Jan 132015
 

While Jose Gonzalez has a strong body of original work, he is best known for his incredible anthology of covers. The singer-songwriter is in full promotional swing for his first solo album in almost eight years and recently stopped by a game show in his native Sweden to perform this folksy cover of TLC‘s “Waterfalls.” Continue reading »

Apr 262012
 

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!

At the age of 20, Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins became one-third of one of the most successful singing girl groups of all time: TLC. Throughout the ’90s, the R&B trio — T-Boz, Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, and the late Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes — consistently dominated the charts with singles like “No Scrubs,” “Unpretty,” and “Waterfalls.” Continue reading »

Jan 112012
 

You may remember that back in September we posted an interview with “Fleet Foxes.” That’s “Fleet Foxes” in quotes, since it wasn’t actually Fleet Foxes, but a guy who covered pop songs in the harmony-acoustic style of Fleet Foxes, and did so damn well. Since then, the imposter known as Fleet Foxes Sing has gotten more press, from the likes of New York Magazine and BlackBook (who claims our interview blew the lid on the farce, though it wasn’t exactly a secret). Continue reading »

Dec 062011
 

I have no hard data to back this up, but I suspect that EPs play a larger role in the world of cover songs than they do elsewhere. In the wider world, EPs tend to be an afterthought, a set of rejects or remixes that may or may not be worthwhile. People pay little attention to EPs, and artists act accordingly, saving their real statements for the full-lengths. In our world, though, we see as many EPs as we do proper albums, and they’re every bit as good. An artist may hesitate to put out a “cover album” – still a loaded term in some circles – but in the age of Garageband and Bandcamp, it’s only too easy to record a half dozen covers and toss ‘em out between albums. Therefore, in honor of the EP’s prominence in our world, we present our favorite EPs of 2011 (with an MP3 from each). Continue reading »

Jun 072011
 

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!

It’s time to make it rain and get our purple on, for today Prince turns 53. After spending a few years preoccupied with the creation of some albums that only he could enjoy, the father of funk recently renewed his interest in all us less funky, esoteric people by going on a cross-continental tour. Once again he is accessible to all those who adore him…so long as they adore him on his own terms. Meaning no YouTube fan videos, no file sharing, no blog posts, and for God’s sakes no cover songs! Continue reading »