Sep 302021
 
best cover songs of september
Beyoncé – Moon River (Mancini/Mercer cover

Any month with a new cover by Beyoncé is a big month. Admittedly, her piano-crooning “Moon River” like so many others have piano-crooned “Moon River” – and for a Tiffany’s ad no less – is slightly underwhelming. But we’ll take what we can get, and, even if the approach is hardly novel, Beyoncé’s got the pipes to deliver. Continue reading »

Sep 232021
 
Jarvis Cocker Wes Anderson Tip-Top

Jarvis Cocker and Wes Anderson have shared a bit of a creative pas de deux through the last decade. The former Pulp frontman, and current bandleader of the eponymous group Jarv Is…, appeared initially in Anderson’s 2009 Fantastic Mr. Fox, playing a claymation town crier. (Given the fox connection, it’s not surprising to hear Cocker’s song in that film lovingly cop from Roger Miller’s jangly tunes and ramblin’ bird-bard role in Disney’s Robin Hood.) Anderson’s remaining 2010s films took him to farther corners of the globe, sonically speaking; the Isle of Dogs soundtrack, for example, almost exclusively features taiko drumming from Kaoru Watanabe and songs from classic Japanese cinema. But Cocker and Anderson have seemingly continued to vibe with each others’ work from afar. Continue reading »

Oct 022015
 
ChristineandtheQueens

Though you may never have heard of her, Christine and the Queens are huge in France. Her debut album went to #2 last year, her music videos have millions of views, and, judging from poking around YouTube, she’s performed on every French TV show there is. Now, like so many artists before her that have to assure doubters “I’m big in [any country that’s not America]”, she’s trying to break stateside. And she’ll probably do it.

A new version of her debut album is being released in the States, with appearances by Perfume Genius and Tunji Ige. And, in an almost too-perfect metaphor for bridging the cultural divide, one track combines a cover of Kanye West‘s “Heartless” with a cover of “Les Paradis Perdus” by an older French star, Christophe. Continue reading »