You may have heard of Brittany Broski from her viral kombucha reaction meme or her podcast the Brittany Report. Recently, the internet personality launched a YouTube account called Brittany Broski Music with a cover of Harry Styles’s “Adore You.” Broski rose to fame through her personality and internet meme culture, but clips of her powerful singing voice have been present throughout her career in social media, so her move into music is not entirely unexpected. Continue reading »
Follow all our Best of 2023 coverage (along with previous year-end lists) here.
Some of the albums on our list were obvious home runs. Cat Power singing a tribute to a 1966 Bob Dylan concert? You know that’s gonna be great (and it is). A bunch of punk and psychobilly bands blasting through Cramps covers? Pretty much a guaranteed blast. 90-year-old Willie Nelson in the twilight of his career paying tribute to one of his personal songwriting heroes? Good luck not being moved.
Others were more surprising. Reggae David Bowie could go either way. So could free-jazz Harry Styles or indie-rock ELO. And maybe the biggest surprise of all: T-Pain covers Sam Cooke and Black Sabbath…and it’s not terrible??
As always, big names mix with some albums we guarantee you’ve never heard of. To use one of the clichéd words we see constantly in cover-album titles, uncover some new favorites below.
Stuff Your Fridge! features 30 tracks, recorded by underground bands you’ve probably never heard, covering all aspects of the Grateful Dead songbook. The covers can be at times both brilliant and/or cringeworthy. The tracks that fare the best are the ones that stray the furthest from the original recordings, such as a goth version of “Cold Rain and Snow” by Delay 77 and a prog metal rendition of “Fire on the Mountain” by Buck Pool. But the compilers saved the oddest for last. That distinction goes to “Attics of My Life” by Holey Hell. It’s a keyboard-driven instrumental, arranged as if written for the soundtrack to a first-generation ‘80s Nintendo game. One can only imagine what they would have done with Drums and Space. – Curtis Zimmermann
Lucinda Williams seems like a solitary artist despite a steady flow of collaborations with (and covers by) her many admirers–country stars, jazz giants, and arena rockers alike. So it’s a warming surprise to have a full album tribute from an artist like Amos Lee, one who has made his own sizable mark as a songwriter and who is a generation or two younger than Lucinda.
Drawing from all phases of Williams’ discography, Lee keeps mostly on the bare bones side of things, with acoustic guitar or piano supporting his soulful vocals. Certain takes may miss the emotional core of the originals, while on other tracks he brings life to songs that may have felt too downbeat in Lucinda’s delivery of them. Or not–each listener’s mileage will vary. And anyway, Honeysuckle Switches may well find an unbiased audience in Amos Lee fans who haven’t yet known the pleasure of the songs of Lucinda Williams. – Tom McDonald
In 2019, Auto-Tune pioneer T-Pain joined the first cast of The Masked Singer in 2019, a television show where celebrities hide their identities behind costumes and sing. T-Pain ended up revealing himself at the very end, by winning, and surprising the judges. T-Pain’s cover album maintains a similar spirit, whether he is still searching for redemption after the death of Auto-Tune or finally at peace asserting his raw talent. He has chosen each song on the album to show off his vocal range and power, spanning from old standards to hits through the ages. You will hear plenty of vocal runs that assert “listen to what I can do,” but they do so without an overbearing bravado, just confidence. Instead of relying on a computer to back him up, T-Pain layers his own voice intricately throughout the entire album. You can hear it in the Glee-like chorus accompaniment in “Don’t Stop Believin’.” His choosing “Don’t Stop Believin’” in the first place makes me think T-Pain is not taking himself too seriously with this cover album. It’s a guilty pleasure song, and perhaps not one that would first come to mind for someone whose brand is “Hard&B”. – Sara Stoudt
Pure Noise Records’ second volume of (primarily) indie rock and alternative covers is just as fun as their first edition (which was our 16th best covers album of 2022). 15 artists tackle 15 tracks, as far back in time as Elton John from the ’70s, and there are a few tracks from the ’80s and ’90s, but most are covers from the aughts. Most of the covers are straightforward, high energy performances filtered through the lens of pop punk, but a few really stand out stylistically. Less Than Jake really lean into the vaguely Caribbean air of The Kinks’ “Come Dancing,” going full ska. Lavalove appear to treat Nirvana’s “Lithium” as pop punk, but then, on the bridges, they get really playful, alternately vamping and then embracing an aesthetic similar to Nirvana at their nosiest. Mint Green slow down Incubus’ “Drive” and though they don’t deviate much from the arrangement, the female harmonies stand out from the rest of the collection. (The Linkin Park and Slipknot covers also stand out, but only because they are faithful and the only nu-metal covers here.) – Riley Haas
Anyone not already convinced of Teddy Thompson’s mastery of country music need only waltz into his joy of an eighth album, appropriately titled My Love of Country. It’s here that the singer (hailing from London rather than Nashville, lest you should wonder) revitalizes a trove of country standards from the ’50s and ’60s. And it’s here that he channels his 23 years of professional dalliance in the genre into one immensely satisfying, 27-minute whole.
Teddy has the voice for it, of course, which is as strong, deep, rich, and emotive an instrument as it’s ever been. He also has the necessary conviction to deliver tracks previously made famous by George Jones, Buck Owens, and Ray Charles, as well as the skill to forge a magnificent country cut out of a whiskey-soaked number penned by his famous folky dad, Richard, in 1974: “I’ll Regret It All in the Morning.” He further has the help of an impeccable range of musicians to bring the fine period detail, including Charlie Drayton (drums), Byron Isaacs (bass), Jon Cowherd (piano), and producer David Mansfield (violin/accordion/pedal steel/most other things). That’s not to mention sublime harmony singers in the vein of Logan Ledger. But the ultimate reason Thompson makes “A Picture of Me Without You,” “Cryin’ Time,” and “You Don’t Know Me” sound so heartfelt and effortless is from having been immersed in these songs for much of his life. “That’s the real key,” he says, “having them in your body for a long time.” Amen to that. – Adam Mason
Willie Nelson’s giant 90th birthday concert in Los Angeles featured a whole host of covers. Some of them featured the man himself. Admittedly, that makes those not really covers, so we’ll feature a couple Willie-less Willie tunes. First up, Beck tackles Willie’s Red Headed Stranger classic “Hands on the Wheel.” (Find another cover of this song in the Best of the Rest list.) Continue reading »
A decade or so ago, Beck would every so often convene a bunch of musicians to cover one album in full in a single day. The so-called Beck’s Record Club tackled everyone from The Velvet Underground to Yanni during its short run, but it hasn’t been a thing for years.
A new project, though, brings the same spirit from different people. Three prominent experimental musicians who straddle the worlds of indie rock and jazz — Dawn Richards collaborator Spencer Zahn, Nicolas Jaar collaborator Dave Harrington, and Albert Hammond Jr collaborator Jeremy Gustin — have come together to cover an entire Harry Styles album, his recent Album-of-the-Year Grammy winner Harry’s House.
These thirteen songs, which they’ve dubbed A Visit to Harry’s House, sound very little like the originals. For one, they’re all instrumental tracks, drawing on the melodies and harmonies to take the songs into very new directions. It’s one of the most ambitious and interesting covers records of the year, and a terrific listen whether or not you have any context for the original material.
Stream it below, alongside a long but quite interesting note from Zahn about how the project came together.
On a warm Sunday night in August 2022 I was playing bass in the pit for Moulin Rouge on Broadway. After the show I got on the A train downtown and after one stop, the subway car that I was on flooded with a bunch of very excited young people dressed in 70s style clothing. The atmosphere was pure bliss. There was an unbelievable amount of love and camaraderie amongst all of these folks and as I turned down my headphones to eavesdrop on their conversations, I realized they were all coming from the Harry Styles concert at Madison Square Garden. They didn’t know each other before, but now they do. Harry had brought them all together.
In February of 2023 I was sitting alone in a cabin in upstate New York, fresh off the most intense heartbreak of my life. My friend Dave Harrington called out of the blue and booked a couple of gigs for our trio with Jeremy Gustin in Los Angeles. A great excuse to have a change of scenery, play music with friends, and make a record. When Dave texted the group thread about what we should record during our three day session, he prompted the idea that we cover someone’s album, making our own “Harrington, Gustin, & Zahn” version of their music. Jeremy Gustin, having never heard the record before, offered up “Harry’s House” and we all agreed it sounded like fun.
To be honest, I had only heard the singles from Harry’s “Album of the Year” winning record. I didn’t have a real connection with the music but I knew that Harry was really into Haruomi Hosono and his album “Hosono House”. Hosono’s music has been consistently on rotation for me for years so I felt that was at least an initial way to jump into Harry Styles’ record.
I told Dave and Jeremy that I would make charts for all the songs. I would learn all the harmony, melodies, song forms and teach them to the guys during the recording session. This was hardly homework for me–learning music is something I often do to get to know the music I love, so I dove in.
I was quickly struck by how interesting the harmony is across “Harry’s House”. Harry and the other writers are making subtle but deep choices to carry the listener through the songs. Sure there are endless pop hooks that I will probably have in my head for the rest of my life, but the harmony is where I got excited. I will spare you all the details and the finer points of using the IV chord as the I or resolving a ii- V progression to the relative minor, but I was converted into a big Harry fan quickly.
The song forms are clever, clear, and concise. The lyrics are personal, yet universal. Less diaristic and more encapsulating the feelings that we all have when we fall in love and when heartbreak hits. I suddenly felt like Harry knew my life and I knew his. My life was his muse and now his was becoming mine.
When we got into Dave’s studio in LA, we all agreed that a playful yet respectful, and creatively divergent take on this record was the only way to cover it. Jeremy didn’t want to learn any of the songs so that his drumming, tempos, and rhythmic feels didn’t lean too closely to the original. Dave, with a 6- month old baby, didn’t have time to learn the music and at least once was seen doing an overdub on the electric sitar while watching the baby monitor. So it fell to me to steer the ship close enough toward the north-star of “Harry’s House”.
After tracking for three days, we had finished the initial arrangements of all thirteen songs from the album. Though our versions are drastically different, strangely, the run time of our album is the same as Harry’s album. Dave and I got together to mix it in his studio in April 2023 and when sharing it with some close friends and collaborators, it was brought to our attention that we are approaching the year anniversary of the original release. So to celebrate, we would like to share with you, “A Visit to Harry’s House”.
This month, Austin City Limits held its eighth annual ACL Hall of Fame ceremony. The inductees were Joe Ely and Sheryl Crow. The latter was covered by, among others, Brandi Carlile, who also delivered Crow’s induction speech. It will surprise no one who’s ever seen Carlile perform on an award show before that she crushes it. (Find another Crow cover from the ceremony, by Jason Isbell, in the Best of the Rest below.) Continue reading »
After Christine McVie’s passing last week (here’s our covers tribute), many artists on tour began working her songs into their setlist. And though there have been a fair share of “Don’t Stop”s and “Little Lies”, one song has become the clear, cathartic favorite: “Songbird.” Here are four of the most prominent (a fifth, LCD Soundsystem’s, I can’t find any recording of). Continue reading »