Dec 192013
 

I’m not sure there were more great cover songs this year than any other. But there were more good ones.

What I mean by that is, the average quality of the covers we come across in the time we’ve been around has risen, rather dramatically. Whether they’re iTunes homepage singles or some guy emailing us his Bandcamp, more cover songs in 2013 avoid the old pitfalls than ever before. They don’t sound like they were recorded in a cereal box, substitute ear-bleeding volume for actual creativity, or – the worst cover sin of all – try to carbon-copying the original. With the ease of production and distribution available now, artists seemed to record covers only when they felt they had something to add, and do a halfway decent job committing those ideas to 1s and 0s. Continue reading »

May 182012
 

It’s presumptuous to think a cover of a Ramones’ song would inherently be fast-paced, aiming to achieve the same energy the band originally produced, but that’s not a realistic anticipation. And Superhumanoids, a Los Angeles band making ethereal pop, have recorded a version of “I Wanna Be Sedated” which challenges any such expectations. Continue reading »