Engine Room Recordings mixed some indie A and B-listers with some of the best worst pop songs in living memory, in a reckless chemistry experiment that could have blown someone's head off, OR MUCH MUCH WORSE.
Which came first: Devendra Banhart's shameless “Imagine” piano-cop at the beginning of his so-called guilty cover of Oasis's “Don't Look Back In Anger”, or the increasingly more bizarre accent and phrasing choices, that are starting to sound more Eugene Hutz than Marc Bolan? It's a great take on classic Devendra quirks, veiled in that silly accent, perhaps to disassociate himself a bit from the “guilt” in the upcoming Guilt By Association comp out on Engine Room Recordings August 28. Along with Banhart's cover there's Will Oldham doing Mariah Carey's “Can't Take That Away” and Petra Haden singing Journey's “Don't Stop Believin'” a-capella.
In all fairness, “Don't Stop Believin'” is actually an accredited religion with world-wide chapters proselytizing about “livin' just to find emotion,” “payin' anything to roll the dice,” “hidin' somewhere in the night,” and excising the letter “g” from the end of verbs.
Hey, by the way, what's the metal band of the same name as the compilation got to say about it? Nothin yet? Right. They look like they model for Men's Health. Scrawny freak folks heading to the compilation release party August 21 at Pianos, beware, for this is the compilation's true guilt by association:
