Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox is awesome for a variety of reasons. First, as the title conveys, it’s a benefit album for New Zealand punk legend Chris Knox, who suffered a stroke back in June. Knox is said to be improving, which is great considering he can now enjoy the inanely stellar list of contributors making up his personal soundtrack.
The two disc covers album is of course highlighted by a track from Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Magnum. It’s a rendition of “Sign the Dotted Line” and will basically mark the former frontman’s first new song in about a decade. In case you’re wondering, the number of public appearances have been equally limited.
Also included on the tracklist are the likes of Yo La Tengo, The New Pornographers’ A.C. Newman, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Dinosaur Jr.’s Lou Barlow, The Mountain Goats, Stephen Merritt, Bill Callahan, and Jay Reatard, as well as a number of Knox’s Down Under contemporaries. Told you it was awesome!
The album is now available digitally via Merge. A physical release will go down on February 23rd. In case you still aren’t convinced (I’m not sure how that’s possible), you can stream snippets here.
Tracklist follows (via P4k):
Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox Tracklist
CD1:
01. Jay Reatard – “Pull Down the Shades”
02. The Checks – “Rebel”
03. The Bleeding Allstars – “Ain’t It Nice”
04. Peter Gutteridge – “Don’t Catch Fire”
05. The Chill – “Luck or Loveliness”
06. David Kilgour – “Nothing’s Going to Happen”
07. The Crying Wolf – “All My Hollowness to You”
08. Stephen Merritt – “Beauty”
09. Portastatic – “Nostalgia’s No Excuse”
10. The Mint Chicks – “Crush”
11. Jay & Sam Clarkson – “I’ve Left Memories Behind”
12. Sky Green Leopards – “Burning Blue”
13. Shayne Carter – “The Slide”
14. Pumice – “Grand Mal”
15. Hamish Kilgour – “Knoxed Out”
CD2:
01. Boh Runga – “Not Given Lightly”
02. Red & Zeke – “Bodies [ft. Bill Doss and Neil Cleary]”
03. Jeff Mangum – “Sign the Dotted Line”
04. Bill Callahan – “Lapse”
05. Genghis Smith – “Growth Spurt”
06. Yo La Tengo – “Coloured”
07. A.C. Newman – “Dunno Much About Life But I Know How to Breathe”
08. Alec Bathgate – “Glide”
09. Don McGlashan – “Inside Story”
10. Sean Donnelly – “The Outer Skin”
11. Lambchop – “What Goes Up”
12. The Mountain Goats – “Brave”
13. The Tokey Tones (and Friends) – “Round These Walls”
14. The Bats – “Just Do It”
15. Bonnie “Prince” Billy – “My Only Friend”
16. The Finn Family – “It’s Love”
17. Jordan Luck – “Becoming Something Other”
18. The Verlaines – “Driftwood”
19. Lou Barlow – “Song of the Tall Poppy”
20. The Nothing – “Napping in Lapland”
21. Tall Dwarfs – “Sunday Song”
