Download Free Covers EPs from Roberts & Lord and La Resistance

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Sep 282011
 

Two free new cover EPs to direct you to today. The first comes from Roberts & Lord, a duo that met by trolling Myspace. Ex-Simian singer Simon Lord (the voice of that “We Are You Friends” song) stumbled across California producer Rafter Roberts while looking for a collaborator online and they decided to work together. The electronic experimenters soon found themselves a home on Asthmatic Kitty – aka Sufjan Stevens’ record label – and released full-lengthy debut Eponymous and this free COVERS EP. Download two tracks below (including a must-hear “Because”), then grab the full thing here. Continue reading »

Five Good Covers: The Killing Moon (Echo & the Bunnymen)

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Aug 242011
 

Five Good Covers presents five cross-genre reinterpretations of an oft-covered song.

Echo & the Bunnymen formed in Liverpool in the late ‘70s.  Vocalist Ian McCulloch had been in a band with Julian Cope and Pete Wylie.  McCulloch recruited underrated guitarist Will Sergeant and bassist Les Pattinson; and yes, there was a drum machine involved prior to Pete de Freitas joining in 1980.  Was this the “Echo” in Echo & the Bunnymen?  That depends on who you ask. The band’s best quality output came over their first seven years and five albums.  An output that brought critical acclaim and UK success, but little more than a cult following in the States. Continue reading »

Live Collection: The Decemberists

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Apr 192011
 

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 »

Live Collection: The Smashing Pumpkins

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Feb 112011
 

Live Collection brings together every live cover we can find from an artist. And we find a lot.


Hailing from Chicago, IL, the Smashing Pumpkins helped blaze a trail for the wave of apathy that infected most ’90s alternative rock. They also gave hip kids from the Midwest the first nationally-recognizable band they could take pride in since Cheap Trick. Formed in 1988, the Pumpkins enjoyed over a decade of fame and influence until noted in-fighting brought about their dissolution at the turn of the millennium. After numerous side-projects and member-shuffling, the Pumpkins have once again taken to the stage under the leadership of Billy Corgan, perhaps one of rock music’s true auteurs.

The Pumpkins have celebrated their diverse influences via cover songs throughout their career. A quick scan of their recorded catalog reveals studio takes of tracks originally by acts like the Cars, Van Halen, Alice Cooper, the Cure and Missing Persons. Their live shows are similarly peppered with covers that one might not expect to hear from these iconic slackers. Some of these do seem like a natural fit though: it’s not too hard to draw a line to the Pumpkins from Neil Young, Depeche Mode or Pink Floyd, for instance. Continue reading »

Review: Diane Birch with The Phenomenal Handclap Band, ‘The Velveteen Age’

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Dec 082010
 

On her second release, singer/songwriter/pianist Diane Birch unites with neo-soul outfit The Phenomenal Handclap Band for The Velveteen Age, a seven-track cover collection of dark eighties/early nineties cult hits. Album cover aside, however, little here suggests the tunes’ stygian origins. Exuberance, not melancholy, is the dominant atmosphere.

To say Diane Birch and The Phenomenal Handclap Band reimagine gothic rock as pop would be misleading. Classics of the genre like the Sisters of Mercy’s “This Corrosion” and Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Kiss Them for Me” were rousing pop songs from the start. Rather, Diane Birch and The Phenomenal Handclap Band reimagine these songs as seventies pop, complete with Motown and doo-wop flourishes. On “This Corrosion,” Sisters’ singer Andrew Eldritch self-consciously refers to his outsider rock as “selling the don’t belong.” By giving the dark side of the eighties/early nineties a retro feel, Diane Birch and The Phenomenal Handclap Band repackage that same “don’t belong” for a new audience. Continue reading »

Cover News: August 11, 2009

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Aug 142009
 

This Week’s News

It’s been quite a week here at Cover Me, so you’ll excuse me for starting with a round-up of the events. First of all, we have a contest to replace that ugly blogger-default header! So any Photoshop wizards or aspiring artistes, check out how you can help out, design a logo, and win free stuff! If you need inspiration, there are ten art-themed tracks to get the creative cells flowing. The deadline for submissions is Monday, August 25.

Also, let’s not forget Shuffle Sundays, the new feature we debuted last week! What did you think? Let us know in the comments.

Finally, it looks like the Broken Chimneys will be tackling Springsteen’s “For You” for this month’s Cover Commissions. Can’t wait to see what Adam comes up with – check back in a few weeks to hear the results.

James Eric was our first Cover Commissions artist earlier this year, giving us top-notch versions of Devo’s “Beautiful World” and MGMT’s “Time to Pretend.” Covering single songs is no longer enough for him though; now he’s covered all of Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot with Erin Fogel!

Where my Ben Harper fans at? Don’t be ashamed, you know who you are. His album White Lies for Dark Times with the Relentless7 only came out in May, but it’s already gotten the full-album treatment as well!

Speaking MGMT, I attended All Points West a couple weeks ago. Though I ditched the MGMT set, apparently they covered The Clean’s “Anything Could Happen,” a video of which is now up at Stereogum.

I posted about Neil Nathan’s excellent covers EP months ago, but now his take on ELO’s “Do Ya” has a video. And a soundtrack inclusion! Great job Neil.

The music world lost a legend yesterday, hitmaker and electric guitar pioneer (and de facto inventor) Les Paul. Never one to waste time, Brian over at Coverville already has a tribute to the legend up.

A Supergrass cover album is cool, and with Nigel Godrich the Radiohead producer behind the boards it stands to be legendary.

I love A Place to Bury Strangers, having seen them twice and interviewed main man Oliver Ackermann once. I always wanted to hear them do a cover, since I thought their “loudest band in New York” shoegaze would make that impossible. I was wrong.

Built to Spill played Siren Fest along with A Place. Their set got pretty weak reviews. Perhaps if they’d played “Paper Planes” or “Edit the Sad Parts” things could have picked up.

Buzz is heating up about The XX, which makes this a perfect time to link to their Aaliyah cover.

Bradford Cox is the indie blogosphere’s wet dream all by himself, but when the Deerhunter man’s new band Atlas Sound covers Fleetwood Mac, the internet may explode.

This Week’s Submissions

Autorotation – For a Friend (Communards) [more]

The Bewitched Hands on the Top of Our Head – Rapper’s Delight (Sugarhill Gang) [more]

Greg Laswell – Killing Moon (Echo and the Bunnymen) [more]

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