As Wayne Coyne mentioned on Twitter in September, his Flaming Lips recorded their cover of “Smothered in Hugs” for the compilation. Now, No More Fake Labels founder Misty Dawn Briggs has revealed to Independent Weekly a bunch more artists that pay homage on the album. They include Blitzen Trapper covering “Hot Freaks”, Cymbals Eat Guitars doing “Gleemer”, and Thurston Moore’s cover of “Stabbing a Star”, which was recorded with Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley under the moniker Male Slut and appeared on the 1998 GBV tribute album Blatant Doom Trip. Other artists covering GBV include Elf Power, Superdrag, Kelley Deal with Buffalo Killers, of Montreal’s James Husband, and La Sera (a.k.a. Vivian Girls bassist Katy Goodman).

Briggs also mentioned that the tracklist is incomplete and will feature “a couple super secret surprise tracks” and that a bonus EP will be released in addition to the LP. Go here for more info and artist quotes, and check out the confirmed songs below.

Tentative Tracklist:
The Flaming Lips – Smothered in Hugs
Western Civ – Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory
Western Civ – My Valuable Hunting Knife
Cymbals Eat Guitars – Gleemer
Sorry About Dresden – Echos Myron
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Everywhere With Helicopter
Crooked Fingers – Tractor Rape Chain
Elf Power – Man Called Aerodynamics
I Was Totally Destroying It – I Am Produced
The Pneurotics – I Am a Tree
La Sera (Katy Goodman of Vivian Girls) – Watch Me Jumpstart
Kelley Deal with Buffalo Killers – Scalding Creek
Blitzen Trapper – Hot Freaks
Superdrag – A Salty Salute
David Kilgour (The Clean) – How Loft Am I
Thurston Moore – Stabbing a Star
James Husband (Of Montreal) – Buzzards and Dreadful Crows
Twin Tigers – TBA

Digital-Only EP Tracklist:
Marie Stella – Little Lines
Free Electric State – Weedking
Mass Solo Revolt – Gold Star for Robot Boy
Gregg Yeti – Quality of Armor

The opening track, “The Taking Under”, paints a medieval portrait right off the bat as the drum roll announces the commencement of something grand. It sounds like the hero of some sort of Merlin/dragon/castle story riding his horse across a sunset field. The drums continue to build as long and elegant chords grace the tune. While the lyrics discuss one’s fate (perhaps death), the music boils until the finish, and then it just hangs on a final chord leading into “Wander Through”. This second track sounds ridiculous, with its almost silly note arrangement, use of cowbells, and a guitar riff that probably won’t leave your head anytime soon.

“Stranger in the Window” is a beautiful and bluesy number with what seems like sorrowful love from afar. “It might take 20 years to know me/I guess it all depends on what you show me,” Andrew Reiger croons, “I’ll be all alone/with the wind in my mouth/just a stranger in the window.” If there is some sort of medieval quest going on in your brain, this would certainly be the part where the knight weeps for a love, a princess, or whatever it was medieval heroes had to weep about. “Like a Cannonball” contains a bizarre use of the classic string instruments, but barely reaches any form of excitement.

A track like “The Ghost of John” will certainly catch your ear if you are more into the folksy-wandering minstrel type of music. “All day long/the ghost of John/stood right in front of me/I want to go back/to when his face could not be seen.” I don’t blame Reiger on that fact; ghosts are scary. The track picks up as a lo-fi distortion guitar chimes in at select points from the midpoint of the song onward. Songs like “The Concrete and the Walls” and “Goldmine in the Sun” have a video game type quality about their riffs. “Goldmine” is a bit more cheerful of a track, discussing the search for happiness in such a chaotic world. “Very soon time erases/everything you’ve ever done/and I’m always being reminded/of the goldmine in the sun,” symbolizes that very notion.

The final two songs are both little things. The first is “Little Black Holes”, (which in actuality aren’t that little), an off-kilter number. “As I walked all the way back home/felt like I had always known…” Reiger sings over the ethereal chord progression and odd drum beat. It sounds as though this fantastic journey is coming to an end (even if the lyrics do not depict such a thing). “Little Hand”, the final track, is a beautiful acoustic track that sounds like the completion of something grand. If this album were in some way a story, it sounds like it would be a happy ending.

That’s the thing about records like this. The songs might not be tied together by some common thread, theme, or story, but it still sounds like a journey. In a way, every album does tell a story, whether we like it or not (whether it be about Syd Barrett going insane or a certain rapper coping with success). Elf Power may not have meant this record to come out as some sort of mythical journey, but it has. This will be the record I play if I ever go to New Zealand and decide to hike to Mordor.

Prior to his death in 2009, Chesnutt collaborated with his fellow Georgia natives on both 2004′s Walking with the Beggar Boys and 2008′s Dark Developments and, as an issued press release explains, ultimately became both an a close friend and mentor to the band. In celebration of this relationship, Elf Power chose to dedicate its forthcoming 10th studio album to its late friend. The self-titled affair will be released on September 14th via personal imprint Orange Twin Records.

For the record, Elf Power tried out a two-pronged strategy. First, they got together with Andy LeMaster (R.E.M., Bright Eyes) at his studio Chase Park Transduction. From there, the band went to bassist/engineer Derek Almstead’s home studio for overdubbing and tweaking. As a result, the album contains LeMaster’s nearly-transparent sheen that adds a fundamental sonic purity and muscularity along with a return to the familiar realms of home-recording that encouraged the band’s initial experimental and communal forays.

It’s heavy on guest appearances too. Key contributions were made by former Elephant 6 guitarists/singers, Will Cullen Hart and Bill Doss of the Olivia Tremor Control. Circulatory System’s John Fernandes and Heather McIntosh added a bunch of layers to Elf Power’s music, including string arrangements and a Mellotron.

The album’s first single, “Stranger In A Window”, can be heard below. A North American tour in September and a European tour in November has also been announced, but dates are not yet available.

Vic Chesnutt’s 45-year life will be celebrated during a two-night stretch, from February 19-20, at the 40 Watt Club in Chesnutt’s home base of Athens, Ga. The two-night event will be titled “The Vic Shows: A Celebration of Vic Chesnutt’s Life and Music” and will include performances by past collaborators Guy Piccioto of Fugazi, Lambchop, and Victoria Williams. Other contributors to the event will be Todd Nance from Widespread Panic, Dave Barbe of Drive-by Truckers fame, Kelly Hogan, and Will Johnson.

Tickets to the event, on sale now!, are sure to go quickly, so head here and here to purchase tickets for a weekend that promise great music for a great man. If you cannot make it to the event, but would like to help Chesnutt’s estate, you can still make donations via this website.