In anticipation of live performances in the New England area, Boston indie rock royalty Tanya Donelly and Bill Janovitz re-released their recording of the Kinks’ classic “Better Things.” The duo originally issued the cover in 2015 on Bandcamp, which was quickly pulled down. This is the first wider release of the song. The two played shows in Maine and Rhode Island earlier this month. Continue reading »
In the Spotlight showcases a cross-section of an artist’s cover work. View past installments, then post suggestions for future picks in the comments!
In the 1980s, there was one artist that Minneapolis became known for. And that was Prince.
But if you took the bus to the bad part of town, watching the blight and the snowy misery go by through fogged up windows, you would eventually spot a burned-out, abandoned, and graffiti-tagged little red Corvette: perched up on blocks, stuffed with liquor bottles in the back seat, and harboring a coffee can in the front filled to the brim with cigarette butts. If you opened the door, you would find a floor littered with cassettes. K-Tel. Kiss. Big Star. And if you ran the VIN number, you’d find the owner to be the Replacements.
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For the last two years, Bill Janovitz, guitarist and vocalist from Buffalo Tom, has posted a cover a week (almost) on his blog “Part Time Man of Rock.” Last week he celebrated 100 covers with his version of Aztec Camera’s “The Bugle Sounds Again.” Where the original sounds like mid-‘80s British indie pop, Janovitz’s version could easily pass as an outtake from Bruce Springsteen’s Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. Continue reading »
Quickies rounds up new can’t-miss covers. Download ‘em below.
• What do you do when you can’t sleep? Well, if you’re Dum Dum Girls frontwoman Dee Dee, you record ‘80s pop covers! She posted her lo-fi version of bubblegum duo Strawberry Switchblade’s first single, “Trees & Flowers.” Check it out.
MP3: Dum Dum Girls – Trees & Flowers (Strawberry Switchblade cover) Continue reading »