Grant Lee Buffalo

One might expect the irony to be slathered on like angsty hair goo on Ethan Hawke in this tribute to one of the most mawkish mainstream groups of the 1970s by some of the most indie-certified artists of the alt era. But Karen Carpenter's tragic life epitomized the jaded alterna-dystopia -- and she sang some downright gorgeous songs. So with a few exceptions, the greasy glow of alt.irony is absent as bands either offer very straight (Grant Lee Buffalo's "We've Only Just Begun," with Richard Carpenter on piano) or pointedly morose covers (Sonic Youth's distorted, gut-wrenching "Superstar").

In may 1970, the month that students protesting Richard Nixon's secret bombing of
Cambodia were killed at Kent State, in Ohio, the Carpenters released Close to You, the
album that established them as AM radio staples for much of the '70s. Four years later, while
he was in the midst of the Watergate cover-up, Nixon invited them to perform at the White
House, calling the fresh-faced performers "young America at its best." For a gen... More >