“Intergalactic” was the Beastie Boys‘ most successful single, but it is only their third most-covered song. That’s probably because their two most covered songs – “Fight for Your Right” and “Sabotage” – are much closer to conventional rock music than much of the rest of their catalogue. It’s probably hard for musicians to imagine what “Intergalactic” would sound like without its main hook just so or the the trio’s distinctive voices rapping during the verses.
Atlanta noise rock duo ’68 decided they would skirt the problem of the hook, at least at first, along with the noodling that comes after it. In their cover, recorded for the latest Dead Formats comp, ’68 skip over the first 40 seconds of the song. Lead singer Josh Scogin jumps right into the first verse with only drums and an eerie high-pitched noise that could be feedback.
At first, the pace is extremely slow, but when Scogin brings in what sounds like a keyboard, they pick up the pace a lot. When the hook comes it is only instrumental. The duo vary how they play each section of each verse using their instrumental variation to help indicated when a different MC takes over in the original. It’s 90 seconds before they play the full hook and they play it pretty faithfully given how radical the rest of the cover is.
For a duo who are not obviously using too many overdubs, they manage a pretty full sound and the constant variation in tempo, in Scogin’s rapping, in the drums and in the differing effects on Scogin’s guitar (which sounds like a keyboard for most of the song). It’s only in the vocal part of the hook that it ever sounds like they are aping the original, with the sound of the cover usually feeling like it’s from, um, another dimension.
It’s really cool cover. Check it out:
