GIANT SAND
Cover Magazine (Thrill Jockey)
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It takes a mind as twisted as that of Giant Sand pilot Howe Gelb to turn the dire prospect of an album featuring lazy rehashings of songs by Nick Cave, Black Sabbath and Johnny Cash into gold. On Cover Magazine, Gelb isn’t so much interested in reworking songs as he is in stripping them down like an old car and slowly piecing them back together. There are fairly straightforward strides through Johnny Cash’s I’m Leaving Now and Nick Cave’s Red Right Hand, but the real fun comes when Gelb mashes a couple of different tunes into one, splicing together two separate Goldfrapp songs, finding the hidden connection between Wayfaring Stranger and Fly Me To The Moon with Neko Case and Kelly Hogan and giving his bathtub a starring role in the recreation of Black Sabbath’s Iron Man. True grit. Giant Sand play Lee’s Palace Tuesday (April 9).
