Engine Room Recordings Presents: "A Tribute to Pinkerton" -- OUT SEPTEMBER 18th

OUT SEPTEMBER 18th ON ENGINE ROOM RECORDINGS
EXCLUSIVELY ON SPOTIFY ON SEPT 11th

Engine Room Recordings is no stranger to cover records.  Since 2007 they have released three volumes of their beloved Guilt By Association series, a guilty pleasure inspired compilation that over the years has featured artists such as Devendra Banhart, Will Oldham, Superchunk, My Brightest Diamond, Mike Watt, Helmet and Frightened Rabbit, covering songs by Mariah Carey, Journey, Ace of Base, Poison and Destiny’s Child.

Now they are back with a very non-guilty pleasure release, a tribute to Weezer’s critically acclaimed Pinkerton. Each song off the record has been covered by a different artist in their own unique way – Wakey!Wakey! replaces guitars for synths on “El Scorcho”, Dinosaur Feathers adds horns and gang vocals to “Tired of Sex” and Rob Cantor of Tally Hall, assisted by co-producer/mixer Ross Federman also of Tally Hall, creates pop magic with his version of “Why Bother?”   Also included in this set is a beautiful, almost dark, ukulele rendition of Pinkerton B–Side “You Gave Your Love to Me Softly” from indie rock outfit Canon Logic.

Tech audio blog SonicScoop went behind the scenes and documented the recording process for many of the songs that will appear on the Weezer tribute.  Two videos have been released so far; Rob Cantor explains his approach to covering “Why Bother?” in Part 1, and in Part 2 Jenny Owen Youngs and her band are captured rocking out to“Getchoo” and talking about why they wanted to cover this particular track.  View the videos here and watch for more videos to be released soon. 

Engine Room Recordings presents:  A Tribute to Pinkerton will be released officially on Sept 18th,but you don’t have to wait until then, the record will be available exclusively on Spotify one week early, beginning on
Sept 11th.

Notes from the bands:

Tim Williams from Soft Swells

Weezer, and specifically Pinkerton came to me at a time in my young life exactly when I needed it. As a disillusioned High School-er this record was what I would listen to in the morning and every night to make me feel at peace. One of the best parts about Pinkerton is that it's an actual 10 song album. By that I mean that you can't just listen to one song and turn it off. Each new album track expands on the previous one and by the time you get to "Butterfly" it all makes sense.

Jenny Owen Youngs

I wanted to record "Getchoo" because to me it is the rawest Weezer song on the rawest Weezer album. You can hear Rivers Cuomo's throat desperately shredding itself. The band sounds like it's throwing itself against a brick wall. There's a beautiful juxtaposition of ragged power and ultimate vulnerability here. Also... it is REALLY fun to play.

Tim Noyes from Aunt Martha

"Butterfly" is one of those simple, beautiful songs that you listen to harmlessly on the train in the morning, and then it manages to stick with you all day and all night. I love songs that don't need anything more than voice and guitar to make a point, and “Butterfly” is just that. And the last thirty seconds are so heartbreaking, come on.

Rob Cantor

The best Weezer show I've ever seen was in Barcelona, just before the green album came out. They weren't enormously popular in Spain at the time, so it was very intimate. I remember standing right near the stage, directly in front of Brian Bell. He mouthed every lyric super intensely. It was odd.

DJ Murphy from Heypenny

"Pink Triangle" was the first cover song I ever played in a band. This song may have been what began my appreciation of Weezer.  Musically, I love the way that, although not in a jazzy or mathematical sense, the melodies move and dance around the tonic while at certain crucial moments stands diligently on the tonic. This is an approach that we often use in Heypenny -- if it is musical movement we want, then make it interesting; if it is just one note we want, then make it emphatic.

Mark Alu from Canon Logic

Personally, "You Gave Your Love To Me Softly" represents the moment when I actually "got" Weezer.  I was still young enough when the Blue Album came out to take it for granted as just another pop CD to put into rotation withMonster and Dookie and (What's the Story) Morning Glory?.  And Pinkerton - probably because of its poor initial reception - flew completely under my radar for a couple years, until my late teens when it was all about EMOTION!!  But as a B-Side, "You Gave Your Love To Me Softly" shows off what makes Weezer tick better than any track from either of those first two records.  A sweet and sentimental melody offset by brutal garage rock power chords and punctuated by a massive sustain-for-days power pop guitar solo, it's as Weezer as it gets. It was an honor to apply our own set of influences to such a great tune and frankenstein it into a little piece of our sound.

Engine Room Recordings presents:  A Tribute to Pinkerton Track Listing:
01. “Tired of Sex” – Dinosaur Feathers
02. “Getchoo” – Jenny Owen Youngs
03. “No Other One” – backwords
04. “Why Bother?” – Rob Cantor
05. “Across the Sea” – Soft Swells
06. “The Good Life” – Xylos
07. “El Scorcho” – Wakey!Wakey!
08. “Pink Triangle” – Heypenny

09. “Falling For You” – Hoots & Hellmouth
10. “Butterfly” – Aunt Martha
11. “You Gave Your Love to Me Softly” (B-Side) – Canon Logic

FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD OF “WHY BOTHER?” by ROB CANTOR

http://soundcloud.com/engineroompresents/why-bother-by-rob-cantor

LINKS

http://www.engineroomrecordings.com

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