Jun 192025
 
Still Wave

Still Wave unveiled a mesmerizing cover of Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight.” The cover and music video were released this month as part of their experimental EP Post Atomic Love. The Rome-based group creates a haunting reinterpretation of the atmospheric original. Still Wave describe their genre as “pop post-gaze,” a mixture that blends shoegaze, post-metal, doom, and gothic textures.  The band’s ability to mix emotionally intense sonic landscapes with gloom and melodic intimacy places them solidly in Europe’s underground post-rock scene.

For this cover, gothic-tinged guitars and ghostly vocals intensify the lyrics, turning Swift’s polished production into something rawer. It’s like the band took the gloss off an emotionally heavy song. The cover hints at a catastrophic sadness, missing the delicate, careful nature of Taylor Swift. The tone is perfect for the EP’s post-apocalyptic undertones. With this haunting take on “Fortnight,” Still Wave has recast a modern pop hit into a cinematic, post-atomic elegy. Even contemporary chart-toppers can find new audiences through radical reinvention.

Post Atomic Love dives into the theme of modern love in an era of emotional disconnection. The Swift cover sits alongside covers of Tears for Fears’ “Watch Me Bleed” and Dissection’s “Where Dead Angels Lie.” On Bandcamp, Still Wave said of the EP, “It’s all about love here. Sing these songs with us: we are all lonely and isolated, trying to share some missing feelings since the atomic bomb.”

Jun 182025
 
Carla Wehbe

Australian musician Carla Wehbe appeared on the popular radio program “Like A Version” in her home country and her cover choice was something that was a long time coming.

“I grew up listening to ABBA,” Wehbe said in a video released alongside the song. “My mum is obsessed with ABBA. So it was just a song that soundtracked my growing up, I guess. And I always dreamed of doing an ABBA song if I ever got to do Like A Version.”

But, she started out knowing that she couldn’t do a direct cover. She knew that she would have to do something different. Wehbe slowed down the song, playing up the drama in the lyrics. “I love drama, I love feeling, I love big, orchestral strings,” she added. “So I got all the instruments I love the most and put them all in there. I just wanted to make it as emotional and powerful as possible.” And in her cover, she does everything she set out to do. The end result is powerful, sometimes overfilled with emotion.

Wehbe rose to prominence in her homeland of Australia with her 2020 EP Half Past Nine. Her most recent EP Dark in the Light is scheduled for release this summer.

Jun 182025
 
phil spector's gun

“The Needle and the Damage Done” is one of Neil Young’s most obviously personal songs, infamously written about his friends he knew who used heroin and recorded before Crazy Horse lead singer Danny Whitten died of heroin. Released on his most successful record, Harvest, Young chose a live solo performance to include on that studio album instead of recording a proper studio version during either the Nashville or California sessions that made up that album.

Phil Spector’s Gun are a noisy Philadelphia rock quartet who put out their debut album in autumn 2023. For the b-side of their latest single, they’ve recorded a cover of “The Needle and the Damage Done.”

Their covers opens with a pretty faithful performance of the opening of the the song, only played on electric rather than acoustic. But, almost immediately, the full band kicks in, including what sounds like a small, detuned string section. The band performance is sloppy and noisy, very much in the spirit of the other side of Neil Young, the Crazy Horse/proto-grunge side. That string section, though – I don’t think there’s much in Neil’s catalogue as aggressively dissonant beyond his own guitar solos.

Lead singer Kevin Brusha sings the lyrics pretty straight, with a similar level of frailty to the original only with a different aesthetic. (There are no signs of folk music in this performance.) The original is quite short and Phil Spector’s Gun jam it out a little bit, as Neil might himself have done if he ever played an electric version. There’s a little bit of Time Fades Away or Tonight’s the Night to this performance, which is very fitting.

Jun 172025
 
Black Pumas Fast Car

Grammy-nominated duo Black Pumas, comprised of singer Eric Burton and guitarist Adrian Quesada, have released a stirring cover of Tracy Chapman’s 1988 classic “Fast Car.” Unveiled this month via A Night For Austin benefit coverage, this version captures the lyrics’ melancholy resonance while weaving in the psychedelic soul style for which the band. Continue reading »

Jun 172025
 
The Dissociates

“Kill Bill,” SZA’s hit song inspired by the movies of the same name, was not supposed to her biggest hit single. It was just an album track, but its popularity on streaming convinced her label to release it as a proper single, the fifth from the album SOS. It then topped multiple US charts and topped a few other national charts as well.

The Dissociates are a California punk band who very much play in classic SoCal punk style, albeit with perhaps a little more chops. They debuted in 2023 with some singles and put out their first album in 2024. Now they’ve covered “Kill Bill.” Continue reading »

Jun 162025
 
Mavis Staples

For over 60 years, the voice of Mavis Staples has been ringing out with some amazing covers (The Band’s “The Weight,” or Funkadelic’s “Can You Get to That”). And now, with her latest single, she continues the tradition, taking on Frank Ocean. Staples’ cover of “Godspeed” is, no surprise, warmed by her voice, and the support feels strong when she sings “I will always be there for you.” That warmness is equaled by the backing instruments, a warm fuzz of a guitar and a much smoother piano than the organ that appears in the original. Continue reading »