Mar 182024
 
Liam Gallagher Jumpin Jack Flash

Liam Gallagher and John Squire, respective cornerstones of Britpop royalty Oasis and The Stone Roses, embarked on tour this week in support of their new album, the accurately titled Liam Gallagher & John Squire. Although Liam had warned that the duo would not be dipping into their back catalogues on this run, he did tease that they might break out a surprise cover or two. He and John delivered on that proposition in Glasgow this past Wednesday, serving up a spirited take on The Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” Continue reading »

Mar 182024
 

In Memoriam pays tribute to those who have left this world, and the songs they left us to remember them by.

Karl Wallinger covers

Karl Edmond De Vere Wallinger: chorister and oboe player educated at England’s finest schools.  Karl Wallinger: hippy, Beatles fanatic, multi-instrumentalist and “likable smart aleck.”  Like Joe Strummer before him, also a product of a diplomat who had his children educated at Boarding Schools, Karl Wallinger took his music and his political passions in an individual direction.

Wallinger came from the small Welsh seaside town of Prestatyn.  As the crow flies it is not far from Liverpool (although it is more of a trek by road than across the Irish Sea), and his sisters gave him a love of the Beatles and Merseybeat which never left him.  Music engulfed him at a young age. He was a chorister at Eton College, a nursery for Royalty and Prime Ministers, and his skills earned him a music scholarship to another famous school, Charterhouse. In the latter he followed closely on the heels of Tony Banks and Peter Gabriel, as they started their path to the formation of Genesis. Gabriel gave one of the warmest tributes to Wallinger, noting that he had “the most creative and fun week I have ever had in the studio” during their time in a Real World Recording Week.

Always active in bands and musical movements, he first came to prominence as a member of The Waterboys. In many ways that does not distinguish you.  Mike Scott likes to claim that The Waterboys have had more members than any other band, and he has some receipts to help make his case. However, Wallinger was more than a bit part rental player. He was a key part of the band’s most successful incarnation, at least commercially. Having talked his way into the band (Scott had advertised for a guitarist, Wallinger sold himself as a keyboard player), Wallinger was part of the “big sound” that marked the most impactful phase of the band’s career, including their biggest hit, “The Whole of the Moon.” Scott remains on better terms with his many, many collaborators (when compared with The Fall’s Mark E. Smith, for instance), and his love and respect for Wallinger never waned. “Travel on well, my old friend,” he wrote on his X/Twitter page. “You are one of the finest musicians I’ve ever known.”
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Mar 152024
 
teenage joans call me maybe cover

2012’s song of the summer, “Call Me Maybe,” launched Carly Rae Jepson’s career with a little thanks to Justin Bieber. If you were a tween when it came out, it likely made as much of an impression as it did on the members of Australian duo Teenage Joans.

Teenage Joans, whose name echoes no wave legends Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, are an Adelaide-based punk-ish guitar-and-drums pair that have received considerable acclaim in their native state. But they grew up with pop like “Call Me Maybe” and decided to honour that heritage for Triple J’s legendary cover program “Like a Version.” Continue reading »

Mar 142024
 
dayseeker my immortal

Evanescence’s piano-laden ballad “My Immortal” took the world by storm in 2003, and the band Dayseeker has just flipped it on its head.

Dayseeker, a 4-piece post-hardcore/rock band from Orange County, California, is known for its quintessential dreamy, heavy sound: melodic, but not without that grit us alt-lovers crave. And recently the band created a compelling cover that began (surprisingly) with the piano line on an acoustic guitar. As the tune goes on, it’s like a slow burn, a lily budding- that then opened. Rory Rodriguez was the real star in this cover, which was practically a vocal showcase. From raw lows to clear falsetto jumps, “My Immortal” is a vocal challenge that he aced.  Continue reading »

Mar 142024
 
shane parish aphex twin

Fingerpicker Shane Parish has an appreciation for roots music of all sorts. With the attention of art-rock royalty such as John Zorn and a range of collaborations keeping him busy, he has nevertheless found time to put together a new solo album, Repertoire, which includes a deft cover of Aphex Twin’s “Avril 14th.” Continue reading »