Mar 172011
 

Download This scours the web’s dark corners for cool cover freebies. View past installments.

As their name implies, HI54LOFI Records releases music by artists who subscribe to the lo-fi, DIY ethic. They succinctly sum up their philosophy by saying that “the pie with the least amount of fingers in it [is] the best tasting pie.” Many an artist who has experienced recording an album with a booth full of record company execs looking on would surely agree.

An addiction to mixes led to the label’s MySpace player morphing into an ever-changing mixtape. One such tape became The MySpace Mix Tape Player: Covers Edition, now available for stream or download on their Bandcamp site. In the true spirit of a mix tape, the compilation includes covers of Madonna, Johnny Cash and a track from the ‘70s stop-motion Christmas special Santa Claus Is Coming To Town! Not only that, but a band presciently named Dress Up Like A Hooker, I’ll Be Charlie Sheen covers The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven.” Priceless!

You’d swear you were hearing cover legends Pomplamoose on Madonna’s “Like A Prayer,” from the fragile female vocal to the sparse instrumentation, but it’s actually Berkeley singer Glass Cake. London DJ Benjamin Shaw delivers a truly bizarro version of Pavement’s “Starlings in the Slipstream” featuring distorted vocals and downright creepy orchestration, and don’t forget the vintage drum machine. Me and the Horse I Rode In On (another great band name) deliver a touching rendition of The Avett Brothers’ “Weight Of Lies” that demands that you stop what you are doing and just listen.

In the end, you’ll wonder why you’ve never heard of any of these bands before. Check out the samples below and then head here to download the rest.

MP3: Glass Cake – Like a Prayer (Madonna cover)
[audio: DownloadThis/MySpaceMixTapePlayer/LikeaPrayer.mp3]


MP3
: Benjamin Shaw – Starlings in the Slipstream (Pavement cover)
[audio: DownloadThis/MySpaceMixTapePlayer/StarlingsintheSlipstream.mp3]


MP3
: Me and the Horse I Rode In On – The Weight of Lies (The Avett Brothers cover)
[audio: DownloadThis/MySpaceMixTapePlayer/TheWeightofLies.mp3]


The MySpace Mix Tape Player: Covers Edition
Tracklist:

01. Glass Cake – Like a Prayer (Madonna cover)
02. Tiny Ruins – Rolling Mills Blues (Peg Leg Howell cover)
03. Me as a Pilot – Almost There (Pedro the Lion cover)
04. Benjamin Shaw – Starlings in the Slipstream (Pavement cover)
05. The Singer Not the Song and The Not Knowing – Waltzing Me All the Way Home (Stephin Merritt/The 6ths cover)
06. Me and the Horse I Rode in On – The Weight of Lies (Avett Brothers cover)
07. Happiest Lion – One Foot in Front of the Other (Maury Laws/Jules Bass cover)
08. Dress Up Like a Hooker, I’ll Be Charlie Sheen – Just Like Heaven (The Cure cover)
09. French Films About Trains – Say Hello (Rosie Thomas cover)
10. A Singer of Songs – I Walk the Line (Johnny Cash cover)

Check out more free stuff from HI54LOFI RECORDS on their website.

Cover Me is now on Patreon! If you love cover songs, we hope you will consider supporting us there with a small monthly subscription. There are a bunch of exclusive perks only for patrons: playlists, newsletters, downloads, discussions, polls - hell, tell us what song you would like to hear covered and we will make it happen. Learn more at Patreon.

  One Response to “Download This: ‘The MySpace Mix Tape Player: Covers Edition’”

Comments (1)
  1. Cheers for this great write-up!!!

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