Darren Hayman is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist who is best known for his work in the group Hefner. The artist recently decided to take on Madonna’s “Borderline.” The original “Borderline” was first released in 1983, and is a metaphor for a relationship that is on the line. It’s chimey with its bright synths, boppy organs, and has a driving beat that is pushed forward with none other than a classic ’80s kick drum. Continue reading »
Sumner is an Australian electronic music duo that first formed in 2018. Artists Chloe Wilson and Jack McLaine’s original song “Stranded” garnered attention from Aussie radio station Triple J, and made it onto the radio station’s hottest list in both 2020 and 2021. Surprisingly, their new cover of “Like a Prayer” for cover-song series Like a Version for the station steers away from their usual electronic impulse, at least in the intro. McClain arranged a rich new 4-part vocal harmony in this version of the tune. The duo also added drummer Patrick Denao for the live cover. Continue reading »
“Like a Prayer” is, narrowly, Madonna’s most covered song. Aside from its quality as a song, its popularity might have to do with how it was the first hit of hers to break with her ’80s sound, giving it a little bit more of an immediately apparent timeless quality than the synth-driven hits of the ’80s.
Katie Gavin is the lead singer of the American indie-pop trio MUNA. She recently released her debut solo album and went on SiriusXM to promote it with a live cover of “Like a Prayer.” Gavin sings and plays acoustic guitar but the cover is not technically acoustic as she is accompanied by another guitarist playing electric with pedal effects.
Because it’s just two people, the cover is much sparser than the original. Gavin is mostly very faithful to the song, though she performs it a slower tempo, giving the song a statelier feel than the original. Gavin plays her guitar arpeggio finger-style until about halfway through, when she starts strumming, given the performance a little more momentum.
The contrast from the original is all in what this cover lacks: the organ, the choir, the propulsive bass and percussion. It feels a bit like a different song, as Gavin’s folky performance cuts out the gospel and funk and leaves just the vocal melody accompanied by minimal instrumentation.
‘The Best Covers Ever’ series counts down our favorite covers of great artists.
As regular readers know, here at Cover Me we put together a Best Covers Ever list every month for a celebrated artist. We’ve recently done the Pet Shop Boys and Sheryl Crow. And before them we did the biggie – The Beatles – and before them, Bob Dylan! But every now and again, there’s a particular genre that’s crying out for the Best Covers Ever treatment – and this month it’s the Dark Genre. It’s goth!
So why now, you ask? Are goth covers really a thing? And why don’t Alien Sex Fiend or Fields of the Nephilim have their own Best Covers Ever features?
Fair questions, all. First off, goth music is everywhere right now. It may have emerged out of the UK post-punk scene and enjoyed its most innovative period from 1980 to 1982, but it’s now the reason we have Whitby Goth Weekends in April and November (well, that and Count Dracula), World Goth Day on May 22, and goth nights down the Hatchet Inn in Bristol most nights, particularly Thursday. It’s also why we have heaps of goth books on the market right now, from John Robb’s The Art of Darkness to Lol Tolhurst’s Goth: A History and Cathi Unsworth’s Season of the Witch, all trying to explain goth’s lasting influence as a musical subculture: the fixation with death, the dark theatricality, the Victorian melodrama, the leather, the thick black eyeliner, the fishnet tights, the deviance, the sex, the deviant sex, and, of course, spiders. Continue reading »
Follow all our Best of 2023 coverage (along with previous year-end lists) here.
I like to think that badass lady in the artwork up there (done by our own Hope Silverman!) embodies the spirit of this year’s list. Not that they’re all CBGB-style punk songs—though there are a couple—but in her devil-may-care attitude. “Who says I shouldn’t do a hardcore cover of the Cranberries? A post-punk cover of Nick Drake? A hip-hop cover of The Highwaymen? Screw that!”
As with most good covers, the 50 covers we pulled out among the thousands we listened to bring a healthy blend of reverence and irreverence. Reverence because the artists love the source material. Irreverence because they’re not afraid to warp it, bend it, mold it in their own image. A few of the songs below are fairly obscure, but most you probably already know. Just not like this.
Aaron Taos says: “When Jordana and I met for the first time, we realized very quickly that we both shared an obsession with the Strokes. What’s more surprising is that we also share the same favorite Strokes song, “Under Control,” an album cut off of their second LP Room On Fire. Naturally, we decided that we had to cover this amazing tune. Reimagined as a minimalist duet, this slow burn produced by Blake Richardson (formerly artist Sage Baptiste) also comes with a lo-fi vid shot in Brooklyn, NY. We just want to make Julian Casablancas proud.” Continue reading »