Five Good Covers: The Killing Moon (Echo & the Bunnymen)

 Posted by at 5:00 pm  5 Responses »
Aug 242011
 

Five Good Covers presents five cross-genre reinterpretations of an oft-covered song.

Echo & the Bunnymen formed in Liverpool in the late ‘70s.  Vocalist Ian McCulloch had been in a band with Julian Cope and Pete Wylie.  McCulloch recruited underrated guitarist Will Sergeant and bassist Les Pattinson; and yes, there was a drum machine involved prior to Pete de Freitas joining in 1980.  Was this the “Echo” in Echo & the Bunnymen?  That depends on who you ask. The band’s best quality output came over their first seven years and five albums.  An output that brought critical acclaim and UK success, but little more than a cult following in the States. Continue reading »

Review: Astrid Swan, ‘Hits (Pavement For Girls)’

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Aug 242011
 

Go put on “Gold Soundz.” Sunny alterna-pop at it’s finest, sonically summing up that twentysomething drunken summer spent at the moon tower. Feel the UV rays coming from the speakers. Did you ever think you’d hear a version you’d want played at your funeral?

Astrid Swan, already no stranger to the covers scene, looked to the catalog of one of the most revered bands in alternative music and put it through her Finnish-pixie prism. Hits (Pavement For Girls) is the result, as varied as it may be. The first question that comes to the male mind while letting Swan’s icily-expansive interpretations seep their way in: is this really how Pavement sounds to women? Continue reading »

Astrid Swan Explores Pavement’s Feminine Side

 Posted by at 10:30 am  No Responses »
Jul 142011
 

Pavement has never been a band that has been loved by one gender more than the other. However, in just the past year alone, the iconic ’90s band has been covered mostly by dudes (like Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Surfer Blood, and Benjamin Shaw). Now, Finland singer-songwriter Astrid Swan steps up to the plate to bat for the females with a Pavement cover album aptly titled Pavement for Girls, set for release in August of this year. Check out two tracks below. Continue reading »

Watch A.V. Undercover’s Summer Spectacular (Updated All Day)

 Posted by at 10:00 am  1 Response »
Jul 122011
 

Regular readers know that every Tuesday brings another installment in the A.V. Club’s terrific Undercover series. Bands show up in their round room and cover a song from a list. A simple premise that produces terrific results.

Today, though, the preeminent pop culture website is doing something different. In lieu of their normal routine, they recorded seven covers in various Chicago locations of songs having to do with summer. They’ll be posting these “Summer Breeze” covers all day and, as a result, we’ll be updating this post all day. Check back here or follow us on Twitter to see when more get added. Continue reading »

Download This: ‘The MySpace Mix Tape Player: Covers Edition’

 Posted by at 12:00 pm  1 Response »
Mar 172011
 

Download This scours the web’s dark corners for cool cover freebies. View past installments.

As their name implies, HI54LOFI Records releases music by artists who subscribe to the lo-fi, DIY ethic. They succinctly sum up their philosophy by saying that “the pie with the least amount of fingers in it [is] the best tasting pie.” Many an artist who has experienced recording an album with a booth full of record company execs looking on would surely agree. Continue reading »

Freebies: Two New Mixtapes Offer Covers of ‘N Sync, Springsteen, INXS, Beasties, and 23 More Artists!

 Posted by at 1:00 pm  4 Responses »
Feb 102011
 

Like free stuff? Just kidding. You’re reading a music blog; of course you like free stuff. Well, if the daily MP3 trickle leaves you wanting, how about this: 27 new covers, free to download, in this one post. They come from two new online mixtapes.

Verb/Re/Verb is an indie blog run by a 15-year old from Los Angeles. Normally, her age would be irrelevant – that’s the beauty of the Internet, after all – except that it inspired her to curate a cover mixtape. YOUTH collects nine new covers by artists under 18. The set mixes songs by INXS and ‘N Sync, Sufjan Stevens and Loverboy. “Purple Rain” proves instantly recognizable, but “Get Down” is so whacked-out you could spend weeks listening and never guess the original artist (it’s the Backstreet Boys apparently). The set leans towards dubstep, with folkier breaks here and there. Continue reading »

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