We feel compelled to make some sort of Mogwai and Pixies joke — you know, Gremlins versus those cute winged things (and Bob Geldof’s daughter) — but the Scottish noise-gazers do such a overloaded, gouging take on “Gouge Away,” we’ll let it rest. The tune’s a major standout from Dig For Fire: A Tribute To Pixies, which collects fifteen homages to Frank, Kim, and the boys by the likes of They Might Be Giants, British Sea Power, The Rosebuds, John P. Strohm, and others. Check out the tracklist, and listen to what Mogwai do to that Doolittle classic after the jump.
Nice and crunchy, like an Albini swarm-rocker. Here are Pixies four doing it live in London, 1991.
Totally bad-ass. Of course none of the Dig For Fire bands top (or even come close to) the originals, but we’re fond of that Mogwai track, along with the Strohm, Julie Peel, Elk City, OK Go, and some others. Here’s the list:
01 Morning Theft – “Ana”
02 The Rosebuds – “Break My Body”
03 Dylan In The Movies – “Down To The Well”
04 Joy Zipper – “Wave of Mutilation”
05 OK Go – “Gigantic”
06 Bedroom Walls – “Stormy Weather”
07 Mogwai – “Gouge Away”
08 Knife & Fork – “Motorway To Roswell”
09 They Might Be Giants – “Havalina”
10 Bunnies – “Alec Eiffel”
11 Elk City – “Monkey Gone To Heaven”
12 Fashion Victims – “Hey” (Double Dragon Remix)
13 The Commons with Elizabeth Harper – “Here Comes Your Man”
14 John P. Strohm – “Where Is My Mind?”
15 British Sea Power – “Caribou”
iTunes Bonus EP
01 David Miller & Castle Arms – ?Manta Ray?
02 Elk City – ?Number 13 Baby?
03 Charles Douglas – ?Bone Machine?
04 Julie Peel – ?The Happening?
05 PC Munoz – ?I Bleed?
06 Fashion Victims – ?Hey (Blue Version)?
07 Joe Harvard Band ?In Heaven (Everything is Fine)? (Oddly, not a Pixies song)
You can head over to Pixiesmusic.com, enter some personal info, and listen to much of it in streaming form.
Dig For Fire‘s out 11/27 on American Laundromat. If you can’t wait, you can get it via iTunes on 11/13 (main record or the bonus EP).
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Were we once so young?
Also, They Might Be Giants is a kind of inspired choice for “Havalina.” I’d be interested in knowing if that was any good.
how come no one actually covers dig for a fire
that song rocks
Looking at that video, I’m reminded that Kim Deal still turns me on like no other woman in music, current soccer-mom appearance or not. And Frank’s voice… It’s not really fair to post the video here, because it makes the covers look even worse. I was almost believing the Mogwai cover was decent, until I watched the video. I love you, Pixies.
The Havalina cover is okay. I heard it once, but I don’t remember it too clearly. I think I was disappointed, but only because I was expecting something mindblowing from a fusion of TMBG and the Pixies.
If you’re looking for a good fusion of TMBG and Pixies, Frank Black’s cover of “Road Movie To Berlin” kicks some serious ass. The backing vocals in it sound a LOT like Kim. It was the highlight of the TMBG tribute cd.
There’s a Dutch electrotrashPixiescoverbandfromhell and they call themselves The Havalina’s. I think they are the only ones that make the dirtyness of most Pixies-songs even better/more dirty. The guy screams like Frank Black in the old days. check the link!
Not that I have anything against more Pixies covers existing in this world, but I think ‘Where Is My Mind’ is a pretty awesome tribute album already in existence: Weezer, Superdrag, Promise Ring, Braid, Far, Nada Surf, Get-Up Kids, etc. There’s only a few tracks on this new one I’d get excited about from the start, but you never know…
Sometimes I forget just how much I love the Pixies. Here’s my little story…41 years old, 5 kids, married, etc. etc. I love how the Pixies can still create that inner rage for me. Isaac Brock and the gang from Modest Mouse still get it done too. It’s a nice dark place you don’t get to visit very often. I pray I never get so old I don’t wanna tear my fuckin’ steering wheel off my car when those bands rip.
Funny. I also love driving down the road, top down and too fast, screaming along to the Pixies and Modest Mouse (my two favorite groups). More recently, the Silversun Pickups also hit that same spot for me.
There’s a pretty decent Pixies cover band that occasionally plays at the Croc here in Seattle, called No. 13 Baby.
Would “In Heaven”, be the Modest song of “Building nothing out of something”?
it’s cool that they got Simon L. to do the artwork.
this is way better than that piece of crap with weezer and such.
it’s a tough assignment to tackle.
you can’t fuck with the originals, sort of like the beatles catalog.
actually the pixies covering the beatles worked, go figure.
In Heaven is from David Lynch’s Eraserhead, and the Pixies covered it on The Purple Tape. SO not one of theirs, but a song they did perform.
“In Heaven” was also released as a b-side, and is/was frequently played at their concerts.
It was a long time before I realized the band’s name was “Pixies” and not “The Pixies”
“In Heaven was also released as a b-side, and is/was frequently played at their concerts.”
I was going to say that, I think it’s perfectly cool to do a cover of a cover, they took the song and made it their own :)
Mogwai playing Gouge Away, I can’t think of anything I’d rather hear except maybe Tom Waits singing Everybody’s got something to hide except for me and my monkey. That would be even better.