Clash Covers, by The Quilz
Milwaukee has a long history of electronic duos, starting with the original twosome lineups of Colour Radio and Dark Façade in the early ‘80s. This century, The Quilz have kept the concept going with visually inventive performances and a series of recordings.
Their latest, the self-explanatory Clash Covers, is a carefully curated EP of songs written by or associated with “The Only Band that Matters”—as the circa 1980 hype put it. Becky Heck’s cooly, matter-of-fact take on “London Calling,” accompanied by Sage Schwarm’s reverberant electronics, transforms the anthemic rock song into a liquid soundscape. Heck greets the apocalypse with even-tempered resolve.
“Lost in the Supermarket” is playfully funky as Heck catalogs the lonely banality of life without destination or meaning. Guitars mesh with synthesizers on The Quilz’s cover of The Clash’s cover of Bobby Fuller’s “I Fought the Law.” “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” originally a nondescript garage tune, is transformed into a beautifully, emotionally detached ballad not unlike something from Nico’s first solo LP. And The Quilz’s synth pop “Rock the Casbah” outpaces the original by many kilometers.
