SPIN magazine free album, "Newermind"

SPIN article

Downloading it now, just thought I'd put this up for Nirvana completers. I'm looking forward to it and like the track listing. So fingers crossed!

http://www.spin.com/articles/free-album-spin-tribute-nirvanas-nevermind

SPIN article wrote:

SPIN's August issue pays tribute to the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's Nevermind, and as part of our package we tapped some of our favorite contemporary artists to cover the influential album's 13 songs, in their original order. The download is called Newermind, and it's our gift to you.

We were happy that two of Kurt Cobain's personal faves -- the Meat Puppets and the Vaselines, both of whom Nirvana famously covered during their MTV Unplugged taping -- joined our effort. Below you'll find the complete album tracklist, with reflections from each contributing artist.

GET THE FREE DOWNLOAD NOW:
SPIN Presents Newermind is available as a FREE download now through July 25 exclusively via SPIN's Facebook page.

Beginning on July 26, the album will be available for free download on this page.

Band interviews by David Marchese

MEAT PUPPETS
"Smells Like Teen Spirit"
One of two bands on this tribute to have been covered by Nirvana, the Meat Puppets chose to repay the compliment by tackling Nevermind's best-known song. "It wasn't daunting," says Curt Kirkwood, whose band is on tour in September. "'Teen Spirit' is just a few chords. It's easy to play -- slap some reverb on there and it's good to go." And anyway, he continues, "This was a cool, weird opportunity -- like playing with Nirvana on MTV Unplugged -- so we're happy to take it."
BUTCH WALKER & THE BLACK WIDOWS
"In Bloom"
"I was in my late teens playing ****ty glam metal when Nevermind came along and ****ed all that up," says the L.A.-based Walker -- and he means that in a good way. "They saved my career. I got to try making different kinds of music." Still, there's a trace of a less-than-fashionable influence on this "In Bloom." "We slipped some Yes into the guitar solo," he admits. "It's a tribute inside a tribute."

MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS
"Come As You Are"
Even on the other side of the world, Nevermind's impact was immediate. After the album's release, says Vincent Vendetta, frontman for the Melbourne dance-rockers, "all my school friends and I started playing Nirvana songs in our bands." He even witnessed Nirvanamania firsthand. "The one time they came to Australia, I passed a record store where Kurt was being interviewed with a big crowd watching. It was hugely powerful for a ten-year-old to see."

TITUS ANDRONICUS
"Breed"
"Nevermind is a rare thing," posits main man Patrick Stickles. "Since indie-rock music is so diverse, there's not always much common ground. But an album like this unites us across time, which is why I wanted to be faithful to the song we covered." There's also another, more fundamental reason. "The riff," he says, "is bad-ass." You can hear Titus Andronicus' similarly incorrigible riffs this month at Lollapalooza.

THE VASELINES
"Lithium"
After Kurt and Co. performed the Vaselines' "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam," on MTV Unplugged, the Scottish twee-poppers were "always being asked if we'd ever cover a Nirvana song," explains singer-guitarist Eugene Kelly. "We'd always said no. We just didn't think we could find a way to do it that wasn't going to feel stupid." Seventeen years later, they have. "Keep it sparse," he says of their approach. "The more simple and naive the better."

AMANDA PALMER
"Polly"
For alt-cabaret chanteuse Palmer, the genius of "Polly" has more to do with words than sounds. "It's entirely possible that the production on Nevermind is going to feel dated in 50 years, if it doesn't already," she says. "The mystery in the lyrics to a song like 'Polly' is so profound. People will always be trying to make sense of what the **** exactly Kurt was singing about. That's what makes a song last."

SURFER BLOOD
"Territorial Pissings"
Even if, as singer-guitarist J.P. Pitts notes, "Kurt Cobain was dead before I could tie my shoes," he's had a complex relationship with Nevermind. "It was one of my favorite records. Then I went through a phase where I thought it was too '90s." Having come back around, Pitts found beauty in "the combination of perfect structures and weird, strange chords."

FOXY SHAZAM
"Drain You"
"I'm the Nirvana guy in the band," boasts Daisy, bassist for the Cincinnati glam rockers. "Right away I knew 'Drain You' would be best for us. We're more of a vocally oriented band than anything else, and the melody line lets us showcase that." Well, that and "it would've been intimidating to do one of the big hits." Instead, he says, five minutes after the band chose the song, "we were getting drunk and jamming out on it."

JESSICA LEA MAYFIELD
"Lounge Act"
Mayfield has a confession to make: "I found out about Nirvana through the Foo Fighters. I'm sure I'm not the only one who walked that discovery trail." Her reason for picking "Lounge Act" is less contentious. "I love how the verse and chorus feel like they have no relationship to each other. It's like two different songs." Just don't ask her to choose between them. "That's like picking the coldest ice cube."

CHARLES BRADLEY & THE MENAHAN STREET BAND
"Stay Away"
The fact that Bradley is a 62-year-old soul shouter made this cover a particularly interesting one for Menahan majordomo Thomas Brenneck. "Charles is a very spiritual cat," he says. "We couldn't have him singing the line 'God is gay.' The rest of the song, Charles kills, but the lyrics are so different from what he normally sings. Hopefully, that tension made the song better." Bradley is on the road in September.

TELEKINESIS
"On a Plain"
This project literally could not have been complete without a last-second assist from Seattle's own Michael Benjamin Lerner, filling in when one someone -- no need to name names, so let's just say it was Wavves -- went AWOL. "Those songs are magical and kind of untouchable, says Lerner, who put out one of SPIN's favorite albums of this year, 12 Desperate Straight Lines. "So this was a superfun challenge, plus I got to take my new studio for a test drive -- I'd just moved and this was the first song I recorded there." Win-win.

JEFF THE BROTHERHOOD
"Something in the Way"
"The idea was to take the least heavy song on Nirvana's least heavy album and give it the JEFF treatment -- make it real doomy. That's all we know how to do!" says guitarist Jake Orrall, who, with his drummer brother Jamin, make up the Nashville duo. They also initially recorded their version to cassette tape before digitizing it, for extra '90s flavor. The band is on tour this month with Valient Thorr and Pentagram.

EMA
"Endless Nameless"
It may pop up ten minutes after "Something in the Way," but the coruscating hidden track "Endless, Nameless" wasn't an afterthought for EMA, who's touring this fall. "I wasn't interested in covering any of the other songs," offers the fuzz-loving alt-rocker. "The statement this one makes is just so awesome. All that noise and abrasion was the band saying, 'We're still punk.' I really wanted to try and capture that spirit.

Malice

Nice one, I'll be checking this out for sure.

Malice

Gah, just getting around to downloading this now. I've to like it on Facebook and give them an e-mail address? Screw that. Off to Mailinator I go!

Kess73

Malice wrote: »

Gah, just getting around to downloading this now. I've to like it on Facebook and give them an e-mail address? Screw that. Off to Mailinator I go!

It will be available on the spin.com site from the 26th anyway, so no need for the facebook crap.

Malice

Kess73 wrote: »

It will be available on the spin.com site from the 26th anyway, so no need for the facebook crap.

I seemed to already be logged into Facebook so that part was unavoidable. Happily they didn't have a problem with the disposable e-mail address I used.

I've only listened to the first three songs so far. The Come As You Are one sounded terrible (what's with the chipmunk vocals?) but the other two were okay. I prefer covers where bands put their own stamp on a song rather than just faithfully reproducing the original note for note.

snahp0

Hi, did a search to see if the Newermind-compilation was available for download anywhere else than from Spin, since they've blocked access to their Facebook-page for anyone outside of the US and Canada.

I've bought the magazine regularly over here in Norway, but think I'll stop now that they've made downloading the free CD's so hard. I'm not even able to buy the iPad-version of the magazine!

Just wondering, anyone who could help me out with the Newermind-compilation, via dropbox or something similar? I'd really like to have a listen.

Best regards, and thanks!

INEEDANID

It promises much more than it actually delivers. Some of the covers are far from great.

Malice

snahp0 wrote: »

Just wondering, anyone who could help me out with the Newermind-compilation, via dropbox or something similar? I'd really like to have a listen.

I'll take a look through my Internet history later when I get home to see if the link it sent to the Mailinator account is still valid. If it's not then I'll see if I can get someone else to use their Facebook account.

INEEDANID wrote: »

It promises much more than it actually delivers. Some of the covers are far from great.

I think if you start listening to it under the expectation of being blown away like when you heard Nevermind first then you will be disappointed. If you treat it as "here are a bunch of bands that you've probably never heard of doing their own take on some well-known songs" then it's worth a listen.

snahp0

Malice wrote: »

I'll take a look through my Internet history later when I get home to see if the link it sent to the Mailinator account is still valid. If it's not then I'll see if I can get someone else to use their Facebook account.

Great, thank you very much!

Malice

snahp0 wrote: »

Great, thank you very much!

Whoops, sorry I completely forgot about this until now. The music can now be downloaded from the Spin page itself so you should just be able to plug a Mailinator address into there to get the music. Even easier, the link will be available from here for the next 24 hours.

snahp0

Malice; thanks for helping.
Now that Spin made the download available on their own site, it's no longer a problem.
So, let's hope it was worth a little bit of all the bothering.

Malice

snahp0 wrote: »

Malice; thanks for helping.
Now that Spin made the download available on their own site, it's no longer a problem.
So, let's hope it was worth a little bit of all the bothering.

Cool, I'm glad it worked!