Arcade Fire continued their run towards world domination earlier this year with their highly anticipated new release, The Suburbs. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts, proving their popularity and exhibiting the total acceptance of indie music by the mainstream culture. The Suburbs is also proving to contain a rather coverable group of tunes; folks seem to love singing “We Used to Wait” in particular (as we have pointed out before). Calexico continued the Suburbs love, but bucked the trend with the brooding “Ready to Start” at their set at the Festiwal Ars Cameralis in Katowice, Poland on November 18. No surprise the song’s in their heads; the group recently completed a three-week tour opening for Arcade Fire.
The two versions of “Ready to Start” certainly share some fundamental similarities, but Calexico change things up enough to avoid pointless rehashing. While the original incorporates lush strings and synthesizers to complement the dark guitar drive, Calexico relies entirely on those guitars to set the tone, waiting until the end to augment them with a few synths and a brief appearance by the horn section. Check it out below. Also, check out the band’s earlier Arcade Fire cover, of Neon Bible standout “Ocean of Noise.”
MP3: Calexico – Ready to Start (Arcade Fire cover)
[audio: News1110/23ReadytoStart.mp3|artists=Calexico|titles=Ready to Start]
MP3: Calexico – Ocean of Noise (Arcade Fire cover)
[audio: News1110/23OceanofNoise.mp3]
Check out more from Calexico on their website and MySpace.
