Luke Buda Covers John Cooper Clarke + Beck

Not one to allow the coronavirus pandemic to slam the brakes on his creative urges, Pōneke's Luke Buda (The Phoenix Foundation, TEETH) tackles the tongue-tangling wordplay of US slacker-pop icon Beck and UK punk poet John Cooper Clarke on a new double A-side collection of covers, with drums and bongos provided by the mysterious Ice Blocks. Buda puts his own spin on one of Beck's finest tunes 'Cyanide Breath Mint' (from his "anti-folk" 1994 album with Calvin Johnson One Foot in the Grave), giving the rustic original a spit-polish with sparkling instrumentation, angelic vocals and a smidge of freakout guitar thrown in for good measure. Buda's dreamy take on John Cooper Clarke's 'I Wanna Be Yours' amplifies the kitchen sink love song's sentiment to heartwarming heights – here's what the artist himself had to say, about what looks to be the first in a series of covers releases...

"Hi.

In an attempt to keep myself busy and sane during the apocalypse (and also because chaos is a ladder), I have been recording a bunch of covers.

Here are the first two that have been brought to an acceptable semi-professional level.

01 ‘Cyanide Breath Mint’ by Beck: This is from the era when Beck was just casually slaying with killer lines like “When they want you to cry, leap into the sky, when they suck your mind, like a pigeon you fly!”.

02 ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ by venerable UK “punk poet” John Cooper Clarke: This is one of the greatest love song lyrics of all time IMO.

Please enjoy.
Luke Buda.

PS. More to come."