Riley Haas

Riley is a digital marketing trainer and strategist in Toronto. He obsessively writes and talks about music and once had a classic rock radio show in university. His favourite cover of all time is Uncle Tupelo's version of the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog." He's also a movie fan, having seen approximately 4,400 films. You can follow him on Twitter @riley_haas.

Jan 112024
 
babii lovefool cover

The Cardigans will forever be known for “Lovefool” whether or not they are happy about that. It is far and away their biggest hit and most covered song. For most people in the world, it’s probably the only song by The Cardigans they’ll ever hear.

So I imagine it must be nice for the band, and for the rest of us when someone takes an unusual approach to this song that was so ubiquitous in 1997. And UK electropop artist BABii is apparently the person for that. She spent her holidays making this cover so she could released it on New Year’s Day. Continue reading »

Jan 102024
 
planning for burial murderer

California metal label The Flenser is assembling a new tribute album to softcore band Low now that their career is over following the untimely death of cofounder Mimi Parker. As the release date approaches, they are previewing some of the covers that will be on the record.

The latest to be released is by Thom Wasluck’s so-called “gloomgaze” project Planning for Burial. Wasluck has been putting out music under this name for about 15 years and performing under it for nearly 20. He covers “Murderer,” an exquisite-sounding deep cut from Low’s eighth album Drums and Guns. It’s a stark, simple haunting song about trying to use god to justify violence. Continue reading »

Jan 052024
 
cigarettes after sex motion picture soundtrack

One of Radiohead‘s most unique and distinct songs from Radiohead’s Kid A, “Motion Picture Soundtrack” is a ballad that stands out in their oeuvre both for its unusual arrangement and for how long it took the band to release it. Written before they ever released anything, they had demoed it at least once for a previous album. For Kid A, their turn-of-the-millennium departure from guitar-based rock, they created the song around a pump organ, a instrument they never used before. Guitarist/arranger Johnny Greenwood claimed that the harp-dominated backing arrangement was influenced by ’50s Disney films. This is a long way from “Just.”

Cigarettes After Sex are a Texas dream-pop band who have released two albums and an EP in the last decade. They have tackled both AOR and alternative rock covers in the past, so something like a strange Radiohead ballad feels right up their alley. Continue reading »

Dec 012023
 

“Ladies of the Road” is the raunchiest, most sexist song in King Crimson‘s catalogue; an atypical celebration of groupies from their fourth album Islands. It’s atypical due to its sex-centric, innuendo-stuffed lyrics but it’s also somewhat atypical musically, with its bluesy saxophone solos and the backing vocals in the bridge and group vocals in the coda. The song is one of those relics of the ’70s that unabashedly celebrates the sex in “sex, drugs and rock and roll.”

Former Solemn Novena lead singer Louise Patricia Crane knows her way around prog rock. Her 2020 solo debut was acclaimed by the prog music press (yes, that’s a thing) and even featured guest appearances by members of Jethro Tull and King Crimson (not an Islands-vintage member of Crimson, but rather the band’s final lead singer Jakko Jaksyk). Continue reading »

Nov 302023
 
Orquesta 24 Cuadros

“I’ll Be Gone” is a deep cut from that most Waitsian of Tom Waits albums, Franks Wild Years. The soundtrack to a play based on a song from an earlier album (his eighth), where Waits first established his infamous sound. Waits fully leans into this new persona and sound on the record, and “I’ll Be Gone” is a perfect example of this, with the cockcrow, the accordion, the angular guitar, the marimba and, of course, Waits himself.

Orquesta 24 Cuadros is a large Mexican group that has been releasing music since 2016. They blend genres with their unique lineup which incorporates a horn section and some string players. It’s natural for most bands covering Waits that they won’t slavishly follow his unique arrangements. There’s not much point as Waits’ style is so much his own but, on their new “I’ll Be Gone” cover, the Orquesta doesn’t completely stray, however, because there are horns here as there are on the original. Still, their approach in terms of both arrangement and tempo is quite idiosyncratic. Continue reading »