20. I’m With Her — Hannah Hunt
Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan are I’m With Her, just your ordinary, everyday virtuosic supergroup trio extraordinaire. This performance was recorded for Watkins’s Nickel Creek bandmate Chris Thile’s acclaimed Live From Here…radio show and calling it stunning feels like an understatement. Their folkified, harmonized, with a pinch of The Roches-in-its-bones cover of the slow burnin’ VW classic “Hannah Hunt” is plain ‘ol stop-in-your-tracks magnificent. Check out Thile’s ecstatic reaction to what he’s seeing and hearing at the 3:52 mark. The clutching hands, the outrageously beatific expression; that’s us too. – Hope Silverman
19. The Corner of My Room — Unbearably White
This performer contains multitudes, as you see her play every element of this cover along with contributing vocals, from piano to guitar, from bass to shaker. The many layers that had to go into this arrangement are impressive, not only at the instrumental level, but also with the vocals, echoey yet warm, inducing a cozy dreamscape. The end result when pasted all together is a shoegazey jam session that channels the somber message of the original while still having a “keep on keeping on” kind of attitude. – Sara Stoudt
18. Ezra Furman — Unbelievers
Ezra sings Ezra when Furman (formerly frontperson for the Harpoons, currently solo) tackles Koenig. Furman explained how she approached bringing the song, and herself, back to punk roots: “With Ivy League cunning they realized there were more interesting and profitable directions to go with their music. But the punk instincts still shine through in many of their songs. I heard ‘Unbelievers’ as a punk song almost immediately, adventurous production and orchestral touches notwithstanding. It takes one to know one. In the midst of our recent ambitious and inventive music, I started to get a strong urge to reconnect with my high-tempo voice shredding punk roots. Covering this song was a perfect gateway from one to the other. Plus, no matter how deep in love I am with Judaism, there is a never-ending supply of religious alienation and rage in me. Felt good to spill some more of that out.” – Ray Padgett
17. Ran Dodgers — Oxford Comma
I remember hearing about this band on MTV back in high school. A bit of nostalgia for myself lol. – Ran Dodgers
This version of “Oxford Comma” is pared down – with a man and his guitar. But once Ran Dodgers opens his mouth, we’re absolutely floored. From the artist’s agile vocal leaps, a tiny bit of grit, and effortless vibrato pepperings, this simple cover is a complete bop. Dodgers has such acute awareness of his voice that he’s able to integrate a bit of a yodel-type sound in the octave shift on the word cruel, giving it a totally different flavor than the original. All of this on top of the warm bed of the sound of an acoustic Martin… *chefs kiss*! – Aleah Fitzwater
16. Sharon Irving — Step
This cover is an homage to an homage, as the original was inspired by Souls of Mischief’s “Step to My Girl.” It’s a simple and clean cover, and Sharon Irving’s rich vocals soothingly unravel the tale. Her delivery has a calm pace, even with the verses that keep adding detail after detail to the story. True to the “I can’t do it alone” line, Irving has a partner that adds in background vocals and a simple guitar strum. There are moments of twang with the dainty mandolin swapping for the acoustic guitar at times. It’s not in-your-face, but it’s enough to make you imagine the possibilities of a full-on country take on this song. – Sara Stoudt
15. Mumford & Sons — Cousins
Back in early 2010, Mumford & Sons, then still just a buzz band fresh of the release of their soon-to-be-world-conquering debut Sigh No More, swung by the BBC Live Lounge studios on their promotional rounds. They cackled “Cousins,” off Vampire Weekend’s just-released song album Contra. Funny to think at this moment Vampire Weekend were still probably bigger than them. That wouldn’t last long. – Ray Padgett
14. Switchfoot — Harmony Hall
This cover begins and ends as it should, with that distinctive guitar riff. However, Switchfoot takes a slightly more laidback approach to this song, bringing a slightly slower tempo and a beachy ambiance, from the initial sound of the waves to the ukulele. Those elements combined with the the choral “ooh”s paint a picture of a campfire jam, and you can even tell when the “everybody now” moment hits as the piano joins in (similarly jaunty like the original but a little more tinkly), and then the drums. We all have to leave the beach sometime, and this song is no exception. Towards the end of the song, there is a more full band sound, complete with an electric guitar riffing taking over for the lighter acoustic guitar. – Sara Stoudt
13. The Hipster Orchestra — Holiday
The Hipster Orchestra is a group of chamber musicians who reimagine tunes: from hip-hop to pop to indie, the collective includes instrumentation like violins, mandolin, guitars, cello, and so on.
In 2011, the group took on Vampire Weekend’s “Holiday” – the bop that is a little bit ska, and a lot of bit upbeat – at least, on the surface. “Holiday” is actually much darker than it sounds upon first blush. According to an interview that (original) lead singer Ezra Koenig did with NME in 2010, “It’s about a member of my family who gave up meat when we invaded Iraq….They were horrified by what was happening, and they lost their taste for meat. It wasn’t even an overt protest, it was a physical reaction.”
This version is orchestra-ified. The Hipster Orchestra keeps the upbeat feeling by including the offbeat emphasis in their arrangement. It sounds as if it could be Bridgerton dance music with its lush warm strings and seamless transitions. – Aleah Fitzwater
12. Ball Park Music — Diane Young
The original version of “Diane Young” is a jittery, manic, goofed-up rockabilly-flavored anthem. It features one of Ezra Koenig’s yelpiest and most charismatic vocal performances and sounds like Eddie Cochran, The Go-Go’s and Suicide being violently mixed together in a blender. It remains one of VW’s absolute all-time greatest songs, but boy oh boy, did Ball Park Music come close to stealing it away. The beloved Brisbane band’s 2014 live cover from Like A Version radio series, is a complete and utter joyfest. It is an absurdly infectious, perfectly amped up, new wave party. It is awesome, totally awesome. – Hope Silverman
11. Tracey Thorn — Taxi Cab
Urban alienation and impostor syndrome in relationships. These have been fertile grounds for Tracey Thorn and Everything But The Girl for more than 40 years, despite her being in a famously successful musical and personal partnership for all of that time, and living in London. Her empathy and talent as a musician allow her to inhabit the worlds of others with huge success, as she does here. Her reading of “Taxi Cab” is more distant, perhaps because she was not the one enduring a Sk8ter Boi-type relationship, and bearing the scars from it. However it also allows her to draw out on other aspects of the song, bringing out richness beyond the immediate pain. The overall sound is warmer and generous, and takes the position of “it is better to have lost and lost, than never to have loved at all.” We should be grateful for our love affairs, even the ones that did not work out, as they have enriched our lives. I am unlikely to ever fall out of love with Thorn herself, but if I did I would be grateful for what she has brought me. – Mike Tobyn
