Georgia-based post-rock outfit Japancakes will have not one, but two, new releases out before the end of 2007. The first, an album of new material entitled Giving Machines (cover at left), is slated for an October 2 release on Darla. Of the eight tracks on the album, one is a cover of Cocteau Twins' "Heaven or Las Vegas."That cover gives a glimpse of what Japancakes have in store for their other release, one that will surely have purists up in a tizzy as much as the Dirty Projectors' recent Black Flag-influenced Rise Above did. Take a deep breath, because here it is: a track by track remake of the My Bloody Valentine's classic, Loveless.
At this point, you may be asking, "Wait a minute, Japancakes is an instrumental group. How are they going to recreate the vocals? Guest singers?" Good guess, but no. The band will handle the vocal lines itself, substituting Japancakes' signature pedal steel and cello sounds for human pipes. The band also promises to take away Loveless' hallmark layers of distortion. That album is slated for a November 13 release, also on Darla.
This could actually be very very cool - Japancakes has done some really gorgeous stuff in the past, so I imagine they'd do a pretty interesting job with MBV (and their own, of course).