This beautiful performance aired on South Dakota Public Broadcasting and, as of this writing, has 81 views, half of which are mine. (To be fair, presumably more people saw it when it aired on actual TV). But this Sioux Falls singer-songwriters beautiful Taylor Swift cover deserves a far bigger audience. It’s simply done, no frills or gimmicks, but he sells the hell out of it. Continue reading »
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month and AAPI Heritage Month, Los Angeles-based artist, SASAMI (Sasami Ashworth) released a poignant cover of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ indie anthem “Maps.” This rendition is part of the “Song That Found Me at the Right Time” series, a collaboration between the nonprofit Sounds of Saving and the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, aiming to highlight the therapeutic power of music. Filmmaker Rita Baghdadi directed the PSA video. It starts with a brief introduction by the indie artist before gliding into the music. Sasami casually sits on the floor, chatting about her admiration for Karen O, one of the few Asian Americans in the rock scene in the early 2000s. She highlights “Maps” as one of the songs that showed her the cathartic nature of writing music. Continue reading »
Indie artist Sasami delivered a captivating rendition of Sky Ferreira’s gem “Everything Is Embarrassing” during a live session on SiriusXMU. The performance showcased Sasami’s beautiful vocals and ability to reinterpret contemporary classics with her unique artistic vision. Continue reading »
Cher’s pushing 80, but, as seen most recent on the SNL 50th concert, she can still command a stage like nobody’s business. At the recent Love Rocks benefit concert in NYC, she reprised her ‘90s “Walking in Memphis” cover, complete with full Elvis costume, pompadour very much included.
A heavy-metal cover of the least heavy group of all time (they are French, after all): Air. Dååth (you “know it’s heavy with that punctuation in the name) writes: “Our version of “Run” has been a long time coming. It’s a creepy, weird song I’ve wanted to cover since I first heard it… This is a weird song. If you haven’t heard it, listen to the original, then ours. To do it justice, we needed an unconventional mix that could also go full metal. Gautier Serre, of Igorrr, was the obvious choice. If he can handle Igorrr, he can handle this—and being French, he already knew the song. The result is truly unique. If you’re expecting pure extreme metal, you might be disappointed—and that’s fine, because we do what we want.” Continue reading »
Cheating a little as we missed this one in July, but if you too haven’t heard the acoustic “We Belong” Brandi’s been playing on tour with The Twins, it will be worth the wait. “We belong together” takes on a whole new meaning as we (try to) come out of quarantine. Continue reading »
“Toxicity,” the second single from the album of the same name, was System of a Down’s biggest hit to date, helping to briefly establish them as one of the most commercially successful metal bands of their era. Since then it’s become a bit of a metal classic – please don’t call it nu metal – and a favorite cover for YouTubers. The song perfectly captures the band’s legendary dynamics of accessible, melodic verses with manic, pummeling choruses. Continue reading »