October 28, 2011
Doveman reissues his Footloose soundtrack
If you're anything like us, you were probably at the local megaplex opening night to experience the shining beacon of artistic creativity that is the remake of the movie Footloose. Who isn't a fan of edgy, hip-hop interpretations of the classic stories like this one: boy vs. authority, love & dancing in small town America...
Ok, so we can't even pretend that we've seen the new version of this movie and, let's be honest, we probably never will. However, we do have some relevant news: In conjunction with the release of the film, we've reissued Doveman's interpretation of the original soundtrack! Here is his friend Gabriel Greenberg writing about Doveman's inspiration for covering the Footloose album:
"When I was very young, my half-sister Jenny died tragically. She was a teenager, and it was the 80's. She left behind a wardrobe of brightly colored clothes, rainbow stickers, life-size paintings, doodles on lined paper, and hundreds of tapes. These constitute most of my memories of her. It's sad for me to look at these things, and usually I don't. But a couple of summers ago I found a tape of hers with a startling cover photograph - this was Footloose. I couldn't stop listening: it was a portrait of 80's love, desire, pain, freedom, and frenzy; of being a teenager in a time of change. By listening, I could step into Jenny's shoes, see things from her vantage point. I could be emancipated by rock and roll and walkmen, just as she had been. We could listen together.
"I asked my friend Thomas to cover the album, which, sheltered as he is, he had never heard before. I was clear that I wanted to him to cover the whole album - the point wasn't to rework any one song, but to re-imagine the picture they made together. With a new Footloose we could reply to the past, tell our own story about being young. This is what he made."
We suggest using the money you're not going to spend at the movie theater to purchase the album. And without further adieu here it is:
Because of various publishing royalty complications, the album has never before been available commercially, except for a limited release to a few European digital download stores. But as of now it's on sale at Bandcamp, and we may have a few more tricks up our sleeve with this release in the future.
Wait, don't go yet, still more Doveman news! In association with Doveman's Burgundy Stain Sessions, Other Voices NYC is holding a "celebration of music and literature" at Le Poisson Rouge. It started last night and continues tonight. Brassland family members Bryce and Aaron Dessner will appear alongside Glen Hansard (The Swell Season), Sam Amidon, Bell X1, Martha and Rufus Wainright, Martin Hayes and many more, some of whom have hard to pronounce Irish names. (We're talking to you Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Iarla O Lionaird.) Get your tickets here.
If you haven't heard of it, Other Voices is an Irish television music series that features Irish musicians and writers -- along with a handful of international artists. Now in its tenth year, the series is leaving its usual filming location, a two hundred year-old church in County Kerry, to film in New York. Irish writers Joseph O'Connor and Colum McCann will also do readings at the event. All ticket sales will benefit the Fighting Words creative writing center in Ireland.