Stephen Gwilliams

Stephen is originally from (land of the Beatles) Liverpool but now resides in sunny Perth, Australia with his wife and two kids. He’s a music obsessive with an unhealthy interest for cool, or even just interesting, cover versions. He’s not sure if you can ever really trust somebody who doesn’t like The Fall. If you like, you can follow him on twitter at @poppafunkadelic where he talks music, culture and politricks amongst other things.

Oct 012014
 

Demae Wodu is one third of jazzy, conscious hip-hop crew Hawk House from London. In between her work with the upcoming group she records rough demos and covers as her alter ego Bubblerap and uploads certain selections to her Soundcloud.

Just over a week ago her fans were in for a treat when she put up her own extremely chilled-out cover of Pharrell’s ‘Happy’. She has laid her sweet-as-honey vocals over a very smooth beat which comes courtesy of a Flying Lotus outtake called ‘Lately’.

In my opinion, FlyLo should definitely be getting in touch with Demae if she can turn an unused instrumental into something as beautiful as this cover. Check it out below.

Sep 242014
 

Nao is an east London singer, songwriter and producer with an electro and R&B sound. She has worked with Pulp amongst others and takes her influences from artists like Björk and fellow Londoner Burial. She has recently been picked as a support slot for Swedish indie and electronic outfit Little Dragon on their European tour. To celebrate she has performed a version of “Ritual Union.” This was the killer single (from the album of the same name) released a few years back by her new tourmates. Continue reading »

Sep 082014
 

Arthur Russell is one of those artists I keep promising myself I’ll make some time to listen to. I’ve heard and read lots of good things about him. But the only familiarity with his music I have is through covers of his songs. Joel Gibb’s version of ‘That’s Us/Wild Combination’ off the tribute EP ‘Four Songs By Arthur Russell’ is an absolute stunner of a song. Continue reading »

Aug 202014
 

With most cover session series such as AV Undercover, the BBC’s Live Lounge and Like A Version you get some bands selecting a cover they feel safe with while others try something completely new. I’m a big fan of reggae covers of other songs (The Dynamics pulls this feat off repeatedly and brilliantly) but have never seen many going the other way, reggae songs into another style. Of course there are excellent exceptions such as The Clash’s versions of Police & Thieves and Armagideon Time. Continue reading »

Aug 122014
 

“Ceremony” is known in most music fans knowledge as the song that bridged Joy Division’s transition to New Order following the death of the former’s frontman. As one of the last songs Ian Curtis wrote, there are recordings of Joy Division performing it but there is sadly not a fully realised studio version out there. Continue reading »