Mar 152012
 

Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield” is an up-tempo, energetic hit full of emotion and ’80s pop fervor. Released in 1983 off of her album Live from Earth, it’s easily one of her most popular and well-known tracks. But just wait until you hear what Havana Lake – also known as the Australian Steven Heath of I Dream in Transit fame – has done with it. Continue reading »

Jan 102012
 

We’ve been playing Thao + Mirah’s xylophone Pat Benatar cover pretty much nonstop since last year, but just when we thought we were all “Love Is a Battlefield”-ed out, we stumbled upon this. Poppy folk quartet Raining Jane released their own lush cover a few months back and now we’re enjoying gals stripping down the ‘80s hit all over again. Continue reading »

Nov 162011
 

Every Wednesday, our resident Gleek Eric Garneau gives his take on last night’s Glee covers.

In “Mash Off,” New Directions and rival glee club The Troubletones square off in a friendly competition to see who can produce the best mash-up in preparation for the upcoming sectionals competition. But what starts as jovial quickly turns sour, especially for Santana (Naya Rivera), who’s sitting on a pretty big secret that’s about to come out.

It’s about time for Glee‘s annual mash-up episode. I’ve talked before about how much I enjoy it when Glee travels down that particular road, so I’ll just give a quick recap here: mash-ups give Glee a chance to do something it rarely does otherwise, which is get creative with song arrangements. That’s because the show has no choice; these mash-ups have no precedent and are invented specifically for these episodes, which means they have to be at least somewhat creative, even if that creativity’s misdirected. Continue reading »

Sep 232011
 

This Week on Bandcamp rounds up our favorite covers to hit the site in the past seven days.

Maybe you’ve heard it mentioned once or twice, but tomorrow marks the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s Nevermind. In honor of that (and the fact that ~20% of the new covers on Bandcamp this week were Nirvana), we bookend today’s set with two Nirvana covers. Every track’s a keeper today, so much so that we threw in three bonus tracks we just couldn’t leave out. Continue reading »

Apr 282011
 

It doesn’t get much more ‘80s than “Love Is a Battlefield.” Pat Benatar’s 1984 hit features all the telltale signs: shameless synth use, paint-by-numbers drum machine, little human emotion. Well, Thao & Mirah – Mirah’s collaboration with Thao Nguyen of Thao and the Get Down Stay Down – change all that with their new cover. Continue reading »