Spiders From Venus - Indie Women Artists and Female Fronted Bands Cover David Bowie 
 by Tim Byrnes

Spiders From Venus - Indie Women Artists and Female Fronted Bands Cover David Bowie 
Label: Skipping Discs
Rating: 
 

Tracks: 01. Space Oddity - Pitch Black Dream 02. The Man Who Sold the World - Bug Funny Music Foundation 03. Changes - Joe K's Kid 04. Kooks - Andrea Perry 05. Moonage Daydream - Wendy Ip 06. Starman - May Hart Band 07. Hang On To Yourself - Shesus 08. Watch That Man - The Fur Ones 09. Cracked Actor - Zeta Bane 10. Rebel Rebel - Tegan and Sara  11. All the Young Dudes - Switchblade Kittens  12. Golden Years - Essra Mohawk  13. Boys Keep Swinging - Aspyg  14. Modern Love - Astrid Young  15. As the World Falls Down - Ce Ce Zen  16. The Heart's Filthy Lesson - Lunasect  17. Hallo Spaceboy - First of June  18. I'm Afraid of Americans - Q  19. Afraid - The Jenn Beast Band

Purchase this CD online More info on this disc plus samples at SkippingDiscs.com

She's an Alligator! 

I'm gonna hang up my anarchy jones for a minute to glory in the wonderful sounds of this CD. David Bowie has always been, to me, one of the most innovative artists that this mess we call rock and roll has ever produced and the artists on this CD remain faithful to the spirit of the music, if not always the to the letter. 

Skipping Discs records have assembled a cross section of female indie artists, or as the title states, female led bands, in a celebration of all things Ziggy. (Or major tom/thin white duke/diamond dog/outside/etc) ˜Venus' opens with a cover of ˜Space Oddity' by Pitch Black Dream, the ambient/electro-noir band led by vocalist Bernadette McCallion. This version,while not a total deconstruction (think the Cure's take on ˜Purple Haze'), PBD bring a harrowing darkness to the space our Major Tom floats in, the isolation almost tangible. Great stuff that should lead discerning listeners to check out more of their work.

˜Rebel, Rebel', by Tegan & Sara (featuring Grace Nocturnal) is quite faithful to the original, (really what would you change?) but with it's own strut and swagger. Lunasect take on ˜The Heart's Filthy Lesson' from Bowie's ˜Outside' CD, a record that has garnered the old boy some of his worse reviews but a record that I find to be one of the most challenging records ever to be released by a major artist, and come out winners, capturing the song's tone of robotic yearning with grace and power.

It's a toss up as to which cut is my favorite here, I expect it will change from listening to listening, but right now I've been playing ˜Modern Love' by Astrid Young and ˜All the Young Dudes' by Switchblade Kittens the most. Couldn't find two less similar approaches, but the hymn like longing of Young's ˜Love', all acoustic guitar and campfire intimacy, and the bubble gum/surf punk stylings of the Kittens, with their 3 basses and drums, cartoon fun romp attitude and especially the candy striper vocal stylings of miss Drama Kitten make me sigh and smile respectively. Special mention must go to the Kittens reworking of the line ˜man, I need tv when I got NOFX'. Priceless.

As tribute records go, this one is a keeper. Not overly serious but not tossed off either. The wildly varying artistic styles represented here are a testimonial to the far reaching sweep of Bowie's music, and the myriad artists that he has influenced. As good as this record is I of course have a couple of ˜wish list' covers I would love to hear. Imagine Kate Bush coming out of retirement and covering ˜Life on Mars', or Patti Smith taking ˜Gene Genie' into the stratosphere. I know, you can't have everything, where would you put it? (Exactly where it is now, but it would be mine).

Skipping Discs has also released a similar compilation dedicated to the music of the Doors, which should be interesting. ˜I am the Lizard Queen, I can do anytheen!", anyone?