This Week on Bandcamp rounds up our favorite covers to hit the site in the past seven days.
Today’s set brings us piano pomp for Empire of the Sun, bar band crunch for Nina Simone, psychedelic pop for the Smiths, spoken-word ambiance for David Bowie, and smooth soul for Sade. Download ‘em all below.
Australian duo Empire of the Sun push futurist camp to its heavily-costumed extreme, so a solo piano cover runs the risk of stripping away everything that makes the music fun in the first place. No worries here, where a pounded piano and soaring falsetto gives this all the grandeur of a Freddie Mercury performance.
“Feeling Good” has been covered so many times for a reason: it’s a damn fine song. The Good Hurt don’t reinvent it here, but they find an appealing middle ground between Muse bombast and bar band swagger.
Last month we celebrated the 25th anniversary of The Queen Is Dead’s release, but this cover takes us back further, to the Smiths’ 1984 self-titled debut. Brooklyn quartet Spanish Prisoners washes “Still Ill” in beachy haze.
David Bowie covers are a dime a dozen, but it’s not often you hear a song off Bowie’s mostly forgotten self-titled debut. On their free Bowie tribute album, though, the Tumbledryer Babies take on tons of deep cuts like “Please Mr. Gravedigger,” rendered here as a minimalist, quasi-spoken word piece.
This smooth Sade cover comes off the upcoming HOME: A Gift of Music benefit album. We can’t find any more info on the album, but keep your eyes peeled, because proceeds benefit victims of the Japan earthquake.
Check out previous installments here.
