VARIOUS ARTISTS “Kind of Funny, Kind of Strange: the ONLY Donnie Darko Companion Tape” (Bee Sides Tapes)




VARIOUS ARTISTS
“Kind of Funny, Kind of Strange: the ONLY Donnie Darko Companion Tape”
(Bee Sides Tapes)

I’ve held off on writing about this cassette for a very long time because this album is really a mystery to me. This cassette came with a small magnifying glass taped to the front of the case, and when I opened it I found a long and detailed booklet with words so tiny that I couldn’t read them without using the magnifying glass. Inside the booklet, there were four interviews with people all discussing why Donnie Darko is not only their favorite movie, but how it also “incited a throng of soon to be revered movie soundtrack compilers into action.”

I was starting to wonder if this would just end up being a cassette of the movie’s original soundtrack, but it turns out that it’s covers of the soundtrack by this labels artists. It’s such an interesting idea, but my biggest problem is that they seemingly let the artists pick any song that they want to cover. While that might sound like a good idea, what you end up with is a bunch of covers of the same songs. Even with that said, it’s actually really interesting to hear the insane differences in what two different bands will turn a song into. I’ve always been a big fan of Free Cake for Every Creature so I’ve got to say that their cover of “Love Will Tear Us Apart” was my favorite.

This love letter to Donnie Darko is one of the strangest cassettes that I’ve gotten while writing for Cassette Gods, and I dig it.

“The children have to save themselves these days because the parents have no clue.”



- Garrett Douglas