Brian Eno in the collective consciousness. I went to see Shearwater (with Mi and L'au and Akron/Family -- who I didn't stay for -- not my thing) at Emo's last night. They have a new album coming out in May and this was the first show they'd played out in quite some time -- but you'd never know it. They sounded just fantastic, which bodes excellent for their upcoming tour dates and SXSW appearance. "Turn Your Transmitters Off" has a new name now (which I can't remember) as well as a slick New Wave drum part that made me squeal with delight and just completely blew me away. But what really made me happy was that they pulled out an unexpected and wicked (if slightly and understandably shaky as they'd learnt it two days ago) cover of Brian Eno's "Baby's On Fire."

The song is everywhere lately, it seems! When I was paying for my double iced latte at my favorite coffee shop last weekend (Jo's on South Congress), I heard those unmistakable first few bars of cascading drums over the sound system, and without a second thought, just started singing along as I finished the transaction, much to the amusement of the baristas and the people in line with me. I was slightly mortifed, but also amazed that the song is so imbedded in my brain that I would just start singing along like that -- in public. I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised -- sometimes I think that Here Come the Warm Jets is my favorite record of all time. I mean, I did name this blog after the lyrics of one of the songs on the album and all.

As an added bonus, I'm including the equally brilliant "Needle in the Camel's Eye," which Calla covered with amazing aplomb on their last tour. I saw them do it twice, locally and at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC, and both times there I couldn't help but giggle every time bassist Pete Gannon would play that rollicking bass line with the most amazingly satisfied look on his face.

Brian Eno -- Baby's on Fire
Brian Eno -- Needles in the Camel's Eye

(If you don't have Here Come the Warm Jets, you totally need a copy. And probably one of Another Green World and Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) as well. Just sayin'.)

Oh, and speaking of covers, the Four Tet cover of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" over at Rock Insider has totally made my day. Wow.