Here's how this works: Gijs posts a track from a Feist Inspired Playlist I made with Arja (see below). That reminded me of Ron Sexsmith, who wrote a song that Feist covered. Then I see this free Christmas album by Exohxo on Stubby's . That features a cover of Ron's Christmas track. So I wondered - are there more covers of Maybe This Christmas? Is Ron's song a Christmas classic yet? Well, he's getting there, I think. Covers from artists from all over the world, even a Swedish translation. It was used in tv-series , there are various [...]
The Christmas canon falls easily into several clusters of songtype: the wassail and traditional Euro-melody, the hymn and the poetic setting, the early 20th century crooner, the TV special soundtrack. Each, in its way, is a marker of a historical era; string them together, and you've got a cultural timeline of sorts, representing the common threads of the tree and the snow, family and friends, Jesus and Santa, exposing – along the way – the ways in which our perspective has changed over time. But genre and soungsource have blurred and expanded over the [...]
I've written about my father here before, most substantially when he was in the hospital for back surgery, and I spent a few days alone in his home, paying tribute to the man whose influence most significantly shaped my musical taste by spinning a set of coverfolk from the record collection I grew up with. And I've alluded to his company throughout our time here at Cover Lay Down, especially at concerts and festivals. But my relationship with my father goes far deeper than the musical tastes and listening habits we share. [...]
One of my favorite Christmas themes is homecoming. The concentrated call for togetherness, whether wistful or wanton, is tied tightly to the seasonal trend towards family and friends, the desire for closeness around hearth and heart, a ward against the chill and the commercialism. The intimacy that results - just us and the tree, or perhaps the crowd brought into the home - frames a set of a songs that celebrate being home, or express a longing for it, depending on the narrative stance. But in all cases, the motif [...]
As folk critic Scott Alarik notes in his seminal 2004 essay compilation Deep Community: Adventures in the Modern Folk Underground , though the original American folk revival presented a plentiful mix of both female and male voices and songwriters, a quick "where are they now" look at the last few generations of folk artists reveals numerous women who went on to folkpop stardom - take, for example, eighties Fast Folk movement graduates Suzanne Vega and Shawn Colvin - with few male counterparts. In their stead, we find a set of male voices from that era [...]
Art Alexakis of Everclear talks tours, women's self-image, politics — including a chat with President "Barry" Obama — and how the movie The Cove is so very wrong.
My Daddy-Lil' Wayne Father and Son (Cat Stevens cover)-Leigh Nash
Imagine your favorite indie singer/ song writers singing old time hymns and spiritual songs and that is what you get with "Come O Spirit". Great Comfort Records has made available 2 of the songs to sample. Get your copy on Sept 8th Come, O Spirit! from Come, O Spirit! I [...]
Like Sugar - DJ Talbot - 14 is available now on iTunes, Odeo and Mevio. See also the player in this post. Track-list: (fill) Ministry - Faith Collapsing 1 The Faint - The Geeks Were Right (Does It Offend You, Yeah? Remix) 2 Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance 3 Scarlett Johansson - I Don't Want To Grow Up 4 Thermostatic - Dubbelbubbel 5 The Foxglove Hunt - A Concealed Weapon 6 Ashbury Heights - Spiders 7 Sigur Ros - Illgressi [...]
Sixpence None the Richers' new ep "My Dear Machine" is available from Noisetrade.com . I will have to say I was not ready for the horns on the upbeat title track. Thanks to Shane for the heads up. Listen To My Dear Machine
Image cred: Desert Voice . I feel that it is more than appropriate that I not only explain my absence for the past week, but bombard you with the collective waste that has been sloshing about my skull for the past 5 days. First off, I've been to Tuscon, AZ-a hell that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemies... Okay, I probably would. What was I doing there? No fucking clue. All I know is that I stayed in a castle with two overly cuddly kittens and spent most of my time there downloading hip-hop [...]
Chica & the Folder "I'll Come Running" (Brian Eno cover) Chilean-German? Stark, electronic, Eno? Where do I sign up? Claude Denjean & Synthesizer "Alone Again (Naturally)" (Gilbert O'Sullivan cover) French Moog mastery... One-hit wonder (U.S.-wise)... Synthy yacht rock rules. Cursive "Frankly, Mr. Shankly" (Smiths cover) I sort of feel bad... I had no idea that Cursive still lived on. Emocapella* "Enjoy Your Day" (Alkaline Trio cover) [...]
Dear Thom, I tried. I really did. I mean, I typed in 0.00 like 345,378 other people, but I was at least willing to pay the 90p credit card fee. But for some reason known only to Thor, your system just wouldn't take my details. Of course, I later found out that the name on my card read "Kim Jong Il", and it had been somehow blacklisted as a weapon of mass destruction by 128 countries worldwide (including yours), but that's way besides the point. Which is, that I tried. Anyways, it's a good thing you're [...]
Are you so behind on Christmas that you're still making a list and haven't gotten around to checking it twice? That's me too. I'm a natural procrastinator, and I'm married to a man who often claims to be able to expand time. This is not a good combination for getting things done. Let's have something hot to drink and a little Christmas music, whaddaya say? These are some of the best I've found, including what I think is the best version of "Silent Night" that I know of. The Joseph and Mary [...]
It's that time of year again, when Americans of all ages and backgrounds spend vast sums of money in order to pretend that their front porch is a prop from The Munsters , and music blogs from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine dig around for the inevitable annual posting of tracks by Ministry , Oingo Boingo and Book of Love . In the meantime foreign born citizens, who missed all this zaniness when they were kids, scratch their heads and try to understand the appeal of motorized zombies and polystyrene gravestones. So here's [...]
The other day I was checking around this new space I call my blog and I was clicking through all the links, making sure they were pointed at the correct sites, and so on. Well I stumbled down to where the ad banners are displayed and I did something that I honestly rarely, if ever, do. I clicked on one because it actually caught my attention. It was actually an ad for a free music mix presented over at the website for The Vancouver Sun. And of course, like a good little blogger, I snapped it [...]
Twelve Girls Band "All I Want for Christmas (Is You)" (Mariah Carey cover) A few years back I posted My Chemical Romance's version of this, which is still my reigning favorite, but I like this version as well. For different reasons. Dan Bryk "Hard Candy Christmas" (Dolly Parton cover, from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas ) Innocence Mission "Edelweiss" (comp. Rodgers & Hammerstein, from The Sound of Music ) [...]
Christmas A Go Go!
Cover Lay Down
Crib Notes
Berkeley Place
drivebymedia
Like Sugar
DIGITALARMES
Copy, Right?
Pirates of the Bargain Bin
speed of dark
Mine For Life
The World Forgot
INDIEBLOGHEAVEN
I’ll Just Leave This Here #161
Daft Punk graba con Giorgio Moroder
How High Can You Hear? Test Your Hearing Now!
BAND OF HORSES – The Funeral (Sound Remedy Remix)
[MP3] Cosmo Jarvis – “Sunshine”
