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 »
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 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 »
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 »
You’ve probably heard that Pavement reunited this year. You’ve probably heard it every day for months. With the indie blog world having exploded since the group’s 1999 breakup, the quartet’s stock has risen higher than it ever did in the band’s heyday. Universally good-to-mediocre reviews meet their notoriously lackadaisical live shows, the common theme being, “Yeah, they’re still pretty terrible live, but after ten years apart fans find it endearing. Plus everyone’s singing along too loudly to really notice.”
Palm Beach youngsters Surfer Blood follow closely in Pavement’s footsteps. Pitchfork described their sound as “guitar-heavy indie rock that’s probably influenced by Pavement, likely about girls, and almost certainly made by people who at first blush sound more fun to get a beer with than, say, Dirty Projectors.” So them covering Pavement for Halfway House just makes sense. Download the band’s version of “Box Elders” below, then head here to snag the full set. Continue reading »