Dark Was The Night is a fundraiser for the Red Hot Organization, an international charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS, comprising 31 exclusive tracks. Moreover, though, much like a previous Red Hot effort, 1993’s No Alternative (Nirvana, Patti Smith, Sonic Youth, Beastie Boys, Smashing Pumpkins, Pavement, Jonathan Richman), it acts as a snapshot of a certain time and place in North American alternative music (Stuart Murdoch, Devastations, Riceboy Sleeps, Antony Hegarty and Jose Gonzalez company excepted). The record takes in a healthy cross-section of the major players in the scene over the last couple of years; a period of unbridled creativity and critical hosannahs shone upon the music that not so long ago would have been quietly left to fend for its own cult following on the underground. So how do you approach something like this, with no thematic link or stylistic even keel, just a hell of a lot of proven quality intended, as the producers Aaron and Bryce Dessner (of The National) have reinforced, merely as a showcase for “the best in independent music, with an emphasis on traditional themes played and arranged in a contemporary way” (whatever that means)? By throwing traditional review narrative form out of the window and tackling it sequentially, I guess. Continue Reading

Chan Marshall has never been shy about disclosing her influences – Cat Power’s Myspace page is more an homage to beloved artists than a promotional tool. In January, Cat Power followed up 2000’s The Covers Record with Jukebox, another batch of songs made famous by other people; Dark End of the Street is a digital-only release of five more tracks from the Jukebox sessions. Continue Reading

Cat Power started the year with Jukebox, her second album of cover songs and a tribute to the great vocalists who had influenced her over the years.

And now, to end the year, Cat Power is to release another set of covers, recorded at the same productive sessions as Jukebox, and now finally released.

The remaining unreleased tracks are to be aired this December in the form of Dark End Of The Street, a six-track gatefold double-10″ and download EP (tracklisting below).

Tracklisting:
1. Dark End Of The Street (James Carr/Aretha Franklin) *
2. Fortunate Son (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
3. Ye Auld Triangle (The Pogues) *
4. I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now) (Otis Redding)
5. Who Knows Where The Time Goes (Sandy Denny/Fairport Convention) *
6. It Ain’t Fair (Aretha Franklin) *

* denotes entirely unreleased song

The almond-eyed tortured seductress Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, is back. Her early decidedly indie, arguably flaky, and musically lo-fi years had passed me by, but the opening bars of previous sultry outing’s The Greatest had me snagged hook, line and sinker. It survived to remain among my albums of that year despite emerging early in January. So, two years on, I approached this new release with a massive sense of expectation. She has vanquished some demons and found some stability in both her personal and professional life. What next? Well, somewhat disappointingly to those initial expectations, it’s a covers album, the second in her career, and this time a tribute to those vocalists who have provided inspiration down the years. My second gripe was that most tracks on the review copy had been specially butchered with jarring premature fades. With so much of the enjoyment here being of tone and atmosphere, it did set this reviewer’s teeth on edge more than once.

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