Last night, Brian Eno made his much-publicized appearance on The Colbert Report. As it turned out, though, he wasn’t the only musician in the building. Michael Stipe came out at the end to be permanently installed on Colbert’s new “Rock and Roll Shelf of Fame.” Without R.E.M. to front, he’s gonna have a lot of time on his hands. Eno soon popped back out for a “Lean on Me” sing-along. Continue reading »
Under the Radar shines a light on lesser-known cover artists. If you’re not listening to these folks, you should. Catch up on past installments here.
When bands are so loosely organized that they’re less a group than a state of mind, they usually call themselves a collective. The Doleful Lions – sometimes Jonathan Scott with a great supporting cast, sometimes Scott alone – call themselves an experience. And they’re right.
Scott sings about topics close to his heart. For most singers, this usually means cars and girls, but in Scott’s case, the topics have ranged from Freemasonry to cheap horror movies (1999’s The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! was named after the 1972 ratsploitation classic). He’s also sung of fearsome fringe figures (Charles Starkweather, Bobby Beausoleil) and conspiracy theories (“and don’t you know it was the government/stopped The Beach Boys from releasing Smile” – “Surfside Motel,” from his 2002 masterpiece Out Like a Lamb). Yet throughout all this, Scott’s voice is like a warm blanket, comforting even as fears swirl around it, and his way with a pop melody and his range at production – from low-fi bedroom recordings to soaring studio epics – make each song, yes, an experience. Continue reading »
This Week on Bandcamp rounds up our favorite covers to hit the site in the past seven days.
A somewhat mellower set today, perfect for the official start of summer. The first few tracks take us into folk and folk-rock, but things get a bit dreamier at the end on covers of David Byrne/Brian Eno and, of all people, Will Smith. Party in the city when the heat is on! Continue reading »
Download This! scours the web’s dark corners for cool cover freebies. View past installments.
If someone were to give a word-association test for the term “music,” one might respond with “dancing.” Music and dance go hand in hand, whether it’s literally a song about shaking your groove thang or just a song that inspires you to move. Dance is as universal as music; both do not require great intellectual thought, but require our emotions to respond with joy or sadness. Dance is a physical representation of our emotional response to music. Continue reading »
Live Collection brings together every live cover we can find from an artist. And we find a lot.
Over the past decade, Portland quintet the Decemberists have gone from indie darlings to indie darlings with a number-one album. This year’s The King is Dead took the band to new levels of commercial success, shining some national attention on a band whose name was once known only to the chamber pop-obsessed and English majors. It may not be too unfounded to compare this band’s story to that of R.E.M.’s in the ‘80s; in fact, given the unabashed fandom they display on The King is Dead, that’s a comparison they’d probably happily invite.
The collection of covers crooned by the Decemberists mostly betrays their too-cool-for-school nature. They seem to have hit all the requisites that prove you listened to hip music in the ’80s – the Velvet Underground, the Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen, etc. However, there’s a few genuine surprises here. Embarrassing reading of the Outfield‘s “Your Love” notwithstanding, there’s some real pleasure to be had in the band’s delight at ripping into Heart‘s “Crazy on You,” or in their surprisingly earnest rendition of Bad Company‘s “Feel Like Making Love.” Band leader Colin Meloy also turns in an intimate, slowed-down version of Cheap Trick‘s “Summer Girls” to great effect. Even the band’s usual bombast makes itself known in the 16-minute epic of Pink Floyd‘s “Echoes.” Continue reading »
Almost 30 years (gasp!) into their career and 23 years after their first long-player, Eleventh Dream Day recently released their tenth album, Riot Now! In celebration of that release, they have also trickled out a couple of bonus-track covers where they pay tribute to Joy Division and Brian Eno. On both covers they show no signs of slowing down, playing with a fury that puts young punkers to shame. Continue reading »