Riley Haas

Riley is a digital marketing trainer and strategist in Toronto. He obsessively writes and talks about music and once had a classic rock radio show in university. His favourite cover of all time is Uncle Tupelo's version of the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog." He's also a movie fan, having seen approximately 4,400 films. You can follow him on Twitter @riley_haas.

Dec 192024
 
en attendant ana fairytale of new york cover

The Pogues‘ “Fairytale of New York” is now a Christmas classic. It has gone platinum many times in the UK, has featured in the UK Top 20 something like 20 times, presumably at Christmas, and it has won some polls as the UK’s favourite Christmas song. Though less commercially successful in the US, the song has still permeated enough that it has become a perennial favorite without charting.

En Attendant Ana (“Waiting for Ana” in English) are a French indie pop band who have put out three albums since 2018. They have a new Christmas single where they cover “Fairytale” and a medley of obscure Christmas songs by ’60s sunshine pop group The Free Design. Despite their twee pop-ish sound, their take on “Fairytale of New York” is pretty controversial. Continue reading »

Dec 162024
 
forecast road

“Road” is a brief track from Nick Drake‘s final album, Pink Moon. It has very few lyrics and, like nearly everything on Pink Moon, is just Drake’s voice and guitar. It’s still a reasonably popular cover, with around 20 versions, likely due to its presence on what is now his most famous album. Continue reading »

Dec 122024
 
harakiri for the sky street spirit cover

“Street Spirit (Fade Out)” is the final track on Radiohead‘s second album, The Bends. It was released as the fourth single from that album and was their first Top 5 UK hit. Because of that, it’s one of their ten most covered songs.

Harakiri For the Sky are an Austrian black metal/post metal band who have released eight albums over the least decade plus. They’re not the first metal band to take on “Street Spirit” – the prominent arpeggio guitar part almost suggests a metal interpretation – but maybe they’re the first Austrian black metal band to do it. Continue reading »

Dec 062024
 
August Burns Red

For over a decade, Pennsylvania metalcore band August Burns Red have been recording covers of Christmas music. Last year they recorded “Up on the Housetop” and the year before that “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.” It’s been a few years since they’ve tackled a classical piece – the last one was the “Carol of the Bells” back in 2021. Continue reading »

Dec 052024
 
Katie Gavin

“Like a Prayer” is, narrowly, Madonna’s most covered song. Aside from its quality as a song, its popularity might have to do with how it was the first hit of hers to break with her ’80s sound, giving it a little bit more of an immediately apparent timeless quality than the synth-driven hits of the ’80s.

Katie Gavin is the lead singer of the American indie-pop trio MUNA. She recently released her debut solo album and went on SiriusXM to promote it with a live cover of “Like a Prayer.” Gavin sings and plays acoustic guitar but the cover is not technically acoustic as she is accompanied by another guitarist playing electric with pedal effects.

Because it’s just two people, the cover is much sparser than the original. Gavin is mostly very faithful to the song, though she performs it a slower tempo, giving the song a statelier feel than the original. Gavin plays her guitar arpeggio finger-style until about halfway through, when she starts strumming, given the performance a little more momentum.

The contrast from the original is all in what this cover lacks: the organ, the choir, the propulsive bass and percussion.  It feels a bit like a different song, as Gavin’s folky performance cuts out the gospel and funk and leaves just the vocal melody accompanied by minimal instrumentation.

Dec 042024
 
friko when you sleep cover

As the first single from the genre-defining Loveless, My Bloody Valentine‘s “When You Sleep” might be shoegaze’s representative song or close to it. Combining a hooky melody played on a sampler with dense, distorted guitars and so many different vocal takes that you can barely make out the words some of the time, it seems to embody everything about the genre in a brief little nutshell. Continue reading »