The Michaels do Jon Brion
Jon Brion. Total badass. The name probably isn’t ringing a bell, but trust me, you’ve heard him. He’s the man behind the scene, the silent assassin if you will. JB is most credibly known as the well respected composer on numerous movies: Magnolia, Punk-Drunk Love, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I Heart Huckabees, Step Brothers, Synedoche, New York, etc. Its apparent he only does the cool ass flicks. He has also produced on some of your favorite artists albums; Rhett Miller, Fiona Apple, Aimee Mann, Spoon, Kanye West (post Kanye falling off his rocker), etc. I think what I’m trying to spit out is this dude is outta of this world talented. As an multi-intstrumentalist, singer, songwriter, composer and record producer he’s pretty much locked down every aspect of composing music. And what’s really cool and refreshing is you can see Brion showcase his skills almost every Friday night at The Largo in Los Angeles. I wish I could go into detail about his show but every show I have seen is different from the next. One night I saw Kanye West on stage with him bumping beats, then the next night he was trading licks with Nels Cline of Wilco. It’s very unpredictable but entertaining like a mother effer.
Alright, so now that I have given you a little background on JB, you’re probably thinking he’s a talented guy who is all over the map. Which is a good assessment. And any band or artist attempting to cover any of his projects would be completely stupid. Hell, Rhett Miller attempted “I Believe She’s Lying” and he definitely missed. Then recently our friends, The Michaels posted on their site they were gonna cover Jon Brion, and as you guys know we’re huge supporters of the band, but I saw this as a death wish. I know JB is a huge influencer for The Michaels but I just didn’t know how they would put it together. So after I gave it a listen I was pleasantly surprised these guys exceed expectations. For how complex JB is I was surprised to hear the band not only emulate the song but also stay true to their own sound. I’ll even go on a limb and say I dig The Michaels versions of The Same Mistakes and Here We Go over JBs. Bias? fuck yeah!
So I’ll let you guys be the judge on this one, no need to go into detail on the tracks. Take a listen to JBs version, then follow up with The Michaels cover, and let us know what you think.
“The Same Mistakes” (Jon Brion Version)
“The Same Mistakes” (The Michaels Version)
“Here We Go” (Jon Brion Version)
“Here We Go” (The Michaels Version)
Get to know Jon Brion
yup,
Keith
