triple j's Like A Version, a collection of in-studio covers

June 4, 2022 9:01 PM

Baker Boy covers Blur 'Song 2'. Baker Boy is a Yolngu artist, and uses both English and Yolŋu Matha, and sometimes a yiḏaki (didgeridoo). Baker Boy's 'Funk Wit Us'.

Like A Version has been running since 2004, and features mostly Australian artists performing both an original song and a cover. Spotify (158 songs!), Apple Music.

A few more:

E^ST covers The Verve's 'Bitter Sweet Symphony'
E^ST's 'The Alley'

Denzel Curry covers 'Bulls On Parade' by Rage Against The Machine (previously)
Denzel Curry's 'BLACK BALLOONS | 13LACK 13ALLOONZ' Ft. Sampa The Great

Gordi covers 'In The End' by Linkin Park (previously)
Gordi's 'On My Side'

Alter Boy covers 'MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)' by Lil Nas X
Auslan version
Alter Boy's 'Act of God'
Alter Boy's 'Act of God' [Auslan Version]

Greta Stanley covers 'Everlong' by the Foo Fighters
Greta Stanley's 'Soak Into This'

A.GIRL covers 'Higher Ground' by Stevie Wonder
A.GIRL's 'Luv Drunk'

Alex Lahey covers 'Torn' by Natalie Imbruglia
Alex Lahey's 'You Don't Think You Like People Like Me'

Alex Lahey covers 'Welcome to the Black Parade' by My Chemical Romance
Alex Lahey's 'Misery Guts'

AURORA covers 'Teardrop' by Massive Attack
AURORA's 'Warrior'

Stand Atlantic covers 'Righteous' by Juice WRLD
Stand Atlantic's 'Jurassic Park'

Alex the Astronaut covers 'Mr. Blue Sky' by Electric Light Orchestra
Alex the Astronaut's 'I Think You're Great'

Press Club covers 'When You Were Young' by The Killers
Press Club's 'Headwreck'

Hilltop Hoods cover 'Can't Stop' by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Hilltop Hoods's 'Leave Me Lonely'

Amy Shark covers 'Sugar, We're Goin Down' by Fall Out Boy
Amy Shark's 'Baby Steps'

Hellions cover 'Adore' by Amy Shark (her version)
Hellions's 'Thresher'

Middle Kids cover 'Don't Dream It's Over' by Crowded House
Middle Kids's 'Never Start'

Dave Winnel covers 'Africa' by TOTO
Dave Winnel's 'CEO / Jungle Juice'

And finally....
The Wiggles cover 'Elephant' by Tame Impala (previously)
The Wiggles's 'We're All Fruit Salad!'

posted by Gorgik (16 comments total)

I was obsessed with Chvrches' cover of "Do I Wanna Know" for a while. It's so good.
posted by BungaDunga at 10:22 PM on June 4, 2022 [2 favorites]

I'm such a sucker for Like a Version. Love it.

The first time I hard that E^ST cover switch over to Teardrop at the end... chills.

For sheer audacity, check out the Methyl Ethel cover/mashup of The Avalanches 'Frontier Psychiatrist and Sycco's Dribble

And I know it's a little maudlin, but YUNGBLUD and Halsey doing 'I Will Follow You Into The Dark' got to me

Also so fun: Superorganism mashing up Post Malone and MGMT
posted by gwint at 10:45 PM on June 4, 2022 [3 favorites]

CHVURCHES' version of Kendrick's 'Love' is the one I really got hooked on.
posted by Limivorous at 2:01 AM on June 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

Above fold link is great. I should make clear that it sounds really good; however, what I love most are the different affects of the four musicians as they work with the material. The vocalist/didgeridoo player is just giving it straight ahead high energy showmanship. The (jazz? Funk? His playing style seems really idiosyncratic to me, but I don't know from drumming, so I've no real clue) drummer is really eager to rock out, but the arrangement (sensibly, I think, because the vocals call for complex mechanically timed beats in a number of passages) has him playing triggers on a little MIDI pad half the time. There are a few moments where he seems to be just desperate for something he can actually hit hard. The guitarist seems to start off tentative, like he knows that he's playing the part right, but isn't 100% sure that he's actually getting the tone, before he relaxes and then seems to get worried that the bass player isn't enjoying himself. The bass player pleases me most, however, because his neat and musicianly playing style is so incongruous during the iconic fuzz-bass choruses (sound: BOOOMBoomBOMBOMboomBOM, fingers: poppitypoppitypop), and reveals exactly how much work that fuzz pedal does in Song 2 (it's at least two-thirds, if you're curious), and because he seems to be up for it, but also very, verrry slowly dying of boredom from the simplicity of his part.

It's a delightful performance.
posted by howfar at 2:30 AM on June 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

You had me at Baker Boy - wow. Thanks, Gorgik!
posted by lulu68 at 3:29 AM on June 5, 2022

There is such good music coming out of Australia.
posted by Gadarene at 6:27 AM on June 5, 2022

Billie Eilish covers Michael Jackson
Tim Minchin covers Billie Eilish
...twice
posted by flabdablet at 9:59 AM on June 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

There is such good music coming out of Australia

plus we have a superhero now
posted by flabdablet at 10:04 AM on June 5, 2022

My favorite Like a Versions:

Childish Gambino covering Tamia's So Into You

And HAIM covering Shania Twain's That Don't Impress Me Much (I can't find the Triple J studio footage on YouTube any more and that's a bummer! It had some fun banter between HAIM and the DJs, plus of course getting to watch the artists play. But on the flip side they did make that cover available through Spotify and I do love throwing it into my playlists.)
posted by sigmagalator at 10:15 AM on June 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

These are great. (Also, I really should try to listen to more contemporary music. . .) The Higher Ground cover might actually be better than the original, which is something I am astonished to hear myself saying.
posted by eotvos at 10:22 AM on June 5, 2022

#1 Dads covering FKA Twigs Two Weeks. Holy smokes what a remarkable performance!
posted by ashbury at 10:49 AM on June 5, 2022

The Baker Boy cover was the only one out of that list that I liked, though it seemed a bit “thin” compared to the fat sound of the original. Needed more didgeridoo, in my opinion, but hey, I’m not the producer and what do I know.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 1:42 PM on June 5, 2022

I left Australia (born and raised in Perth) in 2010 so I've been so detached to a lot of the music scene back home. It was by serendipity a few weeks ago that I got the Like a Version of the Wiggles singing the Elephant/Fruit Salad mashup that I knew I had been away far too long.

I've since started streaming JJJ in the car to start catching up. There is too much good music coming out of Perth lately.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 10:02 PM on June 5, 2022

Needed more didgeridoo, in my opinion, but hey, I’m not the producer and what do I know.

You're right, I think. I like the drum part, but it loses a lot of that no nonsense Dave Rowntree "Fuck off I'm just the drummer now where are my law books and gak" power. The didgeridoo could really reinforce the rhythm section. Just some pretty simple use of a loop pedal could give them much more flexibility in using that sound generally, so much so that it almost seems odd that it's not an integral part of the setup.

This sort of thing is why I find cover versions so interesting. Trying to do a truly good cover, whether as reproduction or reinvention, will almost always stretch a musician or ensemble in some way. The distance between reach and grasp is the site of what it pleases me to term Brownian emotion: that which emerges from actively stretching for something that you can influence and engage with, but do not have mastery of. It's the almost literal magic of music, really: the forms and knowledge allow us to influence poorly understood forces to reshape perceptions of the world. The perfect performance of a well-known piece has its own value as tribute, ritual, demonstration &c., but it's those points of stretch where the magic happens.
posted by howfar at 5:01 AM on June 6, 2022

JJJ put me onto the wonderful Kah-Lo ... look for "Fake Id", they were playing this heavily.
posted by chmmr at 7:45 AM on June 6, 2022

I particularly liked the Hope D cover of "Toxic" -- she transforms it into a riot grrl song, and it totally works.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 7:52 AM on June 6, 2022 [1 favorite]