Review of "Perpetual Tunes"

One of the most seasoned and accomplished artists in the genre has made an unusual move, namely released a cover album. Well, it's actually an EP. The man behind the idea is no less than Colorado-based artist Slackeye Slim. I wrote about the project two months ago. Then the EP was tentatively called "Perpetual Doom". Now it's released as "Perpetual Tunes". The covered songs are an odd bunch: "Cowboy Dan" (Modest Mouse), "Cold Cold Ground" (Tom Waits), "Heel on the Shovel" (16 Horsepower), "Climbing Up the Walls" (Radiohead), "Anthem" (Leonard Cohen) and "Mack the Knife" (Kurt Weill via Louis Armstrong). In a newsletter Slackeye Slim explains: "I've wanted to record some covers for a really long time, so I picked six of them, recorded them on some gear I found in the dump and fixed, and Perpetual Doom Records was kind of to release it as the first installment of their new series." Interesting choice of songs to cover, indeed. One song particularly stand out, 16 Horsepower, "Heel on the Shovel". Slackeye Slim elaborates: "When I got interested in country music and what other kids who’d grown up on punk rock had done with it, Sixteen Horsepower was one of the first bands I found. I grew up Pentecostal. Dave Edwards’ scary Jesus schtick reminds me of the absurd things my dad used to say and do. I don’t know if I consider myself goth country. Not really, but 16 Horsepower was one of the first bands to do it and I’ve borrowed a lot of ideas from them over the years." The other songs are not bad in any way, but doesn't stand out in the same way. In descending order of interest: "Cowboy Dan", "Climbing Up the Walls, "Anthem", "Cold Cold Ground" and "Mack the Knife". You can listen to "Perpetual Tunes" and buy it in digital format at Bandcamp, just click here (opens in a new window).