UNIVERSAL DAUGHTERS – Featuring members from Mamuthones

Members from Mamuthones who's 'Collisions Vol.4' split album with Evil Blizzard we are releasing on the 19th January have been involved in an interesting project called Universal Daughters, who's album is coming out on Santeria/Rough Trade.

Above is a track Alessio and Maurizio play on that features the legendary Alan Vega.


This is what they say about the album:

Why hast Thou forsaken me? is, in many ways, a very peculiar album.

It was made by a somewhat fictitious band called Universal Daughters, including among the others French co-producer and poly-instrumentist Jean Charles Carbone, Mike Patton’s guitarist Alessandro “Asso” Stefana, Mamuthones’ portentous drummer Maurizio Boldrin, and members of Verdena (one of Italy’s most notorious rock groups), while everything was produced and masterminded by Marco Fasolo, leader and singer of Jennifer Gentle (one of the better known Italian indie bands, thanks to their albums on Sub Pop Records).

It was conceived as a tribute to the music we love: a collection of cover versions of (mostly) Anglo-American, obscure and not-so-obscure songs from the 20’s to the 70’s. More importantly, it is a fund-raiser for an organization called Città della Speranza (www.cittadellasperanza.org) taking care of seriously ill children.

The idea came out of hard times and family troubles.

It was during this dark period that we rediscovered the quiet power of popular songs: simple words and simple music that became intense remainders of our human condition.

So we chose a handful of songs and contacted some of our favourite American and English singers. Rather surprisingly, most of them agreed to join the project.

Among the artists who gave us their kind, generous support there are vocalists as different as Jarvis Cocker, Gavin Friday, Chris Robinson from The Black Crowes, Alan Vega from Suicide, legendary soul singer Jerry "Swamp Dogg" Williams, Lisa Germano, Baby Dee, Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate), Mick Collins from The Dirtbombs, Stan Ridgway (Wall of Voodoo), Ed Harcourt, Carla Bozulich and Mark Arm from Mudhoney.

We tried to avoid anything glossy or self-consolatory.

We wanted the album to be a grainy, rugged, dusty celebration of life including its darker sides: that's why the songs go from the simple, unabashed declarations of faith of gospel to bleak nihilism, covering all the points between (love, madness, despair, even horror).

Now it’s finished.

It is an Universal Daughters record: we like it and we hope you can like it too.

UNIVERSAL DAUGHTERS Why hast Thou forsaken me?

TRACKLIST

- I am born to preach the gospel (Washington Phillips): Chris Robinson 
- First of May (the Bee Gees): Jarvis Cocker
- It’s your voodoo working (Charles Sheffield): Mick Collins
- I hear voices (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins) : Alan Vega
- Hong Kong blues (Hoagy Carmichael) : Baby Dee
- Cheree (Suicide): Mark Arm
- Midnight, the stars and you (Al Bowlly): Lisa Germano
- Is that all there is? (Peggy Lee) : Stan Ridgway
- The clock (Johnny Ace): Swamp Dogg
- Psycho (Leon Payne): Steve Wynn
- For the last time we’ll pray (Pino Donaggio, from Carrie)
- Kanga Roo (Big Star) : Gavin Friday
- Mother (John Lennon) : Marco Fasolo + Verdena

More info: Universal Daughters

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