Jun 042012
 

London based singer-songwriter Alex Clare shot into the spotlight a few months ago when Microsoft chose his track “Too Close” for their new Internet Explorer ads. “Too Close” is heavily influenced by dubstep, but Clare’s musical repertoire extends well beyond electronic music. During his recent visit to the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, he showcased his vocals in a stripped down cover of fun.‘s recent hit “We Are Young.” Continue reading »

May 302012
 

For the past few months pop radio have been dominated by a handful of previously unknown acts who have used super-catchy breakout singles to displace superstars like Nicki Minaj and Flo Rida at the top of the charts. With their own massive single “We Are Young” sitting at number four on the Billboard chart, New York Indie-Pop outfit and punctuation mavericks fun. played an off-the-cuff cover of the ubiquitous “Call Me Maybe,” Carly Rae Jepsen‘s current number two single, on Giel Beelen’s radio show in Amsterdam. All it needed was a Gotye guest appearance to make this the perfect storm of Top 40 earworms. Continue reading »

Apr 242012
 

Best (So Far) finds the finest first-round covers of the latest pop hits.

Launched back in February 2008, the New York-based indie band fun. — comprised of Andrew Dost, Jack Antonoff, and Nate Ruess (formerly of The Format) — has been hovering quietly under the mainstream radar for quite some time. It really wasn’t until “We Are Young” (featuring R&B singer Janelle Monae) was covered on Glee back in December and featured in a Chevrolet Super Bowl commercial this past February that the three-man band began commanding a lot more attention. Continue reading »

Dec 072011
 

Every Wednesday, our resident Gleek Eric Garneau gives his take on last night’s Glee covers.

In “Hold on to Sixteen,” New Directions and their rival glee club the TroubleTones compete in the Sectionals competition. Meanwhile, Quinn (Dianna Agron) plots to get Shelby (Idina Menzel) fired and an old friend returns to McKinley High.

Just last week I was thinking about how, in the future, we’ll be able to look back and pinpoint lackluster Glee episodes with an alarming degree of certainty based solely on the presence of Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet), a character who appeared only in season two, which seems generally agreed-upon as the worst of Glee‘s output to date. It should be no surprise, then, that when Sam returns to the show this week he brings with him a very season two-styled episode that feels the need to rush through a whirlwind of plot points without really doing justice to any of them. Even though “Hold on to Sixteen” is one of those special “competition” episodes that brings plots to their culmination by design, everything about it feels so hurried that nothing really has a chance to land – it’s 20 minutes of plot, then 20 minutes of performances, then a tacked-on happy ending. Honestly, I did not enjoy it. Continue reading »