SOUNDTRACK: MARCO BENEVENTO-Me Not Me (2009).
This album (Benevento’s second) with the confusing title is actually a (mostly) covers album. Marco takes some familiar (to me) and some unfamiliar (to me) songs and turns them into instrumental versions using piano (and more), bass (from Reed Mathis) and drums.
The first song is My Morning Jacket’s “Golden.” The melody is instantly recognizable and bouncy and fun. Matt Chamberlain provides drums, which are skittery and complicated but never loud. Until the end when the songs starts to float away with trippy synths and some wild drumming.
“Now They’re Writing Music” is an original piece that switches between synth and piano and features Chamberlain and Andrew Barr on drums.
“Seems So Long Ago, Nancy” is a Leonard Cohen song. It’s produced as if it’s on an old scratchy record with echoing bass and drums over the scratchy piano. Barr is on drums.
“Mephisto” is an original, a slow jazzy number with a hummable melody and Chamberlain on drums.
“Twin Killers” is a Deerhoof song. Appropriately, it has some riotous drums (from Barr who is on the next two songs as well). It’s longer than the original because it features a cacophonies middle section that is just insane. But Benevento’s faithful reproduction of the melody line makes this really catchy.
“Call Home” is a pretty lullaby. It’s an original with soft keys and a baby cooing.
“Heartbeats” is the Jose Gonzales/The Knife song. The main low riff sounds like its on the bass and then Marco plays the familiar lead melody with all kinds of fuzz thrown over the song.
“Sing It Again” is a mellow song from Beck off of Mutations. I don’t really know it that well but this version is very pretty and simple.
A highlight of the album is this really fun version of Led Zeppelin’s “Friends.” It’s immediately recognizable and yet different somehow. Its full of raucous paying from all three especially when Benevento ads the sinister synths near the end. Chamberlain plays up a storm on the drums.
The final song is George Harrison’s “Run of the Mill.” I don’t know the original, but this is a jazzy song with lot of piano runs from Marco and some restrained drumming from Chamberlain.
This is a pretty solid introduction to Benevento’s music, although his albums definitely get better once he starts writing his own songs with words.
[READ: March 14, 2021] “Surrounded by Sleep”
Ajay was ten years old. His family lived in Queens (having moved from India two years earlier). He and his older brother, Amam, were in Virginia visiting his aunt and uncle. One morning Aman was swimming in the pool. He dove in and hit his head on the cement bottom. He was on the bottom of the pool for several minutes before anyone noticed.
His parents were not terribly religious, but as Amar lay in a coma in the hospital, his mother began to pray regularly. She also prostrated herself and fasted.
At first Ajay thought “her attempts to sway God were not so different from Ajay’s performing somersaults to amuse his aunt.” Then Ajay knelt before the altar and drew in the carpet an Om, a crucifix, a Star of David and the Superman logo.
When his mother saw him praying, she asked what he prayed for. He told her for a 100 on his math test. His mother said “What if God said you can have he math grade but then Aman will have to be sick a little while longer? … When I was sick as a girl, your Uncle walked seven times around the temple and asked God to let him fail his exams just as long as I got better.”
Ajay replied, quite rightly, “If I failed the math test and told you that story you’d slap me and ask what one has to do with the other.” (more…)
