Posts tagged with covers and music

Young the Giant's excellent cover of R. Kelly's Ignition (Remix) kicks off this season of A. V. Club's Undercover series in some style. The song has been covered extensively since it came out, in styles ranging from bedroom ukulele to ivy a capella to basement indie. It was also covered by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and inspired Dave Chapelle's pisstake. John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats has been a long-time fan, usually adding a minute of the song as a coda to his cover of The Boys Are Back in Town. Darnielle, and some friends, gave us 100 Reasons Why "Ignition - Remix" Is So Damned Great.
posted by Kattullus on Mar 23, 2012 - 43 comments

The NME - 60 years of rock history ... and four front covers that define their eras
posted by Artw on Feb 25, 2012 - 18 comments

In honor of Philip Glass's 75th birthday (look at the cake!), here are three rather odd albums of or based on his music, all free to play:
Glassworked by U Can Unlearn Guitar ranges from drone to speed metal.
What Capitalism Was Plays Philip Glass on Accordion is as described.
Glassbreaks by dj BC mashes up Glass and Hip Hop. (previously)
posted by moonmilk on Jan 31, 2012 - 22 comments

Colombian video artist Dicken Schrader covers Depeche Mode songs with the help of his young children, Milah and Korben, using some unexpected objects as instruments and illustrative props. Three split-screen videos: "Strangelove", "Everything Counts", & "Shake The Disease".
posted by flex on Jan 29, 2012 - 22 comments

What do you get when you cross the low key folk rock of Bon Iver with the arena rock of Bon Jovi? You'd probably get something like Bon Joviver. [more inside]
posted by codacorolla on Jan 25, 2012 - 19 comments

For Friday the 13th of January, WFMU DJ Kurt Gottschalk played about 20 different versions of Thelonious Monk's Friday the 13th, including quite a few sent in by his listeners. Here's the playlist and 3 hour mp3 stream (below the blinky picture of Monk), including listeners' comments. Good luck!
posted by moonmilk on Jan 13, 2012 - 6 comments

Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river
You can hear the boats go by
You can spend the night beside her
And you know that she's half crazy
But that's why you want to be there [more inside]
posted by Apropos of Something on Dec 10, 2011 - 30 comments

Coversmart: The first music trivia website dedicated to the art of album covers. [more inside]
posted by mr.curmudgeon on Sep 30, 2011 - 13 comments

The Best Muppet Show Beatles Covers [more inside]
posted by quiet coyote on Sep 1, 2011 - 17 comments

"Attention, industrial farmers. Willie Nelson wants you to stop drugging your pigs and smashing them into compact, easily shippable pork cubes. So does Chipotle." Farm Aid organizer Willie Nelson covers Coldplay's "The Scientist" for a pseudo PSA for burrito chain Chipotle's foundation to support sustainable agriculture, family farming, and culinary education.
posted by Frank Grimes on Aug 30, 2011 - 58 comments

Various Neutral Milk Hotel Covers. They'll probably make you want to listen to "Aeroplane" again. Some with better sound quality than others. Not all are all that great but there are some neat gems in there. Enjoy!
posted by fantodstic on Jul 9, 2011 - 41 comments

Rave On Buddy Holly is streaming now. The album, released June 28th, features Nick Lowe, Patti Smith, Cee Lo, Justin Townes Earle and others covering Buddy Holly songs.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn on Jun 21, 2011 - 21 comments

Genghis Barbie is a "post post-feminist feminist" French horn quartet that plays breathtaking renditions of Somebody to Love, Kiss from a Rose and Janelle Monae's 57821. Oh, and Thong Song.
posted by Apropos of Something on Jun 9, 2011 - 34 comments

Looking for something familiar with a twist? Best told from their About Us Page: Vitamin Records was formed in Los Angeles in 1999 to provide music lovers with high quality string quartet, lounge and electronic tributes to major pop and rock artists. Vitamin's mission is to offer fans exciting versions of their favorite songs performed in new musical contexts. [more inside]
posted by filmgeek on Mar 23, 2011 - 22 comments

Bluegrass covers of popular songs, by The Cleverlys: The Bangles' Walk Like an Egyptian, Beyoncé's Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It), Shaggy's Angel, The Black Eyed Peas' I Gotta Feeling, Yes' Owner of a Lonely Heart, Fergie's Clumsy, Stevie Wonder's Superstition, Katy Perry's I Kissed a Girl
posted by finite on Feb 20, 2011 - 33 comments

Gavin Castleton does a pretty cool one-man cover of Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer". [more inside]
posted by rollbiz on Jan 23, 2011 - 18 comments

Comptine d'un autre ete : L'apres midi is a simple, heart-rending piano piece by Yann Tiersen. It has inspired covers spanning the range of musical expression: classical guitar, violin, harp, and piano and flute. Maybe that's not surprising, but the depth, sincerity, and number of metal covers was.
posted by fake on Jan 17, 2011 - 22 comments

Polka medleys are a trademark of Weird Al Yankovic in which he covers the era's most iconic songs on accordion. His next album will likely include Polka Face. But, if you like some of the older stuff... [more inside]
posted by l33tpolicywonk on Oct 30, 2010 - 27 comments

Originally a product of the simple tone and noise generators (and limited processing power) that shipped with video consoles and early computers, the 8-bit music (more properly, chiptunes) scene is now quite a bit more diverse. It covers Lady Gaga, Metallica, and Elvis Presley. It releases albums. And yes, it rickrolls. (mostly MLYT)
posted by d. z. wang on Sep 12, 2010 - 26 comments

Joe Dassin was the son of a Russian jewish American film director a Hungarian virtuoso violinist. [more inside]
posted by mvuijlst on Aug 7, 2010 - 6 comments

The Music of Jacques Brel is an article by music journalist Amy Hanson about the career of pop music legend Jacques Brel and his effect on popular music in the English language. A lot of songs and covers are mentioned in the article, below the cut are links to the songs that I could find videos of online. [more inside]
posted by Kattullus on Aug 6, 2010 - 49 comments

In honor of the first day of summer, one of the most covered "summer" songs of all time - "Summer Breeze." The original - Seals & Crofts. Inside for more: [more inside]
posted by waitingtoderail on Jun 21, 2010 - 50 comments

Nestled amid endless Budweiser ads, The AV Club is putting together some great modern covers of ’70s and ‘80s classics. My personal favorites: The Antlers take on Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here and Cursive’s cover of Starship’s We Built This City.
posted by rtimmel on Jun 15, 2010 - 53 comments

The Story of Bohemian Rhapsody: Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. (From BBC Three.) Oh, and... [more inside]
posted by zarq on Apr 22, 2010 - 69 comments

Nouvelle Vague covers New Wave and Punk (MLYT) Nouvelle Vague (no, not this one) does Bossa Nova covers of New Wave and Punk songs, including: Dance with me (Lords of the New Church), Master and Servant (Depeche Mode), Love will tear us apart (Joy Division), Making plans for Nigel (XTC), Blue Monday (New Order), This is not a love song (PiL), The guns of Brixton (The Clash), and one NSFW title [more inside]
posted by zippy on Aug 19, 2009 - 25 comments

Free Friday Frantic (Music) Fun: Ergo Phizmiz & The Midnight Florists cover five 1990s chartbusting, dancefloor filling smash hits with arrangements of acoustic, electronic, homemade, and toy instruments. [More musical mischief inside] [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Aug 14, 2009 - 7 comments

Beck intends to record cover versions of selected albums in a day, unrehearsed, with guest musicians and then to release them on his website. Pitchfork announced it yesterday here. The first song is Sunday Morning.
posted by tawny on Jun 19, 2009 - 48 comments

Jack and Meg did it first. Audioslave did it poorly. The Hives tried to do it by rote. The Flaming Lips did it best while simultaneously Moving To Florida. It's been done in Mario Paint and on a ukulele. But the latest people to attempt it? Country legends The Oak Ridge Boys.
posted by namewithoutwords on May 1, 2009 - 108 comments

The Sun Ra Quilt of Joy
posted by Joe Beese on Mar 7, 2009 - 28 comments

Hungary may be the gloomiest country on earth. Believed by its people to be suffering from a centuries long curse, it's most famous modern musical export is probably the "Hungarian Suicide Song" - Gloomy Sunday. Originally popularized by Billie Holiday in the US (with an upbeat ending tacked onto the original lyrics), it's been covered dozens of times since then. Links to a few of my favorites inside: [more inside]
posted by empath on Jan 10, 2009 - 37 comments

Songs we wish were ours l 2 l 3 l 5 l bootleg Great idea, no? I thought the series was over but it looks like they kept it going.
posted by danep on Jul 24, 2008 - 29 comments

Here are 52 cover songs that Of Montreal have done over the years. via
posted by carsonb on Feb 1, 2008 - 37 comments

Total Eclipse of the Heart (YT) as "performed" by Legion of rock stars, a cover band that does “such lousy job with the source material that it becomes oddly hilarious”. (Choice of 179 videos. Via The in-between)
posted by growabrain on Jan 27, 2008 - 52 comments

Written in 1967 by Bob Dylan, it was originally quiet, lowkey... and vaguely menacing. But when Jimi Hendrix redefined it the following year, even Dylan knew that the song had changed forever.

Since then, it's been covered (over and over again), praised almost as often, analyzed, referenced, and, of course, found to be encoded in the minds of Cylons.

Originally released 40 years ago, erm, yesterday: All Along the Watchtower.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher on Dec 28, 2007 - 41 comments

Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos
posted by Artw on Dec 5, 2007 - 72 comments

Covering The Mouse. An MP3 blog dedicated to cover versions of Disney songs. My favorite so far is Gene Simmons' cover of "When You Wish Upon A Star."
posted by amyms on Nov 21, 2007 - 17 comments

Pop Songs 07 is a blog by Matthew Perpetua, founder of Fluxblog, in which he is attempting to write about every R.E.M. song eventually. With the recent release of Stereogum’s tribute to Automatic For The People, Drive XV, (free mp3s of covers of every track on the record by a range of indie rock acts) he was asked to write an essay about the album: Sweetness Followed: 15 Years After Automatic.
posted by ND¢ on Oct 16, 2007 - 53 comments

Okay, first, take a look at this collection of 60's and 70's Asian Pop Record Covers. Cause they're just a helluvalotta of fun to look at. Now, if you find your musical appetite whetted, the same fellow who brought you those wonderful jackets has a Singapore and Asian 60's Pop Music MySpace page, where you can listen to his fabulous audio playlist, see video clips and more record jackets, and get more info on this very fertile period in Asian pop music history. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite on Sep 26, 2007 - 17 comments

LP Cover Lover The world's greatest LP album covers. Groovy, man. [some nudity, some total insanity]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken on Jul 18, 2007 - 29 comments

Songs You Didn't Know Were Cover Versions: Good Lovin', Mambo No. 5, The City of New Orleans, Fernando, The First Cut Is the Deepest, I Love Rock 'n' Roll, Just A Gigolo, Without You, Don't Turn Around, Let's Live for Today, Dazed and Confused, Seasons in the Sun, Pass the Dutchie, There's Always Something There to Remind Me, Gloria, Respect, Turn Turn Turn, When the Levee Breaks, Do You Wanna Touch Me, Cum on Feel the Noize, Hanging on the Telephone, I Go Blind, I Will Always Love You, Take Me to the River, Louie Louie, The Twist etc. etc.
posted by jonp72 on Jul 13, 2007 - 111 comments

Aside from the usual crap, YouTube has a great selection of one the most covered song of all time: All Along the Watchtower. Classics like Hendrix (live and studio), Neil Young (at DailyMotion with better sound) and U2--and some great contemporary versions like Keziah Jones' blazingly-fast version, Bradley Fish's 12-instrument (including Chinese Zither) version, Michael Hedges’ reason-to-be-excited cover, and even a quite good version of DMB's much-maligned cover. What doesn't really rank: Dylan's original.
posted by FeldBum on Jul 2, 2007 - 43 comments

Mefites love cover versions. But are we ready for The Legion of Rockstars? To wit: "1) A bunch of people put on noise-canceling headphones. 2) They all listen to the same song and play along. 3)The results are recorded and set to the original music video. 4) Hilarity ensues" (myspace, via).
posted by bardic on Jun 22, 2007 - 22 comments

Van Halen's Eruption on Violin | Elton John's Rocket Man on Banjo | Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody for solo classical guitar | Foggy Mountain Breakdown arranged for electric slap bass | Toto's Africa for Acoustic Guitar | The Postal Service's Such Great Heights for Voice
posted by jonson on May 21, 2007 - 51 comments

Sgt. Pepper's 2.0 . fourty years later, BBC 2 is preparing a recording session (with the original recording instrumentation and Geoff Emerick) to be aired on 2 June. Oasis, The Killers, Razorlight, James Morrison, The Fratellis, Travis and the Kaiser Chiefs are the artists currently announced. Not the first time someone covers the Beatles (there's even a mashup, previously covered on Mefi).
[via]
posted by darkripper on Apr 6, 2007 - 56 comments

Catchy bitter ukulele break-up song by Duncan Pflaster. Video with song. Simple and excellent. Found via Cat and Girl.
posted by LobsterMitten on Mar 30, 2007 - 27 comments

NYC via DC's The Walkmen have recorded a fourth studio LP, a "note-for-note reproduction" of Harry Nilsson's 1974 album "Pussy Cats," famously produced by musician and drinking-buddy John Lennon during his "Lost Weekend" days in Los Angeles. You can listen to the new album here gratis.
posted by bardic on Oct 26, 2006 - 10 comments

12xux12
posted by bardic on Oct 8, 2006 - 14 comments

Japanese Surf Versions of Classical Themes
posted by BuddhaInABucket on Sep 11, 2006 - 14 comments

Covers of your favorite Pixes songs, by other famous musicians!*

*All other famous musicians simulated. Your milage may vary. Please don't shoot the messenger.
posted by 40 Watt on Jun 1, 2006 - 77 comments

Yo La Tengo is Murdering the Classics (via). Spontaneous cover magic from the great YLT.
posted by bardic on Apr 27, 2006 - 12 comments