Killer

2:54 are sisters Hannah and Colette Thurlow. They will be opening for The xx on their upcoming US tour. This is their cover of the Seal classic "Killer"...

Saint Saviour

Saint Saviour is a singer and songwriter from Teeside in the north east of England. She started out in electro band The RGBs before going on to sing with Groove Armada, co-writing on their album Black Light. She is now a solo artist and is about to release her debut album, Union. Her voice will put you in the mind of some of the beloved British singers like Kate Bush and Elizabeth Fraser. The music is veers from gentle electronics to full on indie rock, and her taste in covers is good (Siouxsie! M83!). She is about to perform at Lovebox 2012, where Grace Jones is a featured performer, and she has written a song in her honor. Have a listen to a few things - I think you'll like her...
____________________ Saint Saviour on Facebook

May The Funk Be With You...

Headnodic's
Funky Star Wars
A 40 minute mix of the funkiest Star Wars cover tunes of the 70's & 80's.
You know you need it...

Casablanca Reworks

Gomma All Stars feat. Peaches present: Casablanca Reworks

4 tracks from the classic '70s label Casablanca Records. The songs were originally performed by Stephanie Mills, Skatt Bros, Donna Summer and Michael Sembello, and are interpreted here by Telonius, Moullinex, Munk and The Phenomenal Handclap Band - with some help from Peaches. Very entertaining!

She Is Beyond Good And Evil

St. Vincent - She Is Beyond Good And Evil
St. Vincent covering Bristol post-punk heroes The Pop Group? Yes please! Want some more St. Vincent covers? Check out this page over at You Ain't No Picasso for covers of Big Black, The Beatles, The National, Tom Waits, Neil Young, INXS and Dolly Parton.

Interplay

John Foxx & The Maths - Evergreen
John Foxx & The Maths - Have A Cigar
As I've mentioned in the past on this blog, I spent 6 years in the UK in the late '70s and early '80s. Those years had a major impact on my musical tastes, especially when it comes to anything synth driven. One of my favorite acts of that time is Ultravox. Not the Midge Ure version mind you, but the John Foxx era. They were pioneers in combining art rock with drum machines and new synthesizer technology. The music combined with Foxx's eerie vocals and futuristic lyrics really impressed me. They managed to have some success before Foxx left the band to chart a solo career. Of course Ultravox went on to become very successful with their new singer and song writer, but they lacked the artistic coolness of the original band. I was a big fan of Foxx's solo stuff too - all cold and synthetic and robotic, it sounded like no-one else. Lots of acts went on to cop his steeze and some of them even had greater success with it than he did - hello Gary Numan!

Fast forward to 2011 and John Foxx is still making music. Over the last few years he has released a bunch of stuff, and much of it has been on the ambient side. He has collaborated with UK electronic musician/producer Benge, who is also a collector of vintage studio gear. Together they have released Interplay as John Foxx & The Maths, using old machines to make totally modern music. It is a delightful record, faithfully recreating the music of Foxx's early years but in a totally modern style. Interplay sounds to me like the album Ultravox would release in 2011 if Foxx had never left the group. His themes remain futuristic and so is the music. The beats are both classic and modern, as are the synth sounds. Everything is beefed up and full of speaker rumbling low end. There are a lot of really good pop moments on it, including the new single Evergreen and the track Watching A Building On Fire which features Mira Aroyo from Ladytron on vocals. Falling Star is a gorgeously dreamy ballad while Shatterproof and Catwalk add a dash of glam rock stomp. I am captivated by it. If you are a fan of electronic music you would do well to check this record out!

As a little bonus enjoy their freshly recorded version of the Pink Floyd classic Have A Cigar. The cover mount CD from the October issue of Mojo Magazine features this song. However it has been announced that the version on the CD was unfinished. The version I offer today is the full, finished version.

Saturday Love

Toro Y Moi - Saturday LoveI am a big fan of Toro Y Moi, the nom de plume of musician Chazwick Bundick. His music reminds me of MGMT, but a kinder, gentler, and much funkier version. His latest album Underneath The Pine came out in February and I have been playing it ever since. He is about to drop an new EP called Freaking Out, and it features a bitching cover of a Minneapolis funk classic, Saturday Love. The original song was recorded as a duet by Alexander O'Neal and Cherelle, and it was the bomb tune back in the day. I love that Chazwick has decided to cover it - he does a great job of bringing his chillwave flavor to it. Bonus video action of the original below...


Cherelle & Alexander O'Neal - Saturday Love

Sing For Your Meat

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Gleemer
La Sera - Watch Me Jumpstart
Western Civ - My Valuable Hunting Knife
Released yesterday for Record Store Day, Sing For Your Meat: A Tribute to Guided By Voices is a compilation of GBV songs covered by a multitude of hipsters who have been moved by the influence of GBV. Released by No More Fake Labels it represents the the many facets of GBV's work, from lo-fi, scrappy songs to well produced gems. Lou Barlow recorded his song 12 times on a Walkman and then stacked them on top of each other. Mass Solo Revolt’s track used vintage analog synths and everything was played and recorded by Martin Brummeler at home. Western Civ recorded some of their vocals through an old bullhorn. Both of their tracks were recorded in their practice room by a guy they had never met before. Several tracks were bedroom recordings. There is also a companion digital EP - full tracklist below...

01. Kelley Deal & Buffalo Killers – Scalding Creek
02. Thurston Moore – Stabbing A Star
03. Elf Power – Man Called Aerodynamics
04. Superdrag – A Salty Salute
05. Western Civ – My Valuable Hunting Knife
06. Crooked Fingers – Tractor Rape Chain
07. Lou Barlow – Game Of Pricks
08. Sorry About Dresden – Echos Myron
09. James Husband – Buzzards And Dreadful Crows
10. Flaming Lips – Smothered In Hugs
11. La Sera – Watch Me Jumpstart
12. I Was Totally Destroying It – I Am Produced
13. David Kilgour – How Loft I Am?
14. Cymbals Eat Guitars – Gleemer
15. Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – Everywhere With Helicopter
16. The Pneurotics – I Am A Tree
17. Blitzen Trapper – Hot Freaks

Free Digital Companion
01. Mass Solo Revolt – Gold Star For Robot Boy
02. Gregg Yeti – Quality Of Armor
03. Western Civ – Goldheart Mountain Top Queen Directory
04. North Elementary – They’re Not Witches-Ex Supermodel
05. Marie Stella – Little Lines
06. Free Electric State – Weedking

Rolling In The Deep Again.

John Legend - Rolling In The Deep Feat. Kenton Dunson (Kenton Dunson Remix)
This is a pretty sweet take on the Adele hit - kind of church. I like John's voice a lot, and the rap is pretty good too.

Welcome To The Jungle

Ruby Isle - Welcome To The Jungle
Minneapolis music legend Mark Mallman has a synth pop band called Ruby Isle. They have covered the Guns N' Roses album "Appetite For Destruction" in it's entirety. Without G N'R's approval. Sounds like drama in the making...

Read more here...

Tears For Souvenirs

hopeless - Tears Are Not Enoughhopeless sent me this fun cover he did of the ABC classic. It was their debut single back in 1981, and is a horny JBs style funk pop tune with a side of gold lamé. I loved it the first time I heard it and rushed out to buy the 7", and so began a long love affair with Martin Fry and co. hopeless delivers a crunchy, shouty stomper, stripping it down to the bare bones - beats, bass and buzz. I didn't like it at first, but it has grown on me and now I get a kick out of it. I love it when somebody covers a tune in a unique way (hello Stereo Total!), and this fits the bill.

The accompanying bit of press release is also quite entertaining...

So I was flying first class as I usually do, and of all people Martin Fry sat down next to me. For those of you who don't know Martin Fry, he is the lead singer of ABC. At first I was not to pleased. Obviously he knows who I am and I really didn't want to be bothered at all. I missed my connecting flight back to Hawaii and was stuck at the airport's first class lounge for at least a half an hour. Grueling, I know.

I tried my best to cover my face but within the first five minutes of sitting down he recognized me. The last thing I need at this point is praise, I'm only human for crying out loud. Needless to say after we got to talking we both thought it would be a good idea for me to put a new spin of one of his songs. He told me that he felt I could put down the anger and torment that he was looking to capture in Tears Are Not Enough, and being a fan of the song myself, I said, "Yo Martin, no doubt. Let's do this shit son!".

Delightful!

Best. Cover Version. Ever.

Stereo Total - Tour de France

Stereo Total, je t'aime! Your new album Baby Ouh! is full of all of the things I love about you. Songs in a multitude of languages. Cheesy synths! Scruffy, scrappy lo-fi production. Lyrical lewdness! Wacky subject matter - see I Wanna Be A Mama. Stylistic Anarchy Rules! The Original Upper Kreuzberg Nose Flute Orchestra! And cover versions. I love their covers - they are unafraid to make them their own, and they are almost always a blast. This latest is no exception. - they cover Willie Dixon, Brigitte Fontaine, Pedro Almodovar (!) and Kraftwerk. Feel the power of Trans Europe Express, and if it can't bring a smile to your face fuhgeddaboutit!

A Handful Of Covers

A nice selection of covers today... Chico Fellini cover the Supertramp classic, and there are two wildly divergent takes on T.Rex - one by Minneapolis' own Idle Hands, the other by the mysteriously ethereal Manet. Finally, Jumbonics give the Strokes a groovin' soul makeover. Delicious!

Chico Fellini - Breakfast In America

Idle Hands - Cosmic Dancer

Manet - Cosmic Dancer

Jumbonics - Last Night

New Music Tuesday

The Bad Plus have a new album out called For All I Care. It is a step in a new direction for the Minneapolis power jazz trio because they have added a vocalist into their unique mix. Wendy Lewis is a fellow Minneapolitan, and her vocals adorn 8 of the 12 tracks. The band loves to put their stamp on covers of popular music, and so it is no surprise that this album is entirely made up of covers. Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Wilco, The Bee Gees and Heart tunes are given the power jazz twist, as are 4 classical pieces. The takes are always interesting and adventurous, deconstructing and then some. The Bee Gees ballad How Deep Is Your Love is a killer. Heart's Barracuda riff is wisely kept in the mix. I also really like their version of the Flaming Lips' Feeling Yourself Disintegrate (from the 1999 album The Soft Bulletin). It captures the melancholic essence of the original nicely.

The Bad Plus with Wendy Lewis - Feeling Yourself Disintegrate
_________________

Out today - the 20th Anniversary Edition of the Beastie Boys classic album Paul's Boutique and Lily Allen's It's Not Me, It's You. Luverly.

A Handful Of Covers

Travis - Killer Queen
Queen
CSS - Cannonball
The Breeders
Adele - Last Night
The Strokes
Dark Meat - Success
Iggy Pop
Bats For Lashes - A Forest
The Cure
Hot Chip - Sexual Healing
Japan - Ain't That Peculiar (Live)
Marvin Gaye
This Mortal Coil - Song To The Siren
Tim Buckley
It's an odds and sods assortment of tunes here; I'm not normally a big fan of Travis but I like this take on Queen. CSS does The Breeders and it is appropriately good. Adele rocks The Strokes and it's way harder than her album. Dark Meat bring their chaotic sprawl to an Iggy nugget, Bats For Lashes further spookifies The Cure and Hot Chip and Japan do Marvin Gaye. This Mortal Coil is really one of the best cover tunes ever, maybe one of the best tunes ever, and its all because of the gorgeous vocals of Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins). I defy you to not get gooseflesh listening to it...

A Handful Of Covers - New Wave

"Nouvelle Vague Presents New Wave : When Post-Punk Met Pop Culture"
From the known to the relatively unknown, this two disc set of new wave cover songs has something for everybody. I finally found a copy a couple of weeks ago and have been in heaven ever since. The selections offered today are a few of my personal faves; Snakefinger (long time friend and collaborator of The Residents) brings glorious guitar to Kraftwerk. Steve Strange's android vocals and Midge Ure's production show Visage's future as New Romantic pioneers. The Flying Lizards are, well, The Flying Lizards - quirky and irreverent, and OMD bring the OMD to a Lou Reed classic. Lots of fun!

Snakefinger - The Model
(Kraftwerk)
Visage - In The Year 2525
(Zager & Evans)
The Flying Lizards - Move On Up
(Curtis Mayfield)
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Waiting For The Man
(The Velvet Underground)

A Handful Of Covers

Chaka Khan is set to release a new album next Tuesday. Funk This is a collection of new songs and covers, all produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Where 2004's Classikhan was a set of songbook standards backed up by the London Symphony Orchestra, this set is a return to the r'n'b and funk of her 30 year past. Who better than Jam & Lewis to make it all sound good. And sound good it does. The vibe is old school but sounds very 2007. The originals are funky and gritty (the duet with Mary J. Blige), and there are some nice ballads (including leadoff single Angel). Then there are the covers. She mashes up a couple of old Rufus songs on Pack'd My Bags/You Got The Love which also features Rufus guitarist Tony Maiden. She covers her peers - Joni Mitchell's Ladies Man and Carly Simon's You Belong To Me (a duet with Michael McDonald). The influences are where I'm really feeling Chaka, as she takes on Hendrix' Castles Made Of Sand and Prince's Sign O' The Times. The Hendrix tune is smoking, with lots of dreamy backtracked guitar and a wailing solo. Chaka lets the vocals smoulder, and it really suits the song. The Prince song hits all the right notes and sounds fantastic. It's a no brainer really, with Jam & Lewis having been in on the Minneapolis sound since the get go. Chaka gets in the big vocal workout, and it's glorious hearing her multitracked. This album is a really welcome return for Chaka, and it will be interesting to see if it gets press/airplay/chart success. Go buy it next week.

Funky Friday - A Handful Of Covers

Today is a rare Saturday repost of yesterday's offerings. The occasion? To let you all know that you can now bookmark me at
silenceisarhythmtoo.com
That's right - I'm a dot-com, baby!

I pulled this February 2003 Muzik Magazine compilation off the shelf today to play at work. Heroes! Rewind! is a set of covers and a few odds and ends, and features a couple of exclusives from Soul II Soul, LTJ Bukem and Bent. It is an interesting selection of tunes and artists, and made for a fun listen. Today's selections include two Prince covers, a classic by Parliament and a Pink Floyd song - two slices of downtempo, two slices of uptempo. Tasty.

Bent - Dirty Mind
A slightly goofy yet endearing reading of this Purple chestnut puts it in the realm of psychedelic downtempo.
Open Door - Breathe
I was wary at first but this one ended up winning me over with it's breakbeats and warm keys.
Rae & Christian - Flashlight
I think this is a pretty unique take. It loses all the vocals and adds R&C's Britfunk flavor.
Space Cowboy - I Would Die 4 U
Another Prince cover given a little bit of four to floor action.

Twelve

Next Tuesday brings the release of Patti Smith's new album Twelve, a collection of twelve cover songs by some of her "inspirations". I've been listening to an advance copy of it for a couple of weeks now. It is an interesting project, with her regular band (Lenny Kaye on guitar, Jay Dee Daugherty on drums and Tony Shanahan on bass and keyboards) being augemented by some high profile guests - Italian cellist Giovanni Sollima, playwright Sam Shepard on banjo, '60s Greenwich Village folk artists John Cohen (banjo) and Peter Stampfel (fiddle), RHCP bassist Flea, guitarist Tom Verlaine, Rich Robinson (Black Crowes) on slide guitar and dulcimer and hip-hop producer Luis Resto (Eminem) on keyboards. Patti's kids Jackson and Jesse contribute guitar and vocals. The list of artists covered is both obvious and surprising. Her '60s icons are all here - Hendrix, The Doors, The Beatles and the Stones, Dylan, Neil Young and Jefferson Airplane. These to me are the obvious choices and are the tracks that I think work best. Where it gets a bit surreal is in the remaining four picks - Stevie Wonder, Nirvana, Paul Simon and Tears For Fears. Stevie's Pastime Paradise is interesting - many will only know it as sample source material for Coolio's '90s hit Gangsta's Paradise. Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit is rendered as a bluegrass ballad with some of Patti's poetry added, and I actually like how it turns out. Paul Simon's Boy In The Bubble was originally jaunty Afro pop, and this version doesn't capture the vibe for me. Ditto Tears For Fears' Everybody Wants To Rule The World. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE this song. When I first heard about Patti doing this I was psyched to hear it. She and the band pretty much play it straight, and it will never match the glory of the TFF original that way. So, if you stick to the '60s you'll probably enjoy this. Here are her takes on Hendrix and Jefferson Airplane...
Are You Experienced?
White Rabbit

A Handful Of Covers

I have been somewhat sceptical of Mark Ronson in the past. I'm not sure why, but there you go. He has changed my opinion of him over the last year with his production work on Lily Allen's debut (great!) and his production work on Amy Winehouse's Back To Black (greater!). Next week brings the UK release (I couldn't confirm a US date) of his second LP Version. It is a set of covers, a few instrumentals, lots of horns and some notable guest vocalists. After spending a couple of days with this I have to say I like it. It is funky, warm and fun. You might argue with some of the song choices but overall it makes for a very entertaining listen. You might also be surprised at how well some of these tunes transition to this old school funk style. Today I offer Amy Winehouse covering the Zutons and a punk-funk take on the Jam...

1. God Put A Smile On Your Face (Feat. Daptone Horns) (Coldplay)
2. Oh My God (Feat. Lily Allen) (Kaiser Chiefs)
3. Stop Me (Feat. Daniel Merriweather) (The Smiths)
4. Toxic (Feat. Tiggers) (Britney Spears)
5. Valerie (feat. Amy Winehouse) (The Zutons)
6. Apply Some Pressure (Feat. Paul Smith of Maxïmo Park ) (Maxïmo Park)
7. Inversion
8. Pretty Green (feat. Santo Gold) (The Jam)
9. Just (Feat. Alex Greenwald of Phantom Planet) (Radiohead)
10. Amy (Feat. Kenna) (Ryan Adams)
11. The Only One I Know (Feat. Robbie Williams) (The Charlatans)
12. Diversion
13. L.S.F (Feat. Kasabian) (Kasabian)
14. Outversion

More Mark Ronson on the Hype Machine...