The new covers EP from Tropical Fuck Storm is, believe it or not, unconventional. For one thing, it’s largely a return to the guitar-centric jams the Australian collective have slowly been gravitating away from on their recorded material for fear of it being precisely what listeners expected to hear. But for another, the short collection of songs is noticeably lacking in the “Running Up That Hills” and “Love Will Tear Us Aparts” most covers records tend to gravitate toward, instead opting for the second most popular track on The Stooges’ Funhouse to have “Ann” in the title, a cut from TFS’s own most recent record, and two songs belonging to groups that may or may not be entirely fiction.
Which leaves the crowning centerpiece of the record, a take on Jimi Hendrix’s epic 14-minute “1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be),” which the band takes on surprisingly reverently as they stretch it even further into a marathon 18 minutes. According to co-vocalist Gareth Liddiard, the Hendrix homage was “an attempt to right the recent wrongs perpetrated against Hendrix’s classic ‘Angel’ by some idiot from One Direction doing a karaoke-style ‘tribute’ for Jimi’s 80th birthday.” I think Jimi would’ve approved of this version, and I’m glad he didn’t live to see his work become American Idol–ized.
Check out “1983” below, and pre-order Submersive Behavior here.
