Mp3 Medication

August 13, 2011 8 notes

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Do your ears a kindness and listen to the breeziness of this sun-filled, tropical take on Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” by the appropriately named Poolside.

Though the artist’s genre is self-described as ‘daytime disco’, their music sounds more like ‘chill disco’ to me, or - to coin a term I just thought of - ‘chillsco’. So feel free to use the term chillsco as often as you like, just… you know, throw some credit our way when you do.

Mp3: Poolside - Harvest Moon

August 6, 2011 9 notes

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To anyone who remembers Eiffel 65 and their 1999 smash hit “Blue (Da Ba Dee)”, take comfort in the knowledge that you’re not the only one who remembers such a horribly empty and annoying song. Yellow Ostrich has taken the chart topper and rendered it almost unrecognizable, resulting in a surprisingly catchy and affecting pop tune full of layered vocal harmonies, sharp percussion backing, and a much-needed melody.

Mp3: Yellow Ostrich - Blue (Da Ba Dee) (Eiffel 65 cover)

July 26, 2011 6 notes

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In honor of the 10th anniversary of The Strokes’ debut album Is This It, Stereogum got some of their favorite artists together to cover each track: Stroked: A Tribute To Is This It. Contributing artists include Peter Bjorn & John, the morning benders, Deradoorian and others, but my favorite track comes from Owen Pallett, who reimagines “Hard To Explain” as a classical piano quintet, dressing up The Strokes’ signature drive with elegant poise fit for a concert hall.

In Pallett’s description of the cover he references an interesting quote from Regina Spektor:

The thing that blew my mind first hearing the Strokes was that they were the closest I had heard rock come to classical. Their music is extraordinarily orderly and composed.

Download the entire album here.

Mp3: Owen Pallett - Hard To Explain (The Strokes Cover)

June 29, 2011 7 notes

Beirut covering ”O Leaozinho”, a song made famous by the “Brazilian Bob Dylan” Caetano Veloso.

Taken from the Tropicália tribute Red Hot + Rio 2, available for purchase here. 37 tracks! Buy it!

mp3: Caetano Veloso - O Leaozinho

June 23, 2011 8 notes

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Fiona Apple and Jon Brion deliver a very respectable cover of one of my favorite songs, “Everyday” by Buddy Holly. The recording will appear on the 19-song collection of Buddy Holly covers, Rave On Buddy Holly, featuring Cee-Lo Green, Paul McCartney, Florence & The Machine, and many others. Due on June 28th.

mp3: Buddy Holly - Everyday (right-click)

May 14, 2011 9 notes

Mayer Hawthorne’s recent EP, Impressions, is a collection of 6 eclectic covers, from ELO to The Isley Brothers to Chromeo, but perhaps the most surprising inclusion of the bunch is a cover of Jon Brion’s “Little Person” originally written for the mindfuck-of-a-film Synecdoche, New York.

Hawthorne creates a fuller sound for the song by adding some of his signature soul groove, but I think some of the raw emotion is lost in this jazzier rendition and I find myself missing the simple piano/voice presentation of the original, probably one of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard.

Decide for yourself:

Jon Brion - Little Person (right-click)

Mayer Hawthorne - Little Person (right-click)

April 5, 2011 2 notes

Original vs Cover: (right-click mp3’s to download)

The Crystals - He’s A Rebel

The Morning Benders - He’s A Rebel

March 14, 2011 7 notes

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Weird, throwback synth sounds and autotuned vocals work together to create this interesting cover of “1234” by Bikini. I think Feist’s original version has a little more life to it, but Apple’s iPod Nano campaign in 2007 pretty much killed the song for me so I have Bikini to thank for reviving it.

mp3’s

Bikini - 1234 (Feist Cover)

Feist - 1234 <— (right-click)

February 10, 2011 2 notes

Original vs Cover: “A Case Of You”

This is not an easy song to cover well, but James Blake handles the vocal runs and stylings from the original with a surprising amount of ease, imitating Joni’s sound while still making it his own. Although this is the first time Blake has presented such an exposed vocal track, hopefully it’s not the last.

mp3’s// (right click)

Joni Mitchell - A Case Of You

James Blake - A Case Of You

February 2, 2011 5 notes

Original vs Cover: “White Winter Hymnal”

I do miss the vocal harmonies from Fleet Foxes’ original version, but it’s hard to beat Oh Land’s “oooh” at 1:30, and the way that her rendition speeds up throughout is pretty endearing as well.

mp3’s// (right-click)

Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal

Oh Land - White Winter Hymnal

January 24, 2011 2 notes

Uffie v. Siouxsie & The Banshees “HONG KONG GARDEN”

When it comes to originals v. covers, it’s hard to say which category is most often better. In this pairing, however, I think we have two versions of the same song that are equal in comparison…

Uffie - Hong Kong Garden

Siouxsie & The Banshees - Hong Kong Garden

Uffie takes Siouxsie’s version and adds a level of eighties-inspired electro, amping up the entire song to a more retro new wave take on the original post-punk noise rock version.

December 8, 2010 4 notes

Original vs Cover: “Such Great Heights”

Who did it better?

Gonna have to go with Iron & Wine on this one. Samuel Beam delivers one of the most outside-the-box reinterpretations I know of, taking The Postal Service’s popping electro sounds and coming back with a whispery folk lullaby. Reminds me of this original/cover pair.

If only it wasn’t used in the f***ing Garden State soundtrack.

The Postal Service - Such Great Heights

Iron & Wine - Such Great Heights

November 28, 2010 4 notes