Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Luomo & Raz O’Hara “Running Away” – On this new single, Luomo and Raz O’Hara jack the bassline from “Smooth Criminal” (and “Billie Jean” on the b-side) and use it as the foundation for an entirely new song. It’s interesting how after a minute or so, I barely notice the familiar melody underneath, as the song takes on a life and mood of its own, separate from the context of Michael Jackson. As one might expect from Luomo, there’s a cool, clean, icy sound to this track; far more smooth than criminal. (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

Saicobab “Death Valley 69” – This was recorded by Yoshimi of the Boredoms for the recent Confuse Yr Idols Sonic Youth tribute album on the Narnack label. It’s quite an interesting version of the song, as it transposes all of the guitar parts to the sitar, which suits the song’s hippies-gone-evil subtext. Yoshimi sings all of Thurston’s lines through a severe vocoder, rendering those parts nearly incomprehensible and totally inhuman. This cover version evokes a lot of the same feelings of dread and imminent doom that the original conveyed, but it’s almost as though instead of the Manson family playing the role of the villain, it’s some disturbingly mellow android. (Click here to buy it from Narnack Records.)