If you don’t have Everything But the Girl’s quasi-covers album Acoustic, get it. In their day, Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt knew how to cut to the core of a cover song better than just about anyone. The pair parted ways in 2000, but have returned with a new cover of the xx’s “Night Time.” Continue reading »
For the last few years, the folks at Cokemachineglow have marked the end of the year with a Fantasy Covers Podcast. In the latest edition, they give the Podcast a twist by making it a contest– they encouraged artists to submit covers that “re-contextualize” a track with an unexpected new genre. As they predicted, the results are both strange, creative, and occasionally hit-or-miss, but the overall result is a set of imaginative covers with some terrific standouts. Unfortunately the Podcast format means that the 13 covers are only available in one massive file, but it’s one worth downloading. Continue reading »
You may have heard of the unbelievably-talented Jasmine Van den Bogaerde, better known as Birdy, after her gorgeous piano and vocal cover of Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love” spread around YouTube and even made the singles charts in the UK. If not, then prepare yourself for another overwhelmingly beautiful piano cover from the rising cover star, her interpretation of the xx‘s “Shelter.” The 15-year old has a knack for choosing simple compositions and coaxing the beauty out of them while keeping a sense of intimacy and delicacy. And yes, you read that last sentence right, this girl’s only 15! Continue reading »
Although artsy Brooklyn denizen and Jealous Girlfriends frontwoman Holly Miranda hasn’t released any new original material since 2010’s The Magician’s Private Library, she has kept herself busy recording covers. Now she’s posted a large collection of both live and studio-recorded covers for your listening pleasure. Miranda has received critical praise from the likes of Kanye West and Scarlett Johansson, and it’s easy to see why. Continue reading »
The xx‘s brand of arresting, atmospheric gloom-pop quickly gained an audience on the release of their debut in 2009. Appearances at large festivals followed, with the band playing to large, but amazingly still and respectful audiences. How often do you see that at a festival? The music throbs, but stops short of nudging you toward the dancefloor. Continue reading »
Who knew Shakira was such an indie trendsetter? Ever since she took on the xx’s “Islands,” hip musicians have been tripping over themselves to follow suit. Admittedly, only the Pretty Reckless chose the same track, but still, we like to think Shaki’ had something to do with the xx cover flood.
The latest crop of xx covers comes from three unlikely sources. Over the weekend, Damon Albarn led Gorillaz on a piano-and-xylophone “Crystalised.” Watch a video of that one below. Then keep the dark mood going with OMD’s slow-jammed “VCR” and Various Production’s dubstepped-out “Infinity.” Continue reading »