'The Partisan' by 16 Horsepower / Noir Desir
Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 3:07 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRHJiqfw ... L&index=12
This is one of the most passionate and compelling Cohen covers I’ve ever heard, so I thought I’d stick the link up here, and add a couple of words about the performers.
The first voice is David Eugene Edwards, the man behind ‘alt.country’ band Sixteen Horsepower and, latterly, Wovenhand. The closest reference-point for Edwards’ music is probably Nick Cave, but where Cave often seems to be using his Biblical imagery for artistic effect, Edwards’ religious material is the real deal – proper, God-fearing, red-state Christianity, fire and brimstone and eternal damnation and no ironic detachment here, this guy means every word of it in pure deadly earnest. If you want to listen further, this clip shows him in all his searing, spittle-flecked authenticity, singing one of his own songs, ‘Black Soul Choir’. “No man ever seen the face of his Foe, no, he ain’t made of flesh and bone…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcg5WnShwHQ
The French lines are sung by Bertrand Cantat, the (ahem) troubled singer of French rock band Noir Desir. The words “French rock band” generally send a shiver of repulsion down any right-thinking person’s spine, but Noir Desir actually had some very fine moments – viz this clip for ‘Le Vent Nous Portera’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUvApC0bwUk
Even listening to them these days raises some uncomfortable feelings (Cantat is best known for serving several years in jail after accidentally killing his girlfriend in a drunken fight). I’d argue that their music – or some if it, at least – stands on its own merits, and doesn’t have to be viewed through the prism of those terribly sad events.
This is one of the most passionate and compelling Cohen covers I’ve ever heard, so I thought I’d stick the link up here, and add a couple of words about the performers.
The first voice is David Eugene Edwards, the man behind ‘alt.country’ band Sixteen Horsepower and, latterly, Wovenhand. The closest reference-point for Edwards’ music is probably Nick Cave, but where Cave often seems to be using his Biblical imagery for artistic effect, Edwards’ religious material is the real deal – proper, God-fearing, red-state Christianity, fire and brimstone and eternal damnation and no ironic detachment here, this guy means every word of it in pure deadly earnest. If you want to listen further, this clip shows him in all his searing, spittle-flecked authenticity, singing one of his own songs, ‘Black Soul Choir’. “No man ever seen the face of his Foe, no, he ain’t made of flesh and bone…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcg5WnShwHQ
The French lines are sung by Bertrand Cantat, the (ahem) troubled singer of French rock band Noir Desir. The words “French rock band” generally send a shiver of repulsion down any right-thinking person’s spine, but Noir Desir actually had some very fine moments – viz this clip for ‘Le Vent Nous Portera’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUvApC0bwUk
Even listening to them these days raises some uncomfortable feelings (Cantat is best known for serving several years in jail after accidentally killing his girlfriend in a drunken fight). I’d argue that their music – or some if it, at least – stands on its own merits, and doesn’t have to be viewed through the prism of those terribly sad events.