soundtrack. Their songs are epic, melancholic, wall-of-sound, space-rock suites that often move from strings and multi-part harmonies to crashing guitar cresendos over the course of 5-7 minutes. "Because Tonight" is a prime example of their collective powers (and the best excuse for the Twin Peaks comparison) - an ominous, reverb-heavy, chamber-pop lullaby that eventually sky-rockets into a truly breath-taking climax. Seeing them perform this song live sent real, true shivers down my spine.

8) LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver



I admit I didn’t love LCD Soundsystem’s self-titled debut. There was too much smirking irony and disco-cribbing for me to fully embrace it. Sound of Silver is a different story. James Murphy’s epic dance/rock fusion is more organic and sincere this time around. “Someone Great” and “All My Friends” are two of the indisputably great songs of 2007. On slinky anthems “Get Innocuous” and “Us v. Them,” Murphy sounds uncannily like Berlin-era Bowie. Finally, “North American Scum” and “New York I Love You” reaffirmed my gratitude to be living in New York City.

7) Les Savy Fav – Let’s Stay Friends



Les Savy Fav’s first album of new material in 6 years is their best. The band has never sounded tighter and Tim Harrington continues to be one of the greatest frontmen in rock – a bastard spawn of Frank Black and Will Ferrell. I know it is a cliché, but you’ve got to see Les Savy Fav live to truly experience and appreciate them. Seth Jabour's guitar-playing has the angular precision of a jigsaw and the sweeping grandeur of the Edge. The band’s rhythm section (Syd Butler on bass, Harrison Haynes on drums) should be the envy of any musician with a pulse. Of course, I wouldn’t be praising these four guys so much unless they had a phenomenal set of songs. From the rabblerousing “Raging in the Plague Age” to the spitfire funk of “Patty Lee” to the creeping, synth-led “Brace Yourself,” there isn’t a clunker on the album – just 12 ace jams.

6) Sunset Rubdown – Random Spirit Lover/ Handsome Furs – Plague Park



Ok, I know this is cheating, but I don’t care. I can honestly say that I enjoyed both of these albums equally this year. The only difference being that Plague Park was a more consistent album and Random Spirit Lover had more exciting songs. Handsome Furs proved that a marriage of Bruce Springsteen and New Order could indeed be a beautiful thing. The anthemic “Dead + Rural” and the Lynchian “Dumb Animals” were evidence of how elastic these influences can be. Meanwhile, Sunset Rubdown continues to churn out the most incredible glam-prog you’ll ever hear. I think time will prove “Winged/Wicked Things” to be a classic for the canon. As much as I genuinely love both of these bands, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t dying to hear them use their collective powers again on the next Wolf Parade album.

5) Arcade Fire – Neon Bible



Yes, we all know that Neon Bible is not as good as Funeral, but, not many albums can even dream of being as good as Funeral. Fittingly, Neon Bible’s peak may just be the song most unlike Funeral: the stark “Ocean of Noise” which rolls on a steady boom-chicka-boom bassline that sounds like Luther Perkins on codeine. The myriad other instruments hover ominously like thunder around that lone bassline, threatening to unleash all hell. When they finally do, it is a sweeping wave of mariachi horns and strings that recall “Ring of Fire.” When you stack a masterpiece like this next to “Black Mirror,” “Keep the Car Running,” “Intervention” and “The Well and the Lighthouse,” you’ve got an album that may not be great by Funeral standards, but great by any other.

4) Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank



From beginning to end, this is a great album that covers a fair amount of stylistic ground. It is much better than their previous album, Good News for People Who Love Bad News, and it’s their most rockin’ set of songs since Lonesome Crowded West. Johnny Marr has been a seamless, yet explosive, addition to the band. His guitar-playing and songwriting have given the Modest Mouse sound an added sheen, but, overall, his style has melded with Isaac Brock’s to produce glorious results. “Parting of the Sensory” could have been on The Moon & Antarctica and features one of Isaac’s best lines: “Someday you will die somehow and someone or something’s gonna steal your carbon!” Meanwhile, songs like “Fly Trapped in A Jar,” “Education,” and “Steam Engenius” kick out angular, dance-punk jams like vintage Talking Heads and Gang of Four.

3) Panda Bear – Person Pitch/ Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam



Again, I am cheating, and for the same reason. However, I feel that both Person Pitch and Strawberry Jam are equally consistent and have equally exciting songs. Strawberry Jam continues Animal Collective’s hot streak of masterworks that has made them one of the most consistently rewarding bands of the decade. It ventures into new, weirder terrain while simultaneously making the band more accessible. “Peacebone,” “For Reverend Green,” and “Fireworks” are as great as anything they’ve ever written. Person Pitch proved Panda Bear is a force to be reckoned with even on his own. His kaleidoscopic sampledelica showed us what Brian Wilson could have sounded like had he come of age in 2007, and “Bros” might just be the best song of the year.

2) Radiohead – In Rainbows



The music of In Rainbows may be dominated by feelings of isolation, fear, longing and hope - things that are par for the course when it comes to Radiohead - but this music is also uncommonly warm and human-sounding. For the few, unconverted critics out there who claim Radiohead to be cold and detached, In Rainbows should make that argument null and void. The band has rarely explored love and relationships as explicitly and tenderly as on “All I Need” and “House of Cards.” The brilliant, glitchy “15 Step” which loops along on a lilting guitar melody, stuttering beats and a chorus of children screaming “Yeah!” will get the most stoic among us to clap and sing with joy. It should also be noted that “Bodysnatchers” features Jonny Greenwood’s finest caterwauling guitar since at least OK Computer.

1) The National – Boxer



I will remember 2007 as the year I fell head over heels for The National. I can’t quantify if Boxer is actually better than In Rainbows (or any other album on this list for that matter), but I am fairly certain that I listened to Boxer (and The National in general) more than anything else this year. Despite a host of words and phrases seeming to reference the current political world (i.e. “fake empire” & “start a war”), Boxer revealed itself to be an album obsessed with insecurities, maturing into adulthood and the daily struggle to maintain connections to friends, lovers and the world in general. The band’s moody chamber-rock and Matt Berninger’s half-awake vocals made Boxer the perfect soundtrack for urban ennui and long subway rides home at night. Also, Bryan Devendorf deserves some serious “drummer of the year” accolades for his percussive prowess on this album.

Top 11-20 Albums of 2007

I'm breaking my top 20 albums of 2007 list in half because I'm too lazy (not pretentious) to post it all at once. Here are albums #11-20 on my list. As you will notice, I have opted to not rank them. Ranking the top 10 is hard enough. After that, it's kind of ridiculous. I don't have a staff of writers to poll votes with, you know? Albums #1-10 will be ranked and posted tomorrow.

Dirty Projectors - Rise Above

Burial - Untrue

Liars - Liars

The White Stripes - Icky Thump

Marissa Nadler - Songs III: Bird on the Water

Bruce Springsteen - Magic

Bodies of Water - Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink

A Place To Bury Strangers - A Place To Bury Strangers

Kanye West - Graduation

St. Vincent - Marry Me

M.I.A. - "Paper Planes" video

Here is the official video for one of 2007's best songs - M.I.A.'s Clash-sampling "Paper Planes." Don't miss the Beastie Boys' cameo towards the end.

Elliott Smith - "Angel in the Snow"

Since his tragic death four years ago, I tend to only revisit Elliott's music in the wintertime. For the first year or so, I couldn't bring myself to listen to anything of his, but it gets easier as time goes on. "Angel in the Snow" is the opening track on New Moon - the posthumous collection of rarities/obscurities from his days on the Kill Rock Stars label (1994-1997). Like all of his music, this song is sweet, sad and beautiful - profoundly so. It is a frozen snapshot of a memory tainted by lingering bitterness, and he seems filled with resignation, not anger. Elliott's ability to accept and move past the intensely sad and tragic ordeals in life is one of the great strengths of his music. I have no doubt that he was a deeply troubled and depressed individual, but I have always found hope and endurance even in his saddest songs because they were signs of survival.

I'd say you make a perfect
Angel in the snow
All crushed out in the way you are
Better stop before it goes to far
Don't you know that I love you
Sometimes I feel like only a cold still life
That fell down here to lay beside you

Don't you know that I love you
Sometimes I feel like only a cold still life
Only a frozen still life
That fell down here to lay beside you

Download MP3: "Angel in the Snow"

Vince Guaraldi Trio - "Linus and Lucy"

This one is pretty self-explanatory and essential to anyone's complete enjoyment of the Christmas season. I've also included Built To Spill's excellent cover as a bonus.

Download MP3: Vince Guaraldi Trio - "Linus and Lucy"
Download MP3: Built To Spill - "Linus and Lucy"

Kermit the Frog - "Once in A Lifetime (Talking Heads cover)"

Quite possibly the most glorious thing ever:

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - "Baltimore"

This made my day: the first taste of the new Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks album, Real Emotional Trash. Obviously, it is always exciting to hear new stuff from Malkmus and the gang, but, this is also the first recording to surface of the Jicks with Janet Weiss on drums. Janet Weiss became famous as the powderkeg behind the drums in Sleater-Kinney and she remains one of the finest drummers of my generation. "Baltimore" mostly sticks to the noodly prog-psych-rock that Malkmus has mastered over his last couple albums, but this is a great song nonetheless (especially with Janet's drum fills). Can't wait to hear the rest of the album.

Download MP3: "Baltimore"

The Halo Benders - "Snowfall"

In keeping with the holiday/seasonal spirit, I wanted to share an old favorite. For those not in the loop, the Halo Benders are Doug Martsch (Built To Spill) and Calvin Johnson (Beat Happening). "Snowfall" is the lead track on the band's 1994 debut, God Don't Make Junk. Although the Halo Benders is a collaborative effort between Martsch and Johnson, "Snowfall" feels very much like something that should have been on Built To Spill's There Is Nothing Wrong With Love.

Download MP3: "Snowfall"

Led Zeppelin lives!!!

As we all know, Led Zeppelin reunited and played their first full-set in over 20 years. It all went down on Monday night at the O2 Arena in London. Naturally, people were on hand with various types of cameras to take videos of varying quality. Despite the shoddy quality of most of the videos, it was obvious Zeppelin slayed. Honestly, did you expect them to suck? These were best I could find:

"Rock and Roll (encore)"



"Stairway to Heaven"

Sufjan Stevens - Hark! Songs for Christmas

This will be my third year celebrating the holidays with Sufjan's wonderful collection of Christmas songs - a sprawling compilation of traditional covers and originals. Last year, Soof's record label, Asthmatic Kitty, officially released a 5-disc set of his Christmas songs, but, a large chunk of this set had been circulating (free of charge) on the interweb for a few years. Hearing all the tried-and-true Christmas songs like "Silent Night" and "Hark! The Heard Angels Sing!" through fresh interpretations is a true pleasure. Granted, a choir of voices and piano are present on most of these songs, but there is also banjo and woodwinds. Originals like "It's Christmas! Let's Be Glad" and "Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance!" add an element of playfulness to balance the solemn reverence inherent in many of these old, traditional songs. We've got a little over two weeks until Christmas, so there is still time to enjoy these songs.

All 5 volumes are streaming at Asthmatic Kitty.

Justice vs. Simian - "We Are Your Friends"

I know I'm late to the party on this one, but my friend sent this to me last week and I haven't been able to stop listening to it. Apparently, this remix of Simian's "Never Be Alone" by Justice has been a dance-floor sensation in Europe for a while now. The Parisian DJ duo, Justice, only sample the original song's chorus line of "we are your friends, you'll never be alone again!" and add their trademark big, squelchy synth stabs and fat, popping basslines. I can't imagine anyone not liking this song. It makes me dance like an idiot.

Download MP3: "We Are Your Friends"

The video for this song has got to be one of greatest/funniest music videos ever. Also, this is the video that caused Kanye West's outburst at the European MTV Music Video Awards after he lost to it:

Björk - "Declare Independence"

Initially, Bjork's new album, Volta, was a great disappointment to me. I probably had unrealistic expectations due to the fact that Timbaland, Antony Hegarty & Lightning Bolt's Brian Chippendale were all listed as collaborators. I wasn't expecting to collapse in a seizure of sensory-pleasure overload or anything silly like that, but I definitely expected more. Now, I would list Volta as more of a mild disappointment. I mean, we are talking about Bjork here - you can't blame a person for expecting great things all the time from someone who is probably a bit of genius. The highlights of Volta are definitely the more collaborative efforts: "Earth Invaders," "Innocence," "The Dull Flame of Desire" and, obviously, "Declare Independence." This track is a crackling, crunching explosion of pent-up anger featuring Lightning Bolt's Brian Chippendale on drums. If you need reference points, think "Army of Me" or "Pluto." Also, check out Michel Gondry's phenomenal video for the song below.

Download MP3: "Declare Independence"

The Besnard Lakes - Are The Dark Horse

I regret not making a post about these guys sooner, but, better late than never, right? After seeing them live for the first time last night, I couldn't hold my tongue any longer. The Besnard Lakes' second album, Are The Dark Horse, has been on heavy rotation in my life since it came out early this year (it's safely in my top 10 for 2007). The band is fronted by husband & wife duo Jace Lasek (vocals, guitar) and Olga Goreas (vocals, bass). Jace Lasek started off as an in-demand producer at the Montreal recording studio he and Olga own, Breakglass Studios. He has produced and engineered albums for bands such as Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown, The Dears and The Stars. However, The Besnard Lakes sound very little like any of these bands. Now six people strong, they specialize in a seamless and hypnotic meld of lush wall-of-sound pop and ambient space rock. Their compositions are epic in scope - typically building to a climactic release, and filled with gorgeous two-or-three-part harmonies that Brian Wilson would smile upon. When trying to describe their sound to an interested party, I usually say something like "imagine the Beach Boys fronting Sigur Ros while covering the Twin Peaks soundtrack."

Download MP3: "And You Lied To Me"

Destroyer - "Foam Hands"

Destroyer is back! The new album, Trouble In Dreams, will be out March 18th. To tide us over, Merge Records has made one new song, "Foam Hands," available as a free MP3. I can't quite put my finger on the reason, but this song reminds me of a mellow Flaming Lips tune - maybe it's the synth-strings or the whistling? Who knows, but it definitely still sounds like Dan Bejar.

Download MP3: "Foam Hands"

Sunset Rubdown - "Idiot Heart"

The ever-prolific wunderkind Spencer Krug has dropped yet another perfect slice of glam-pop in our always-anxious laps. "Idiot Heart" was recorded at a recent Daytrotter session. Krug himself described the new song as "a pretty straight ahead rock ditty," but that phrase is always relative. "Idiot Heart" would have been perfectly at home on Shut Up I Am Dreaming - he even quotes a few lines from that album's "The Men Are Called Horsemen There" during one of the verses. As per usual, Krug has a way with words: “Now I was never much of a dancer/But I know enough to know you’ve gotta move your idiot body around,” and he implores us to "move around!" During Sunset Rubdown's visit, Daytrotter also recorded the band performing rearranged versions of Random Spirit Lover's "The Mending of the Gown" and EP's "Three Colors I & II."

Download all 3 songs at the bottom of this page.

Radiohead - In Rainbows (Disc 2)

So, those $80 In Rainbows Disc Boxes were shipped out this week, and, sure enough, the album's bonus disc has found its way to the interweb. I probably shouldn't keep this posted for a long time, but you can download the entire second disc as a zip file below. The spectral hymn "4 Minute Warning" and ass-shaking rocker "Bangers & Mash" are the standouts for me.

Download Zip: In Rainbows (Disc 2)

Also, check out the band's homemade video for In Rainbows' first single "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" which originally aired on their webcast a few weeks back:

Heavy Rotation: Marissa Nadler

Esteemed rock critic Greil Marcus famously coined the phrase "old, weird America" - a term he used to describe the eerie country, blues & folk music of The Anthology of American Folk Music and Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes. As fate would have it, a "new, weird America" movement has mobilized in the 00's, although this so-called "movement" is mainly the creation of critics and journalists. Depending on the source, it includes artists as varied as Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart, Animal Collective, Bonnie "Prince" Billy and, now, Marissa Nadler. She is blessed with a tremulous, disarming weapon of a voice that flutters between Joni Mitchell highs and Hope Sandoval lows. While her music is rooted in traditional Americana forms, it is decidely gothic Americana. Her music and voice are often bathed in reverb and space echo adding a "cosmic" feel to her songs. She claims Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone & Neil Young as her primary inspirations, but I would also recommend Marissa to fans of Joanna Newsom, Cat Power, Will Oldham, Mazzy Star & Neko Case.

Download MP3: "Diamond Heart"
Download MP3: "Sylvia"

Tom Waits/Neko Case - "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis"

To get in the mood for the holidays, I thought this Tom Waits original would be an apt tune to share. "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis" comes from 1978's Blue Valentine - when Tom was still in his just-me-and-the-piano phase. Over a pretty barroom piano melody, Tom sings from the perspective of the card's author (the hooker) to the card's recipient (Charley). It's a bittersweet, lowlife story that only Tom Waits can do, filled with every detail of the woman's life:

"Hey Charley, I'm pregnant
and living on 9th street
right above a dirty bookstore
off cuclid avenue
and I stopped taking dope
and I quit drinking whiskey."

"and hey Charley I think about you
everytime I pass a fillin' station
on account of all the grease
you used to wear in your hair."

Neko Case recorded a cover of the song for a recent Tom Waits tribute album, New Coat of Paint. Obviously, a woman singing the song gives it a whole new feel - especially when that woman has a voice like Neko. Take a listen to both versions below.

Download MP3: Tom Waits - "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis"
Download MP3: Neko Case - "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis"

The Magnetic Fields - "I'm in a Lonely Way"

In case I haven't filled my Magnetic Fields quota for the month, here is another song for your listening pleasure, and it's another new one - albeit not from their forthcoming album, Distortion. Magnetic Fields' mastermind, Stephin Merritt, was commissioned by Volvo to write original music for a new TV ad campaign for their XC-series wagon. "I'm in a Lonely Way" was used in one of the ads and also released as an itunes-only exclusive. Although you could never mistake Stephin's voice from anyone other than him, this bouncy, chamber-pop tune could easily be mistaken for Sufjan Stevens.

Download MP3: "I'm in a Lonely Way"

Here is one of the Volvo ads featuring Stephin's cover of "The Wheels of the Car":