This Week’s News
The first news is a friendly reminder that you have less than 12 more hours to download from this blog! All the archived mp3s will vanish as of Wednesday (sad I know), so use this guide to help you get started. You don’t have long, so go nuts.
The second bit of news is to look for a unique tribute to a certain someone tomorrow night.
In a less self-centered vein, a cappella covers are hit or miss, but these two nail it. First up we’ve got Perpetuum Jazzile conjuring up the sounds of a storm with
Toto’s “Africa” and then there’s the Carleton Singing Knights (who came up with that moniker) trying to wrap their collegiate voices around
Dirty Projectors’ “Cannibal Resource.”Beck’s going on a cover rampage these days. First came the news that he’d recorded
more Sonic Youth covers to follow up the “Green Light” he released on Record Store Day. In fact, he decided to go whole hog and just
cover the Youth’s whole EVOL album for an upcoming box set. The catch? His version will be released on cassette only. I understand vinyl nostalgia, but cassette?
He does understand new technology though, as he is demonstrating with his just-launched Record Club where he and a group of collaborators (including MGMT and Devandra Banhart) will cover classic albums one track at a time. First up is The Velvet Underground & Nico, with videos of “Sunday Morning” and “I’m Waiting For the Man” already up at
his website. A new tune comes every week, then onto the next album.
Even that list is too narrowly defined for Britain’s Telegraph though, which has come up with their own set of the
50 best covers ever period! I’m sure you’ll agree with every one.
Pissed off by those lists?
Here’s a 50-best-covers list compiled by
Guardian readers.
One more list, but a funnier one. Humor video site Urlesque has come up with
a group of “Bohemian Rhapsody” covers that range from the bizarre to the really bizarre. Ukulele, ok. Clarinet, pushing it but fine. But a Queen cover by hand fart? Must be seen to be believed.
Cover lovers everywhere are in constant debt to Rick Rubin for producing Johnny Cash’s phenomenal American Recordings series, so much so that he can almost be forgiven for his recent work with Metallica and Weezer. And if David Crosby is to be believed, the upcoming Crosby, Stills and Nash cover album he’s behind should be a winner as well.
Hear Crosby sound off.I’ve never heard of the Monochrome Set, I’ve never heard of “He’s Frank,” but
this cover by Fatboy Slim, Iggy Pop and the Roots on
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is all sorts of awesome. They’ve got a
Letterman take too, but it’s just not the same without Tuba Gooding, Jr.
This Week’s Submissions
