The Sandinista Project has been getting lots of reviews, both good and bad. And the Lothars are mentioned in a few of them, both good (“much thanks to the Lothars’ eerie rendition of The Call-Up“) and bad (“The Lothars… struggle through The Call Up…, proving that the soul of a stellar band is often what sells the most difficult of its tracks.”)
But two recent reviews stand out. First, in this past Sunday’s New York Times, Jon Pareles writes, “Songs skew toward Appalachia with banjos, plunge into psychedelic loops and echoes, unleash theremin on The Call Up and the Persian wail of Haale on One More Time,” OK, it’s not much, but it is the New York Times (full article here). Second, there’s a very thoughtful piece in a blog called The Architectural Dance Society about how the best cover versions are ones that bring out elements of a song that you hadn’t noticed before and make you want to relisten to the original. As examples of this, he makes available mp3s of four of the tracks on the compilation, including the one by The Lothars. I think that this is our first appearance on an mp3 blog. I feel like this is an important milestone and we’ve truly arrived.
