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seedarklyxeroWelcome to SeeDarkly Sunday DisCOVERies:
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
Looking for something previously featured? Click here.
A spitfire of techno vocal voodoo breathed his last earlier this year. In honor of his fire-starting memory we're presenting an EDM cover from a tribute album for his band, released on what would have been his 50th birthday last Tuesday AND doing a quick interview with the featured artist who put the charity compilation together!.[CW:Suicide]:
Sawtooth – Mindfields (The Prodigy)
The Prodigy released their third studio album, Fat of the Land during the summer of 1997. It was the first album with their dancer, Keith Flint, as a songwriter and vocalist (appearing on four of the album's tracks: Breathe, Serial Thrilla, Firestarter, & Fuel My Fire.) Mindfields, with vocals by Maxim Reality, was reportedly supposed to be the first single from the album but only ended up released in limited pressings, first put out on a promotional cassette in 1996 with the name Minefields, and later under its final title as a rare single in France in 1997.
The track has a prominent sample hook from Hip's Trip by John Berry, found originally on the soundtrack of the 1974 James Bond film, The Man With the Golden Gun.
The only other known cover of the song was recorded by the electronic band Neotek for the 2002 compilation album, A Tribute To The Prodigy.
March 4, 2019, Keith Flint hung himself in his Essex home. His final performance was on February 5 in Auckland, New Zealand.
In response, Sawtooth, a Boston-based DJ and EBM musician, organized and produced a twelve track compilation album titled, Jilted Generations: An Underground Tribute To The Prodigy. The album kicks off with Big Time Kill's cover of L7's Fuel My Fire (covered by Prodigy on Fat of the Land) and features covers of Prodigy by BILIAN, The Mask Of Sanity, STAHLSCHLAG, Transdusk, Flesh Eating Foundation, Slighter and more. Sawtooth also provides her cover of Mindfields, calling upon Arizona-based artist Droast (Sakura Pups, Tre Misanthrope, Homemade Abortion Kit) to do vocals.
She took a moment to answer a few questions for us. This is what she had to say:
SDSD: What made you decide to put together this tribute album?
SAWTOOTH: The short of it is that I just wanted a tribute compilation to exist. The sudden and abrupt loss of Keith Flint hit me hard just as it hit swaths of people who enjoyed his music like me, and a tribute album to honor Flint's memory just felt appropriate to me. This was coming a year after I'd put out another tribute compilation to Ministry's oft-avoided synth-pop album With Sympathy (Effigies: A Tribute to Ministry's With Sympathy) and all the work that went into managing it and promoting it drained me quite a bit, so I sat on the idea of a Prodigy tribute. A few weeks went by with no indication that anyone else was going to take charge on a project like this, at which point I thought: "Well I guess I'd better get on it then if I want this thing to exist so badly."
SDSD: As a musician and dj, in what ways have you been directly influenced by the work of Prodigy?
SAWTOOTH: The Prodigy was one of several acts integral to setting me on a path towards an appreciation and love for electronic music. As a child of the late 90s and early 00s I of course went through an embarrassing nu-metal phase, as I'm sure many other American youths did during the time period. It's kind of cringey just thinking about it: I was definitely in a stage where I wouldn't give the time of day to any music that didn't have distorted metal guitars in it. Once my brother and fellow DJ (DJ Bad Axe) introduced me to film The Matrix's soundtrack(1999) however, that's when things took a turn. I, of course, gravitated towards the songs by Ministry, Deftones, Monster Magnet, and Rammstein first and foremost, but I found myself more and more drawn over time to The Prodigy's contribution as well as ones by Propellerheads, Hive, Rob Dougan, and Meat Beat Manifesto. From there it was just a matter of time before I had to learn more, and I fell down The Prodigy's rabbit hole almost immediately.
SDSD: Did you have any particular inspiration or personal reason for choosing to cover Mindfields?
SAWTOOTH: As I mentioned, the soundtrack to The Matrix played a major role in my musical development, as such Mindfields has become my favorite track of theirs since it was the first one I'd ever heard. My nostalgic connection with the soundtrack (and by association the film itself) has gotten more interesting over the years with the transitions of both Wachowski sisters, which has almost certainly inspired and colored my own efforts towards transitioning. I don't imagine The Prodigy intended to write a song that would be used in a pivotal scene for a sci-fi film that would later be revealed as a trans-centric allegory, but a parallel interpretation can definitely be drawn one way or another, and I'm sure the Wachowskis had that in mind when they curated the soundtrack in the first place.
Sawtooth's version of Mindfields is every bit as "dangerous" as the original with a more modern EBM flare and all without the use of any samples. Solid and resonant, "this shock" will make your "head rock!"
Proceeds from Jilted Generations: An Underground Tribute To The Prodigy are being donated to the Suicide Prevention Lifeline.:
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
Fifth Sunday A La Mode! Featuring a witchy synth remake of a classic Depeche Mode ballad by somebody whose chance meeting with the band inspired their will to survive a terminal illness to make music of their own!
Feel free to tell me what you think about today's cover! Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome! You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to reply below, but all replies are screened for spam prevention.
I've got two gigs coming up this week in vastly separate areas of New England, but if you care to join either, or keep up with where I'll be next, please check my schedule for details!
(And if, after 4 years and 230 weekly entries, you find this blog of any value, consider leaving me a tip in the form of the gift of music and get me something from my wishlist on Bandcamp if you like. It'll go to good use! Thanks!)
Thanks for reading and keep dancing in darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Sep 15 - Massive Attack – Man Next Door (The Paragons)
Sep 08 - Lana Del Rey – Doin' Time (Sublime)
Sep 01 - HexRX – Living On Video (Trans-X)
Aug 25 - Iris – I Wanna Be Adored (The Stone Roses)
Aug 18 - Apoptygma Berzerk – All Tomorrow's Parties (The Velvet Underground & Nico)
. Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies .
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
Looking for something previously featured? Click here.
A spitfire of techno vocal voodoo breathed his last earlier this year. In honor of his fire-starting memory we're presenting an EDM cover from a tribute album for his band, released on what would have been his 50th birthday last Tuesday AND doing a quick interview with the featured artist who put the charity compilation together!.[CW:Suicide]:
Sawtooth – Mindfields (The Prodigy)
The Prodigy released their third studio album, Fat of the Land during the summer of 1997. It was the first album with their dancer, Keith Flint, as a songwriter and vocalist (appearing on four of the album's tracks: Breathe, Serial Thrilla, Firestarter, & Fuel My Fire.) Mindfields, with vocals by Maxim Reality, was reportedly supposed to be the first single from the album but only ended up released in limited pressings, first put out on a promotional cassette in 1996 with the name Minefields, and later under its final title as a rare single in France in 1997.
The track has a prominent sample hook from Hip's Trip by John Berry, found originally on the soundtrack of the 1974 James Bond film, The Man With the Golden Gun.
The only other known cover of the song was recorded by the electronic band Neotek for the 2002 compilation album, A Tribute To The Prodigy.
March 4, 2019, Keith Flint hung himself in his Essex home. His final performance was on February 5 in Auckland, New Zealand.
In response, Sawtooth, a Boston-based DJ and EBM musician, organized and produced a twelve track compilation album titled, Jilted Generations: An Underground Tribute To The Prodigy. The album kicks off with Big Time Kill's cover of L7's Fuel My Fire (covered by Prodigy on Fat of the Land) and features covers of Prodigy by BILIAN, The Mask Of Sanity, STAHLSCHLAG, Transdusk, Flesh Eating Foundation, Slighter and more. Sawtooth also provides her cover of Mindfields, calling upon Arizona-based artist Droast (Sakura Pups, Tre Misanthrope, Homemade Abortion Kit) to do vocals.
She took a moment to answer a few questions for us. This is what she had to say:
SDSD: What made you decide to put together this tribute album?
SAWTOOTH: The short of it is that I just wanted a tribute compilation to exist. The sudden and abrupt loss of Keith Flint hit me hard just as it hit swaths of people who enjoyed his music like me, and a tribute album to honor Flint's memory just felt appropriate to me. This was coming a year after I'd put out another tribute compilation to Ministry's oft-avoided synth-pop album With Sympathy (Effigies: A Tribute to Ministry's With Sympathy) and all the work that went into managing it and promoting it drained me quite a bit, so I sat on the idea of a Prodigy tribute. A few weeks went by with no indication that anyone else was going to take charge on a project like this, at which point I thought: "Well I guess I'd better get on it then if I want this thing to exist so badly."
SDSD: As a musician and dj, in what ways have you been directly influenced by the work of Prodigy?
SAWTOOTH: The Prodigy was one of several acts integral to setting me on a path towards an appreciation and love for electronic music. As a child of the late 90s and early 00s I of course went through an embarrassing nu-metal phase, as I'm sure many other American youths did during the time period. It's kind of cringey just thinking about it: I was definitely in a stage where I wouldn't give the time of day to any music that didn't have distorted metal guitars in it. Once my brother and fellow DJ (DJ Bad Axe) introduced me to film The Matrix's soundtrack(1999) however, that's when things took a turn. I, of course, gravitated towards the songs by Ministry, Deftones, Monster Magnet, and Rammstein first and foremost, but I found myself more and more drawn over time to The Prodigy's contribution as well as ones by Propellerheads, Hive, Rob Dougan, and Meat Beat Manifesto. From there it was just a matter of time before I had to learn more, and I fell down The Prodigy's rabbit hole almost immediately.
SDSD: Did you have any particular inspiration or personal reason for choosing to cover Mindfields?
SAWTOOTH: As I mentioned, the soundtrack to The Matrix played a major role in my musical development, as such Mindfields has become my favorite track of theirs since it was the first one I'd ever heard. My nostalgic connection with the soundtrack (and by association the film itself) has gotten more interesting over the years with the transitions of both Wachowski sisters, which has almost certainly inspired and colored my own efforts towards transitioning. I don't imagine The Prodigy intended to write a song that would be used in a pivotal scene for a sci-fi film that would later be revealed as a trans-centric allegory, but a parallel interpretation can definitely be drawn one way or another, and I'm sure the Wachowskis had that in mind when they curated the soundtrack in the first place.
Sawtooth's version of Mindfields is every bit as "dangerous" as the original with a more modern EBM flare and all without the use of any samples. Solid and resonant, "this shock" will make your "head rock!"
Proceeds from Jilted Generations: An Underground Tribute To The Prodigy are being donated to the Suicide Prevention Lifeline.:
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
Fifth Sunday A La Mode! Featuring a witchy synth remake of a classic Depeche Mode ballad by somebody whose chance meeting with the band inspired their will to survive a terminal illness to make music of their own!
Feel free to tell me what you think about today's cover! Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome! You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to reply below, but all replies are screened for spam prevention.
I've got two gigs coming up this week in vastly separate areas of New England, but if you care to join either, or keep up with where I'll be next, please check my schedule for details!
(And if, after 4 years and 230 weekly entries, you find this blog of any value, consider leaving me a tip in the form of the gift of music and get me something from my wishlist on Bandcamp if you like. It'll go to good use! Thanks!)
Thanks for reading and keep dancing in darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Sep 15 - Massive Attack – Man Next Door (The Paragons)
Sep 08 - Lana Del Rey – Doin' Time (Sublime)
Sep 01 - HexRX – Living On Video (Trans-X)
Aug 25 - Iris – I Wanna Be Adored (The Stone Roses)
Aug 18 - Apoptygma Berzerk – All Tomorrow's Parties (The Velvet Underground & Nico)
. Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies .