Filling in for Hatch this week, I had the thrilling opportunity to present a live set of music from the Chicago entity known as U.S. Girls, which is actually one U.S. girl, named Megan Remy. Packing nothing more than a reel-to-reel tape deck, a mic, and 2 stomp boxes, U.S. Girls delivered a maelstrom of classic pop filtered through something unknowable and kinda crazy, I don't know what it is. I'll indulge the facile "A meets B" thing by saying imagine Phil Spector covered by The Conet Project, or The Dave Clark 5 as done by a gang of angry ghosts. It's strangely still pop music, stripped of all affect, leaving behind the pure emotion and meaning of songs like "Bits and Pieces" and The Kinks' "Days".
Here, for your health and holistic well-being, is the entire set U.S. Girls played, including the un-aired (and un-airable) full 27 minute chat. You can also check out the entire set as broadcast, complete with listener commentary and contextualizing other stuff (up to and including Pete Townshend's 1982 masterpiece "Slit Skirts"), here.
mp3s: St Jude Boys Choir | Bits & Pieces (Dave Clark 5 cover) | Come See Lightly | Don't Understand That Man | Everyone I Know Is So Insane | Prove It All Night (Bruce Springsteen cover) | O What A Nite | Days (Kinks cover) | Buzz Chant | I Can Hear Music (Ronettes / Beach Boys cover) | interview (complete, unedited & unexpurgated)
All original work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Siltbreeze recently released the excellent Introducing U.S. Girls; visit their site for more. And here's a great writeup at the 20 jazzfunk greats blog. Jump the flip for more pics, plus some awesome video of "I Can Hear Music", shot by Jason Sigal.
http://flickr.com/photos/42766610@N00/74647543
Portland band Hustler White with drummer Megan Remy. Judging by this photostream, I think what she's doing now is probably better.
Posted by: | August 22, 2008 at 09:56 AM
What is that brown slop she's eating off the floor?
Posted by: | August 22, 2008 at 12:36 PM
..
i love that she does the great Beach Boys song
'I Can Hear Music',
and clearly she's doing
something not very musical....
These kids today (get off my lawn)
must be so desensitized and bored
to put up with crap like this!!
and to even want to make crap like this...
Posted by: | August 25, 2008 at 09:16 AM
Excellent set - loved it.
Posted by: Parkedtiger | September 04, 2008 at 12:27 PM
love it.
Posted by: timmerg | September 06, 2008 at 07:56 PM
so into this
Posted by: | October 04, 2009 at 08:58 PM
US GIRLS live in Paris :
http://www.vimeo.com/9183250
http://www.vimeo.com/9183567
http://www.vimeo.com/9183848
Posted by: Albanmono | February 11, 2010 at 04:52 AM