This Week on Bandcamp rounds up our favorite covers to hit the site in the past seven days.
Something of a dreamy electronic feel in today’s bunch. Hazy beats and watery synth burble along under most of these tracks in the service of what is, in several cases, really a folk aesthetic underneath. As the temperatures rise, these sounds soundtrack those moments sitting under the sun in a half-awake daze when it’s too hot to move. Well, except for the Tom Waits cover, which is a different approach from a familiar name.
You have every right to be sick of covers of this Katy Perry hit by now. Fair enough. Asher Fusco’s electro-folk version makes up for being late to the party with a surprisingly melancholy delivery that brings out the lonely side of being a teenager.
If you don’t know Janice Whaley by now, you haven’t been paying close enough attention. Last year she crafted layered a cappella covers of every single Smiths song. She funded a box set via Kickstarter and one of the packages allowed the buyer to choose a song for her to cover. Here’s the first. It doesn’t disappoint.
Yes, by random coincidence this is the second cover of the song we’re posting today. While Telephoned’s version was all bouncy Jamaican riddim, though, Noah Wall’s heads for the outer atmosphere. This dreamwave meander doesn’t reach the lyrics until three minutes in, and even then, they’re just another texture added to the collage.
The first peek at Unwoman’s upcoming covers album, “Crushed” represents what she calls “the darkest track I’ve ever produced.” Surging cello and far away drum thumps add an ominous pall over this Front 242 cover – a far cry from the original’s electro bounce.
Though they combine two of the most clichéd band name tropes, Silver Antlers nonetheless deliver something original in this eight-minute drone through the Joy Division/New Order jam. It shimmers and wavers along, not building to anything by not letting up either.
Check out previous installments here.
