Hyperjinx Tricycle - Long Lost Love

(Important/Shortwave, 2002)

I’m not usually a big fan of Daniel Johnston’s collaborative projects, given that the presence of outside musicians – and the attendant focus on things like arrangements, polish, and a consistent tempo – tends to dilute and flatten an idiosyncratic style that works far better on its own terms. Still, on this disc of outtakes from the Hyperjinx Tricycle’s first album, it’s interesting hearing Johnston’s familiar voice and lyrical themes within Jack Medicine’s dark musical settings, particularly “Long Lost Love,” which is raw and understated in a fashion that his over-professional, over-produced, and generally over-thunk albums of the last decade (including this group’s scattershot debut) have failed to manage. The B-side is of equal worth, featuring as it does a moody Medicine original reminiscent of Sparklehorse and a radically different version of Johnston’s piano-pounding stab at a theme for the “Greg the Bunny” program. With insipid lyrics (“Greg the Bunny/TV show/He’s a really cool bunny/He’s so funny/Yes he is”) delivered by dueling, out-of-sync vocal tracks, the latter is bad-trip material in the best sense, recalling the early Stress tapes in its ability to be simultaneously – and effortlessly – charming and unsettling.

The Birds - Let's Do The Velvets!

(Important, 2005)

Those responsible for DOING THE VELVETS here are Cotton Casino, from Acid Mothers Temple, and a guy named Per Gisle Galaen, from parts unknown. While a full album did follow, the single’s pair of homey, safe covers pretty much screams “side project”... and that’s fine, but it’s hard to recommend this record too heartily to anyone outside of VU fetishists and Acid Mothers completists. Both songs are competently performed, and have a fragility to them that is a nice contrast to the usual rawk ’n’ grime that folks like to associate with the Velvet Underground catalog. No reason to get excited though; these aren’t radical rethinks or revelatory interpretations. It’s pleasant, and that’s about it.

Cotton Casino, like Nico before her, doesn’t have the world’s greatest English, which is a little distracting on “Femme Fatale,” where the vocals are right up front. But credit the Birds for putting together a solid musical arrangement on this one: a churchy keyboard picks out the chords, and a noisy guitar comes sweeping in towards the end, adding Cale-esque texture and volume. “Here She Comes Now” sticks close enough to the original to largely render itself pointless, though it does have a more psychedelic, droning feel that serves the song well. There are no real complaints to be made about this disc, but, in the end, there’s just not enough here to convince me that I should be listening to The Birds’ versions rather than my old VU records. You know?