Rodriguez - Tom Violence
I love this Sonic Youth cover by Rodriguez. For those unfamiliar, Rodriguez was a band that comprised Matthew Ward (aka. M. Ward), Kyle Field (aka Little Wings) and Mike Funk. The band formed in San Luis Obispo, CA in the early 90s and recorded one record, called Swing Like a Metronome, in 2000 with Jason Lytle (of Grandaddy fame) as producer.
After I fell hard for M. Ward’s End of Amnesia record in 2003, I did my usual obsessive thing of hunting down everything I could by him (remind me to post something from the rare M. Ward self-produced live tour cd from around 2002). Because Swing Like a Metronome was so hard to find it took on mythic proportions. Especially after discovering the amazing work of Kyle Field in his Little Wings records. I just couldn’t conceive of how good Ward and Field would be together in one band.
I can’t remember when I finally found a copy at some used CD place online, probably in 2004 or so. Ward and Field have both developed considerably as artists since Swing Like a Metronome, but it is a gem in the rough, imperfect but stunning to this day. My 8tracks mix for this week will include a couple more tracks from the record.
