We've had the weekend to mull over Lana Del Rey's cover of "Chelsea Hotel No. 2," and our conclusion — like much of the internet — is that we can't quite believe we're saying this, but we really rather like it. It also got us thinking about how relatively few great covers of Cohen songs there have been by female artists. In a way, this makes sense — Cohen's songs are quintessentially male in their own lugubrious way. But still, we're always up for a challenge, so we've rounded up a selection of some of our other favorite female-fronted Cohen covers. [...]
All you really need to know about Norway's Susanna Wallumrød is revealed when you hear her voice, an instrument of rare ethereal beauty we've described as "impossibly luminous" on her work with Morten Qvenildon in the duo Susanna & The Magical Orchestra. But distinct from her string of radically reworked covers -- listen to her take on Thin Lizzy's " Jailbreak " below -- Wallumrød is [...]
Is it just me or our Friday Mixtapes getting better by the week? I mean, for example, this week features the likes of Delta Spirit, Underworld, Yo La Tengo, Menomena, Passion Pit, Cold Cave, Toro Y Moi, and MacGruber'er Kristen Wiig. It doesn't get much better than that! Ok, so maybe it does, but that's for another week to prove. In the meantime, enoy the mix below. As always, it includes the best new mix of singles, remixes, and covers, along with mp3s from some up-and-comers you might want to check out. NEW Singles: [...]
Susanna Wallumrød has one of those impossibly luminous voices that sound even more impressive when backed by only the barest of production. She's a songwriter as well, but her primary forte is her ability to transform a cover -- here by Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott -- by slowing it down and paring it back to it's most basic, raw essentials. Plucked from her album Flower of Evil , "Jailbreak" features backing from Will (Bonnie Prince Billy) Oldham but we're also fond of this live version featuring just her own piano accompaniment. Moreon Susanna and the Magical Orchestra [...]
With "Someday", from their 2009 album 3 , Norway's Susanna Wallumrød (vocals) and Morten Qvenildon (keyboards) of Susanna + The Magical Orchestra have created a song that we've described as "blissfully lovely". So we were not unhappy to revisit "Someday" with their new video -- an oddly bewitching bit of alien-inspired surrealist imagery. Can't feel the seduction of Wallumrød's sweet-as-honey voice? Check your pulse. More here . [...]

Photo: Sandboy . You almost never from a Lynch movie get the sense that the point is to "entertain" you, and never that the point is to get you to fork over money to see it. This is one of the unsettling things about a Lynch movie: You don't feel like you're entering into any of the standard unspoken and/or unconscious contracts you normally enter into with other kinds of movies. This is unsettling because in the absence of such an unconscious contract we lose some of the psychic protections we normally (and necessarily) bring to [...]
One listen to "Someday" from Norway's Susanna Wallumrød (vocals) and Morten Qvenildon (keyboards) - AKA Susanna + The Magical Orchestra - and you'll quickly realize that this is not only a blissfully lovely piece of music...it's also something that would probably never be made here. Taken from their recent album 3 , the lushly cinematic "Someday" charmed us to write: " the voice emerges from an electronic noise bed with sublime presence and clarity, taking a dreamy ballad to unheard of heights. " More here . Be patient -- the track takes about 30 seconds to [...]

>> Kulturkampen @ Sentrum Scene, Oslo, Norvège, 12 septembre 2009 >> Avec Madcon, Lars Lillo-Stenberg, Vinnerne av norske talenter Quick, Christer Torjussen, Susanna & the Magical Orchestra, Noora Noor & the Grand, Thom Hell, Samsaya Suite au concert de Christer Wulff , notre soirée musicale n'était cependant pas terminée. Après un resto palestinien et quelques bières, nous nous dirigions ainsi pas si loin de la salle du Mono, vers la Sentrum Scene . En cette veille d'élections en Norvège, une nuit culturelle était organisée avec de nombreux artistes [...]

Some old, some new and some kinda old/kinda new. Lost : Susanna and the Magical Orchestra Oh Susanna ! Blessed with a powerful voice so understated and so utterly, utterly melancholy. After Nouvelle Vague did their gimmicky samba schtick to Love Will Tear Us Apart, it took these Norwegians to restore the song's profound bleakness [ YouTube ]. That cover joined many other supersad covers on Melody Mountain (their version of Kiss' Crazy Crazy Nights has to heard to be believed). And now they are [...]
3VOOR12:n kuuntelupisteessä voi tutustua seuraaviin uutuuslevyihin: Mount Eerie: Wind's Poem Susanna And The Magical Orchestra: 3 Wye Oak: The Knot Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs
It had become a little awkward watching Susanna and the Magical Orchestra drift into a cover version limbo. Like watching someone at karaoke who is good, and who kinda knows it, so keeps on having another go. And another. And another. And in the end you find yourself wishing that the red-faced wobbly-voiced guy at [...]

pic: Threadless DJ Nasty Boots vs. The G.O.A.T. - Listening Wind ( buy ) Absolutely loving this track out on the FrequeNC label, it dates back to 2005 and is taken from the La Resistance C'est Homegrown 12" . It's a lo-fi/experimental house track that samples Talking Heads track Listening Wind... love Byrne's vocals work so much. Chicago Skyway - Heavens & Angels ( [...]
We first got wind of Norwegian duo of vocalist Susanna Wallumrød and keyboardist Morten Qvenildon in 2006 with their audacious covers album Melody Mountain (the perfect album title for someone named Susanna and The Magical Orchestra ), featuring a positively eerie, stripped and moody version of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart." (See video after the jump) From AC/DC to Prince to Dylan to Kiss (!), the pair deconstructed songs and reassembled them with care, wit and not a small amount of inspired electronic panache -- and Wallumrød's wonderful vocals. [...]
I like cover versions. You like cover versions. By inference, it would seem that Norwegians also like cover versions. Susanna and the Magical Orchestra do, because they recorded an entire album of them. We've featured a track from Melody Mountain before, during Hallelujah week, where it was conclusively proved that seven days is far too long to listen to covers of the same Leonard Cohen song. This time, the dreamy indie vocals of Susanna Wallumrød are turned to AC/DC's paean to the travails of life on the road, It's a [...]
" Love Will Tear Us Apart " probabilmente non è il brano che musicalmente rappresenta al meglio il sound dei Joy Division ma è senza dubbio il loro più grande successo, curiosamente esclusa sia da "Unknown Pleasures" (1979) che da "Closer" (1980), i due album-capolavoro che hanno reso, senza esagerare, i Joy Division una delle dieci band più importanti e influenti di sempre. Quando un pezzo è così "storico" spesso viene coverizzato e ripreso negli anni a venire da artisti di ogni tipo. Dopo il salto trovate alcuni video delle cover più famose [...]
" Without You " , c'est le genre de chanson qu'on a presque honte d'apprécier, qu'on fredonne en cachette, sous la douche, la porte bien fermée pour ne pas être entendu du couloir, et qu'on renie en société, loin de nous ce coupable plaisir, on le laisse aux faibles qui succombent à la première ritournelle mélancolique venue, hors de question de faire preuve de sentimentalisme mainstream. Et puis ces paroles d'une banalité affligeante " No I can't forget this evening/Or your face as you were leaving/But I guess that's just the way/The story goes ". De la soupe pré-R'n'B… [...]

I was watching SKY 1 today. During once of their ad breaks they told me to buy a HD box - because, you know, when you are watching Roads Wars you really need to see the police get all rough with some criminal in high definition. Anyway, the ad for the HD box had a wonderful cover of Cindy Lauper's True Colors . It's sung buy a Swedish lady called Ane Brun , and she has the honour of being my first digital download from iTunes. The song [...]
![EVERY[SINGLE]DAY #15 _ SUSANNA & THE MAGICAL ORCHESTRA (ENJOY THE SILENCE ; DEPECHE MODE COVER)](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/1249909_lg.jpg)
Célébrer le silence, avec des notes de musique suspendues à un fil. Et ne laisser qu'un souffle chaud ou un battement de coeur dans le ventre venir l'enrichir. [Download MP3] : ••• Susanna & The Magical Orchestra :: Enjoy the Silence (Depeche Mode Cover) ••• Lien 2 // ALT Link (YSI) ••• Susanna & The Magical Orchestra : Myspace ; Website [...]
Artiste : Susanna and The Magical OrchestraAlbum : Melody Mountain Pays : NorvègeGenre : lo-fi, electronica, antifolkAvec This Women Coil, nous aimons voyager, partir et se reposer en des terres que le commun auditeur n'a pas l'habitude d'arpenter. Loin de l'oppressante Albion et de son sésame musical, nous faisons escale, cette fois-ci en Norvège. Musicalement, [...]

Boards Of Canada, Geogaddi Some friends of mine have started a new community bath house for music called Favorite 10 . As with most people, I like making lists, reading other people's lists, comparing lists, crossing things off of lists, basically anything to do with lists. On this site, you can make your favorite lists to compare and contrast with some other die-hard music fan that thinks they know what they are talking about. Discuss the merits of Steve Perry's solo career away from Journey, or make fun of people's lists because [...]