VARIOUS – Sand Worms (The Songs Of Howe Gelb And Giant Sand) – LP – Vinyl [AUG 15]

LP – Classic Black Vinyl with DL card. A new collection of covers celebrating cult heroes Giant Sand and their inimitable bandleader, Howe Gelb. Includes new liner notes by Dave Henderson (Mojo).

Delving into the Great American Songbook of Howe Gelb, Sandworms is a new collection that rephrases and rephases the legacy of Giant Sand across generations. This release offers bold reinterpretations from Water From Your Eyes, Deradoorian, Jesca Hoop & John Parish, Lily Konigsberg, Holiday Ghosts, Ella Raphael, Monde UFO, The Golden Dregs, and Gently Tender.

The ever-present Giant Sand and their one-man cerebral traveller, Howe Gelb, are anchored by a reputation for idiosyncratic storytelling. A natural storyteller, Gelbs multifarious musical delivery adds an enduring sense of wonder as he extols the virtues of happenstance. This collection celebrates the esoteric and singular journey Giant Sand have taken, through alt-country, jazz, lo-fi experiments, and beyond, while their legacy is reimagined here by a new generation of artists paying tribute to their lasting influence.

Brooklyn duo Water From Your Eyes, known for their stoner humour, fatalistic undercurrents, and art-pop flair, bring a delicate balance of punk riffing and dream-pop escapism to Warm Storm, first heard on Giant Sands Ramp (1991). Whitney K takes on Happenstance (from 1994s Glum), unravelling its existential puzzles with a whispering baritone that recalls the hushed intensity of Leonard Cohen.

Drifting further into orbit, Angel Deradoorian reinterprets Center Of The Universe, the title track from the bands 1992 album, transforming its desert-fried rock into a spaced-out Sun Ra-paced drama. Elsewhere, Yer Ropes, a jaw-dropping highlight from Glum, is taken on by The Golden Dregs, blurring sentimentality and relationship mismanagement into something truly strange and moving.

A special collection for both long-time fans and the newly curious, Sandworms: The Songs of Howe Gelb and Giant Sand is released via Fire Records and includes liner notes from Dave Henderson (Mojo).

Tracklist:

Side One
Jesca Hoop & John Parish – But I Did Not
Lily Konigsberg – Shiver
Water From Your Eyes – Warm Storm
Whitney K – Happenstance
Deradoorian – Center Of The Universe

Side Two
Gently Tender – Forever And A Day
The Golden Dregs – Yer Ropes
Holiday Ghosts – New River
Ella Raphael – A Hard Man To Get To Know
Monde UFO – Who Am I?