from the Tzadik album "The Brill Building" / video by burkley sauls 013
New York-based producer and musician Kramer is known for founding the label Shimmy Disc, for playing in bands including Bongwater and New York Gong, and for producing acts including (but certainly not limited to) Galaxie 500, Low, Will Oldham, Daniel Johnston and GWAR.
Kramer very recently released The Brill Building, an album featuring covers of pop hits composed between 1960 and 1966 in
the legendary Brill Building. Among the covers is "Save the Last Dance for Me," the Doc Pomus- and Mort Shuman-composed R&B smash first made famous by Ben E. King and The Drifters.
Here we find Kramer collaborating with Nashville's very own R. Stevie Moore, the astoundingly prolific lo-fi pop artist known the world over as "the godfather of home recording." Moore and Kramer's take on "Dance" is a nervy, busy, bubbling burst of bedroom-pop madness that dissolves into a chaotic, clattering cacophony by its end. Animator Burkley Sauls put together a video to go along with the tune, and you can see that above. It's got a squid-centric love story, duck rides, the world ending as our hero RSM makes his escape with a space bride ... you know, the usual. Give that a look. If you're up for it, download RSM and Kramer's take on "Save the Last Dance for Me" here ($1), or the whole record here ($9.90).
And keep your ear to the ground for more from Moore — the man himself promises "many vintage reissues soon," plus a forthcoming collaboration with Jason Falkner.
