They Say It’s Your Birthday: M.I.A.

They Say It’s Your Birthday celebrates an artist’s special day with other people singing his or her songs. Let others do the work for a while. Happy birthday!

Artist, activist and new media pioneer Maya Arulpragasam, better known to the world as M.I.A., turns 36 today. A Briton of Tamil descent, she started as a visual artist, attending London’s Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. While there, she met Elastica’s Justine Frischmann and designed the cover art for their final single. Urged on by Frischmann and Peaches, whom she met while filming a video document of Elastica’s last tour, she began recording music in her bedroom. Continue reading »

Red Band (also known as The Puppet Folk Revival) is indisputably the best Israeli puppet cover band on the Internet. To be fair, there isn’t much dispute over Israeli puppet cover bands. If there was any substantial amount of arguing going on, though, it’s likely that Red Band would win. Continue reading »

It’s a bit difficult at times to see the distinctions between all of Richie Follin’s projects. While Guards is not a solo project, per se, Follin is the only regular member. He is a part of Cults and the Willowz and has recorded solo under his full name, Richie James Follin. Loren Shane Humphrey, another member of the Willowz, occasionally joins him in Guards, as does his sister and co-Cults rocker Madeline Follin. The man has done a remarkable job of managing his Internet presence, and very little information can be gathered about him or his projects. His music, on the other hand, is far more expressive. Continue reading »

After having performed it live for a few years, Street Sweeper Social Club finally released their cover of M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” back in July. With the addition of some crunchy guitar from Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, the song took on a heavier sound more in tune with the lyrics. Now MTV has premiered the video, which restores some of the levity—literally and figuratively.

The fact that the band spends the entire video riding on a paper airplane seems a touch, um, literal. But the paper city they colorize shows more inspiration. Plus, Morello and MC Boots Riley hog the camera enough that their charisma carries it. Notice how Morello hits that high guitar note (the cash register noise in the original) by slamming his guitar above the fret board. Pretty cool. Now can they please release a video for “Mama Said Knock You Out”? Continue reading »

Rage Against the Machine guitar hero Tom Morello formed Street Sweeper Social Club in 2006 and it seemed they covered “Paper Planes” almost immediately (though it wasn’t yet released then, so my memory may be a bit off). So while it’s tempting to give them grief for releasing a cover that is so 2008 (maybe even 2000-and-late), they hit the ground running back in the day, before M.I.A. was all, “I’ll have the truffle fries.”

The single comes from The Ghetto Blaster EP, out August 10. It loses a little something without Morello’s machine-gun guitar miming, but that’s what YouTube is for. The EP also features a cover of L.L. Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out,” which in the hands of Street Sweeper’s Boots Riley should be explode-your-face dynamite.

Listen to it over at RollingStone.com. Preorder The Ghetto Blaster EP here.

Cover News: May 1, 2010

Posted by Ray Padgett at 1:00 pm 2 Responses »

May 012010

Cover News is a weekly feature keeping you up to date on the goings-on in the world of cover tunes, tribute albums, etc. At the bottom we showcase the submissions we’ve been sent in the past week (send us yours)! As always, follow Cover Me on Twitter for the latest news.

The Arcade Fire

This Week’s News

The latest Cover Commissions brings us an ethereal “Political Science” by We Are the Willows. Check in next week to vote on May’s Cover Commissions! [Cover Me]

On April Fool’s Day, I tricked our Twitter followers with a claim that Matt at You Ain’t No Picasso had posted a bunch of Arcade Fire covers. Inspired by the joke, he did just that two weeks later. You’re welcome, internet. [YANP]

We already knew Bettye LaVette’s album tackling “The British Rock Songbook” would be amazing. “All My Love” confirms it. [Spinner]

The Flaming Lips released their Dark Side of the Moon tribute on vinyl a few weeks ago, promoting it with an acid-trippy “Breathe” on Jimmy Fallon. [The Music Slut]

We’ve posted Via Tania’s cover of “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” back in January. Now she’s back, in front of a mountain, with a ukulele Fever Ray cover. [Filter]

Keller Williams makes the short list (very short) of Jam Band Artists Non-Jam Fans Can Enjoy, so his Thief covers album should me fun. [Glide]

Bon Iver covered Peter Gabriel for Record Store Day. He then covered Tom Petty just for the hell of it. [Each Note Secure]

Girl in a Coma (nice Smiths reference) has released the third and final volume of their Adventures in Coverland series. Listen to the tunes online and then pick it up on vinyl. [Blackheart]

If you want to destroy my sweater, hold this thread as I walk away. [Stereogum]

It’s a few weeks old, but Josh Ritter covering “Moon River” is worth any delay. [Daytrotter]

Florence and the Machine wants to get into your pants with this Mario Winans cover. [Billboard]

The AV Club continues their series of exclusive cover videos and includes a tantalizing list of to-be-posted songs. “Who will cover Journey’s ‘Faithfully’?” the site asks. Any chance the answer is “No one”? [The AV Club]

This Week’s Submissions

Christopher Bryant – Frank Sinatra (Cake) [more]

Christopher Bryant – Going the Distance (Cake) [more]

Christopher Bryant – Italian Leather Sofa (Cake) [more]

Christopher Bryant – Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps (~~Cake~~ Farrés/Davis) [more]

Deerhoof – Hitch Hike (LiLiPUT) [more]

Grand Mal – Rich Girl (Hall & Oates) [more]

Grand Mal – Winter In (Gene Clark) [more]

Grand Mal – You Should Be Ashamed (Emitt Rhodes) [more]

The Hecklers – Rock N Roll Is Dead (The Rubinoos) [more]

Peter Pracek – Kokomo Me, Baby (Mississippi Fred McDowell) [more]

Peter Parcek – Showbiz Blues (Fleetwood Mac) [more]