Certainly one of the more enigmatic song titles of recent years, “Detlef Schrempf,” by Seattle’s Band of Horses, is not the sound of an old man clearing his throat, but the name of a basketball player. No matter, the title actually has nothing to do with the song at all, instead simply chosen as a temporary name that bandleader Ben Bridwell never dropped. Now Scottish acoustic artist Amber Wilson presents her version of the track originally found on 2007’s Cease To Begin. Continue reading »
This Week on Bandcamp rounds up our favorite covers to hit the site in the past seven days.
We took a break last week while down in Austin, but today we bring you another installment of what has in just a few weeks become one of our most popular features. As usual, we scoured Bandcamp for the latest and greatest in under-the-radar covers. All are free to download and well worth your time. Continue reading »
Before he headed out on tour opening for Josh Ritter, Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison tweeted that he would perform a new cover every night. Ritter stepped up his game accordingly and every performance so far has delivered a few covers for lucky concertgoers. So far Hutchison has performed Prince’s “Purple Rain” and Band of Horses’ “The Funeral,” while Ritter has countered with his full-band version of the Velvet Underground’s “Pale Blue Eyes.” Continue reading »
So it begins: Listomania 2010. Like every music blog worth its proverbial salt, Cover Me will be going list-crazy this month. The difference is, our lists will specialize in – you guessed it – cover songs. Take the typical year-end list and insert the word “Cover” between “Best” and “Albums/Songs/etc” and you have a pretty good idea of what to expect. First up: The Best Cover Videos of 2010.
Cover songs hit the web faster than ever these days, but well-crafted cover videos remain relatively rare. Sure, YouTube is bursting with webcam performances and DIY concert footage, but bedroom confessions soon grow tiresome. Well-crafted cover music videos (remember those?) come along far less often. A great video can be art on its own, playing with – or against – the audio recording to create a viewer/listener experience greater than the sum of its parts.
Below, we present our top ten cover videos of 2010. In some cases the song’s origins play an essential role in the music video; in others it makes no difference. Each brings new imagery, insight, or, in some cases, lolz to the song it accompanies. A Rastafarian astronaut shoots lasers. Apples float around a Twilight Zone apartment. Pig people fight mummy surgeons in the basement.
Check out our ten favs below, then tell us which you liked best. Continue reading »
This past weekend, thousands of festival-goers flocked to America's live music capital to catch up with an eclectic group of bands for three days at the Austin City Limits festival. The crowd was equal parts hipster and country, uniting to enjoy shows from headliners like M.I.A. and The Eagles. The weather was flawless, the food was delectable, and the covers were ample.
The full-out dance parties of the weekend were on Saturday at Deadmau5 and Muse. Thousands rocking out under the laser lights until we were all kicked out for the night. It was a rare moment in which everyone was committed to staying for every minute of the sets instead of trekking off to catch a good spot for a later show. And while it was impressive to hear The Eagles (and no shortage of Big Lebowski references), their slow jam sing-a-longs ran a bit long.
Below we collect some of the weekend's great covers. Broken Bells If this is not done, the drive will spin but it will never initialise fully and the area will not be accessible. (aka. the Shins guy Danger Mouse) cover the Black Keys. Band of Horses returns Cee-Lo Green's cover love with “Georgia.” Muse plays one famous cover, one newer one. Continue reading »
Everyone loves Band of Horses these days. Last month we saw Gnarls’ Barkley’s Cee-Lo Green (he of recent “F*** You” fame) cover “No One’s Gonna Love You” with a road trip-gone-wrong video. Now Stockholm’s Shout Out Louds put their spacey spin on Cease to Begin standout “Is There a Ghost?” The quintet translate the lyrics to Swedish; the new title “Spöken” is Swedish for “Ghost.” (via Pitchfork via Merge)
The video features the band sadly wandering on some industrial age monstrosity. Water purification plant? Primitive cell tower? Oil rig on land? Whatever is it, it appears to have been the causality of this or some other recession. Desolate imagery for a desolate song. Watch it below, then post your guess of what this place is in the comments. Continue reading »