Ever since Will Toledo first referenced the National’s “Brainy” and They Might Be Giants’ “Ana Ng” on songs like “Misheard Lyrics” and “Cute Thing,” Car Seat Headrest has gained renown for its tributes to indie rock forebears and peers. At the Festival d’Ete International de Quebec last night, Will Toledo and co. opened with a less expected selection: “Black Paint,” by the aggro noise-rap crew Death Grips.
Past Car Seat Headrest shows have involved covers of songs like Frank Ocean’s “White Ferrari” and Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android.” Earlier this year they recorded a half-joking version of the Smash Mouth deep cut “Fallen Horses,” prompted by that band covering CSH’s own “Something Soon.”
This latest cover takes the extremely online quality of the Smash Mouth exchange even further. Death Grips have recently come to seem like sentient memes, opening their recent Year of the Snitch with a song called “Death Grips Is Online” and collaborating with Andrew Adamson, director of the Shrek franchise—the first film of which infamously opens with Smash Mouth’s “All Star.” Perhaps it’s only a matter of time before MC Ride and company return the favor and cover Car Seat Headrest. In fact, “I’m so sick of fill in the blank” fits right in with Death Grips’ brand of aggressive nihilism, so you never know.
Watch the “Black Paint” cover below.
car seat headrest opened the show with a fucking death grips cover and now furries and mc ride rule canada by law pic.twitter.com/LjUydMBidU
— EZP Em (@EZP_em) July 10, 2018
Car Seat Headrest are on tour throughout the summer – you can see the list of tour dates over here.
