The Daily Growl

Los Campesinos! Have a new single out. Apparently it’s a ‘concept single’ and playing on the fact that it’s called The International Tweexcore Underground, the band have recorded b-sides that take in both the ‘twee’ and the ‘(hard)core’ of the title. So they’ve gone for totemic examples of each – Heavenly’s C is the Heavenly Option (for the twee obviously) and Black Flag’s Police Story.

Now this is not the first time that this particular Black Flag song has been covered this year. The previous one was notably on Dirty Projectors’excellent Rise Above album, where David Longtsreth didn’t so much cover as ‘re-imagine’ much of Black Flag’s seminal Damaged record, based on what he remembered it sounded like when he last heard it about ten years ago.

And of course Black Flag themselves. When I first heard the Dirty Projectors’ Rise Above, I hadn’t heard Damaged. I’ve since got myself a copy, and although I like it, what with all the mad energy of Ginn, Rollins and the rest, it’s not the classic I was expecting. I still prefer Longtsreth’s re-imagining.

Download: Los Campesinos! – Police Story
Download: Dirty Projectors – Police Story
Download: Black Flag – Police Story