These Are Some Seriously Great Covers
I’m not exactly sure why, but I’ve been coming across some seriously amazing covers recently. It’s like all of a sudden some higher power decided that Derek Davies needed some great covers in his life and that he should discover them all within one two-week period. It started with Placebo’s incredible take on “Running Up That Hill” a little while back and just hasn’t stopped; below are some of the best covers I’ve heard in a long time.
MP3: “Float On” - Goldspot
The big news in the world of covers is the recent leak of the sixth installment of the OC mixes, a special edition titled Covering Our Tracks that - you guessed it - features a bunch of the OC producers’ favorite bands covering their favorite indie rock jams. I’ve only just acquired the mix itself, but Goldspot’s cover of “Float On” is looking like the best thing on this album. I played it for my roommate last night, who might just be the biggest Modest Mouse fan ever, and he loved it, commenting that it had all the greatness of Modest Mouse only without all the tragic nihilism that underlies all their songs. I don’t know - I guess that’s a good thing, he seemed to think so. I’ll let you decide for yourself though; get at the mp3 above.
MP3: “Cars” - Katzenjammers ((HOW IS THIS SO GOOD))
Wow. This is the best thing I’ve heard in a longggg time. Unfortunately, there’s really no way to say “I found this amazing and ridiculously obscure cover of Gary Numan’s ‘Cars’ recorded in 1981 by this funky steel drum band from Tobago” without sounding like the snobbiest indie douchebag ever, but… I found this amazing and ridiculously obscure cover of Gary Numan’s “Cars” recorded in 1981 by this funky steel drum band from Tobago. Seriously though, it’s SO good; just wait for those steel drums to hit and you’ll know what I mean.
MP3: “Banquet” - Slowbear The Great
I’ve already praised this cover in this space once before, but it’s definitely good enough to deserve a second posting. “Banquet” was my #1 song of 2005 and was without a doubt the party anthem of last year, so it’s a bit curious to come across a chilled-out acoustic cover of the song. Even more surprising is the fact that Slowbear The Great actually makes it work - really well in fact. Taking a completely different approach from the orginal, Slowbear combines his acoustic fingerpicking and smokey, double-tracked vocals to reinvent the dancefloor banger with his own brilliant interpretation.
ELSEWHERE:
BBC Radio 1’s got the new Bloc Party video for “The Prayer” available for viewing here. It’s just too bad it sucks; I really expected better from Walter Stern’s “comeback video”. Apparently it gets better upon repeated viewings, but I’ve gone through it a couple times and I’m still not terribly impressed.