Don't miss Engine Rooms Guilt By Association

That's Right! It's Back! 

Don't miss Engine Rooms Guilt By Association

 Pitchfork (11.19.08)

"For round two, the comp seems to have evolved from a collection of covers of guilty pleasures to an unabashed celebration of pop, probably since nobody should ever feel ashamed for liking something.."

UPCOMING NYC SHOWS

January 31st

Music Hall of Williamsburg - Guilt By Association Vol 2 Release Party

Performances by

Robbers On High Street

Jukebox The Ghost / Takka Takka / Lowry

Plus Special Guests

Gift Bags with Mast Brothers Chocolates AND more

AND

February 5nd

Bowery Ballroom 

Performances by

Francis and the Lights

Savoir Adore / The Bloodsugars

Guilt By Association Vol 2 looks and plays like a cassette tape that you might have made for a friend or, lets face it, your cutie crush in high school with love notes and all. Vol 2features Robbers On High Street doing New Edition, Matt Pond PA covering My Chemical Romance, Takka Takka tackling Phil Collins, and Cassettes Won't Listen covering INXS.

 

Guilt By Association Vol 2 was conceptualized and produced by Wesley Verhoeve and lends towards danceable covers of some of the artists favorite pop songs. "We wanted to take what was done on Volume 1 and pour it into a cohesive framework. We're big fans of pop music, but also of indie music and in that sense there's nothing ironic about this project. Together with the artists we picked pop songs they loved that might sometimes be painted as guilty pleasures by some (but not us), and then attempted to shine a light on them in a way that exposes what is so awesome about these songs," says Wes.

 

The Forms's cover of Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start The Fire' or My Brightest Diamond's take on 'Tainted Love', are transformed into a slamming modern indie dance party track that fits right into today's Brooklyn scene. Others like Matt Pond PA's version of My Chemical Romance's "I'm Not Okay" provide us with a quick mellow moment of melancholy.

Guilt By Association is a compilation series conceived by Peter Block, co-founder of Engine Room Recordings, and already a third is not far behind. The first volume was produced by renowned music supervisors Randall Poster and Jim Dunbar (All Wes Anderson films, Squid & The Whale, Lost, etc.) and included tracks by indie luminaries Devendra Banhart, Will Oldham, Petra Haden and many others. As an overarching theme for Vol. 1 there was a moody early 90's indie feel.

 

Press Hearts Guilt By Association:

Harp, 07:

“The second installment of 07's sing-a-long darling, Guilt By Association, will be released on Feb. 17th.  Guilt By Association Vol 2 brings together your most beloved underground bands with your Top 40 Radio hits of the 80's, 90's and today. The series is more "elegy than irony and offers a primer on how to cover songs successfully". 

Entertainment Weekly:

"Good Times"

Blender:

"Guilt By Association should satisfy our indie-rock-meets-pop needs."

Radar:

"Hipsters bum-rush the karaoke mike on this beguiling collection"

Relix:

"Oddball cover choices have become almost the norm for many bands these days and Guilt By Association certainly carries the idea one step further."

USA Today:

"All the cool kids are talking about Guilt By Association.."

The Sentimentalist:

"Guilt By Association ups the ante and digs deep into some of pop's most iconic "one hit wonders.."

New York Magazine:

"material ranges from borderline non-embarassing karoke rockers  to flat- out schlock balladry..."

Static Multimedia:

"bridging the gap between TRL and Pitchfork, bringing together the indie with the irreverent..."

Stereogum:

"Guilt By Association makes no bones about spreading the cheese..."

Notes from the bands:

Conrad Doucette of Takka Takka covers Phil Collins "In The Air Tonight"

"In The Air Tonight' is probably the darkest, and weirdest, tune Phil Collins ever wrote. The structure of the song allowed us to drop some of our own atmospherics onto a song already rich in atmosphere. If anything, we feel guilty about not feeling guilty about liking this song.

Alex of The Forms covers Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire"

"I grew up playing classical piano and this was one of the first songs that helped me make a transition to rock music, in a nerdy 8 year old kinda way. It's an impressive song. There are 7 verses and it was a real challenge for us to continually make those interesting. It's also compelling that the lyrics for a song written in '88 ring so true in an eerie way for today."

Alex from Lowry covers Toto's "Africa"

"We've always been afraid of the return of prog rock.  That being said, perhaps we were able to stick our fingers in the dam by releasing a song that was already good and making it bad. LOL.  Seriously though, we really like the song.  If anyone knows what the hell David Paich was talking about in that song, please reach out to us. . .we're stumped."

Track Listing:

01. My Brightest Diamond - Tainted Love

02. The Bloodsugars - Self-Control

03. Robbers on High Street - Cool It Now

04. Frightened Rabbit - Set you Free

05. Matt Pond PA - I'm Not Okay

06. Takka Takka - In the Air Tonight

07. Kaki King - I Think She Knows

08. Francis And The Lights - Can't Tell Me Nothing

09. Lowry - Africa

10. The Forms - We Didn't Start The Fire 

11. Rafter - If You Leave

12. Cassettes Won't Listen - Need You Tonight

13. Jukebox the Ghost - It's A Beautiful Life

14. Max Vernon - I Kissed a Girl

 

Volume 3 is already in the works and takes it down a notch into a Ditmas Park inspired organic and delicate folk direction with a few bursts of energy from the West Coast.