A LATIN TRIBUTE TO CCR
‘Easy to Die’ The Silver Lake Chorus (Six Degrees)
In the new Silver Lake Chorus video for “Easy to Die,” the Atwater Village-adjacent group cruises the lonely boulevards of the city while delivering an ethereal take on Aimee Mann’s grim ballad.
First released for the chorus’ 2015 self-titled album, the work has been remixed by the Nashville guitar duo Hammock, who add washes of ambient synthesizer and feedback loops to accompany the chorus’ grand harmonies. The track is taken from the Silver Like Chorus’ new album of remixes, “Remixes.”
Those harmonies are some of the only evidence of human life in the quiet clip, which traces a day in and around the eastern edge of downtown Los Angeles. As dawn moves to dusk, cameras roll through underpopulated streets at off-peak hours and the group sings darkly rendered lyrics about the suddenness of death that might have been penned by Edward Gorey.
‘Bad Moon Rising’ Ozomatli (Concord Picante)
Cross-cultural projects such as “Quiero Creedence,” a Spanishlanguage tribute to the roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, serve a noble purpose but can sometimes get mired in the novelty of it all. The variety offered here should not only quiet the skeptics but offers evidence that nearly 50 years after its birth, CCR’s work remains essential.
The 14 artists who work these classics include the Spanish singer-songwriter Enrique Bunbury, who re-imagines “Run Through the Jungle” as a crawling, conga-driven, reverb-heavy rock song. The Oakland-based group Bang Data updates the great protest song “Fortunate Son” until it’s a wonderful mess of Latin, hip-hop, rock and reggae sounds.
Also featured are Los Lobos (“Bootleg”), Mexican superstar Juan Gabriel (“Have You Ever Seen the Rain?”) and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons & La Marisoul from La Santa Cecilia, who roll through a wild, psychedelic blues-rock take on “Green River.”
Best is Los Angeles stalwarts Ozomatli’s take on “Bad Moon Rising.” Seemingly written with the 2016 presidential election in mind, Creedence founder John Fogerty’s menacing, lyrical portent is a great match for the buoyant Ozomatli. It’s driven by a speedy ska beat to open, one that maneuvers through measures with both joy and intent.
‘Watching the Waiting’ Wye Oak (Merge)
Like many of Baltimore duo Wye Oak’s songs, “Watching the Waiting” covers a lot of ground in a few minutes. Though rich with melody and hooks, the song’s speedy tempo mixes with verse-chorus joy and an occasional odd interlude that flip-flops through the measures.
The song is taken from their breathtaking fifth studio album, “Tween,” whose nine songs mix distorted chords with moments of beat-heavy pop.
When the band is in expansion mode, as on “Too Right,” it exudes power. The delicacy of “Trigger Finger” is presented through a mesmerizing, repetitive guitar line, one that is gradually overwhelmed by washes of noise. Like all of Wye Oak’s output, the record revels in the power of melody to surprise and celebrates the ways in which moments of silence and hesitation can lead to dramatic need for release.