Jan 312023
 
dave gahan chains

In 2021, Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan recorded a covers album with electronica production duo Soulsavers called Imposter. On it, he tackled songs by Neil Young, Mark Lanegan, Eartha Kitt, and more. We thought it was pretty good.

Now, even as Depeche Mode prepares to release its own next album, Gahan is back with another cover. This one finds him paired with a different producer, Kurt Uenala, and tackling a different band: The Raveonettes. For an upcoming tribute album to the Danish surf-shoegaze duo, he sang a nearly unrecognizable version of their early song “Chains.” Continue reading »

Oct 312018
 
cover songs october
AJ Lambert – Lush Life (Frank Sinatra cover)

Frank Sinatra’s granddaughter covers Frank Sinatra. You think you know where this story ends: fawning nepotism. But despite familial loyalty, A.J. Lambert isn’t afraid to twist “Lush Life,” adding a Lynchian undercurrent of menace. More of an overcurrent in the crawling, nose-bleeding video.

Amy Shark – Teenage Dirtbag (Wheatus cover)

Every month, one or two of these selections invariably hail from Spotify’s terrific new cover-sessions series. My only gripe is that they came with no information, the sort a band would write in the YouTube description or press release announcing a new cover, or say on stage before performing one live. That’s now solved with Spotify’s new “Under Cover” podcast, in which the artists performing the covers talk about them. We learn that Amy Shark tried to make “Teenage Dirtbag” a Pixies song, and that she considered the song her anthem when she was young. She says: “The first time I heard ‘Teenage Dirtbag,’ I was in high school. I was crazy obsessed with it to the point where it was in my head every day all day. I would sing it in all day in school. Even teachers would say, ‘Amy, please listen to something else.'” Continue reading »

May 312011
 

Something about Chris Isaak suits late night. His atmospheric take on ’50s rockabilly fused with ’60s surf and a whole lotta reverb possesses a foreboding that you just can’t quite put your finger on, but gives you a sense that something lurks in the shadows. No wonder, then, that he shows up often in the soundtracks to David Lynch movies (he even starred in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me). Lynch, after all, has mastered the creepy late night vibe. Continue reading »