The sublime Sonya Cotton just released a new, four-track EP called More Of You. The EP is comprised of covers of four classic jazz standards. I love Sonya's voice and I love classic jazz, so it's no surprise I love this EP. I especially like the romantic opener, "Our Love Is Here To Stay," which [...]
There are still $20 wristbands available for the 3rd Annual Culture Collide Festival in Los Angeles!
OH MY GOD! The Standard -- which is a group consisting of Common and Q-Tip -- might be adding Mr. Nasir Jones to the mix. It's like The Avengers adding Thor. I mean, my god, I hope this happens. Obviously, we know Nas and Q-Tip worked together on "One Love" and Common and Nas released "Ghetto Dreams" a few months back. Common and Q-Tip formed The Standard in 2007 even though they haven't released any music ... yet. If this happens, my head might explode. I'll keep ya'll updated as I get updated. via [ XXL [...]
photos by Andrew St. Clair Death By Audio - Wednesday night - 2/8/2012 The Kills, JEFF the Brotherhood & Hunters play their sold out NYC show at Terminal 5 on Saturday, 2/11, a date that coincidentally (probably not) falls right during Fashion Week . If we had put two and two together earlier, we probably would have theorized that the band that contains Kate Moss 's husband would be playing [...]
02 This summer, one of my favorite local bands, Churchill , released a set of covers they'd done of different Denver bands. I love that this city can do something so wonderful in a self-contained fashion. Their cover of Meese 's "Standards" was my favorite of the bunch. Bethany's delicate vocals capture the vulnerability of the original. Churchill - Standards And as always, the original: Meese - Standards
Righteous Brother goes solo in 1968 and 1969 Following his 1968 break with fellow Righteous Brother Bobby Hatfield, Bill Medley kicked off a solo career with this pair of releases for MGM. Both albums grazed the bottom of the Billboard 200, and three singles ("I Can't Make it Alone" and "Brown Eyed Woman" from the first album, "Peace Brother Peace" from the second) charted short of the Top 40. It would be Medley's last solo chart action for more than a decade, as he'd reteam with Hatfield in 1974 and forgo solo releases for [...]
Lynyrd Skynard: Free Bird [ purchase ] I have thousands upon thousands of cover songs in my collection, comprising hundreds upon hundreds of takes on scores and scores of songs generally considered standards, from all genres and source types - Tin Pan Alley, Childe Ballads, Appalachian songs, American Jazz, the Christian hymnal, overcovered country, bluegrass, motown, pop, folk and rock and roll classics, and more. I mean, isn't pretty much every Dylan and Beatles song a standard by now? Do I really want to post yet [...]
Glen Campbell lights up the Tokyo stage in 1975 Originally released only in Japan, this 54-minute set found Campbell entertaining with a tightly-paced set at Tokyo's Kosei Nenkin Hall in May 1975. The chart-topping run Campbell had started with 1967's "Gentle on My Mind" was slipping ever so slightly lower by the early '70s, as his television program ended in 1972. Campbell's albums started to edge out of the Top 10 and his singles out of the Top 20, but three days before this show, he released "Rhinestone Cowboy," and rode it [...]
Merry Clayton: Bridge Over Troubled Water [purchase] Despite recording six studio albums of her own (the first four of which are very much worth owning), and working with both Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd (which I find amusing considering their Southern Man / Sweet Home Alabama rivalry), Merry Clayton is still best known for providing the soaring vocals on The Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter . Perhaps less known is that in 1970 she released her very own version on her debut [...]
Richard Thompson : 1952 Vincent Black Lightning [ purchase a different live version ] In June, 2000, my family went to London. As it turned out, Richard Thompson was playing in Croydon, not too far away, and we got tickets. My wife and I were big fans, and my kids, who were 10 and nearly 7, also loved his music. WFUV, currently my favorite radio station, plays him often, and he regularly appeared at the Tarrytown Music Hall, just down the road from our house, and his shows [...]
I snapped this just last week. How…timely. Cyndi Lauper & Sarah McLachlan : Time After Time [ purchase ] Cassandra Wilson : Time After Time [ purchase ] Here's a 1983 classic that always seems more recent to me than it is…I have to remember that the 80s were 30-ish years ago. A boatload of covers exist for this song [...]
Brainbox : Summertime [ purchase ] Perhaps you were expecting Ms. Joplin? Don't be so disappointed. This version of the "Porgy And Bess" classic is performed by a Dutch prog rock group led by pre-Focus guitar god Jan Akkerman and a histrionic vocalist named Kaz Lux. The year is 1969. "Subtlety" did not sell records. And let's face it, when Kaz hits that falsetto "SkkkkyyyYY!" 80 seconds in, you're hooked.
Maria McKee: Wayfarin' Stranger [ purchase ] Jerry Reed: Wayfaring Stranger [ purchase ] "Wayfaring Stranger" is a standard in the folk music catalog, dating back to the 19th century. A religious ballad, it gained new meaning during the 1930s, with lyrics seemingly reflecting the plight of the displaced and homeless -- poor wayfaring strangers, "traveling through this world of woe." In the 1940s, it became a signature tune for Burl Ives, who named both his autobiography [...]
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy : Minnie the Moocher [ purchase ] Minnie the Moocher is the timeless tale of a good girl gone bad, prohibition style. The song was written by Cab Calloway, who first recorded it in 1932. Calloway was a great showman. His dance moves look impossible even now, and may have inspired James Brown. Minnie the Moocher has the famous hi-de-hi-de-hi call and response between Calloway and his band. He used to get his audiences to sing the responses, and then Calloway would sing more and more complicated [...]
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman : My One and Only Love [ purchase So, what is a 'standard' anyway? The temptation is to see the term as defining that special type of popular song that has, through no real fault of its own, managed to move beyond mere ubiquity into the realms of cliché. Ask a cross-section of people to name a standard and the songs mentioned would be telling – My Way , perhaps, or Unforgettable . My Baby Just Cares For [...]
Jack Off Jill : Lovesong [ purchase ] Since its 1989 release via Disintigration, The Cure's "Lovesong" (often titled "Love Song," to the general apathy of its copyright owner) has been the object of dozens of published covers and countless live renditions by a mélange of artists representing all manner of genre. Its straightforward lyrics and their accessible expression of emotion guaranteed the song plenty of publicity and airtime, and its hooky, downbeat guitar and bass riffs laid over an anxious drumbeat and haunting, typically Goth-rock synthesizer chorus all proved not [...]
Bow Wow Wow: Fools Rush In [ purchase ] 14 year old Burmese Londoner Annabella Lwin had been working in a dry cleaners when punk impressario Malcom McLaren recruited her and three members of Adam and The Ants to form the Burundi drummers-inspired Bow Wow Wow. Two years before their cover of the Strangeloves' "I Want Candy" hit the UK Top Ten , they released a poppy cover of this forty year old Johnny Mercer/ Rube Bloom standard, originally sung by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Ray Eberle and Billy Eckstine. [...]
Warren Zevon : Knockin' on Heaven's Door [ purchase ] There are dozens of songs penned by Bob Dylan that can be considered standards, but to me no other Dylan song has the "universal appeal" or an all-encompassing feeling quite like "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." The song is originally from the 1973 soundtrack to Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and describes that thoughts and feeling of a dying deputy. From what I can tell, it's been covered by over 400 different artists ranging from [...]
Special Consensus : Blue Skies [ purchase ] If it's a cloudy, gray day and you're feeling down, then find a happy, upbeat version of "Blue Skies" to get yourself smiling again. At least that's what we do out here in rainy Oregon. After being written in 1926 by Irving Berlin for the Rodgers and Hart musical, Betsy, the song became an immediate hit. One unique rendition is a bluegrass instrumental arrangement by the award-winning Special Consensus band. Besides traditional and contemporary offerings, they're a band that specifically looks for songs [...]
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Muruch
The Owl Mag
The Word Is Bond
BrooklynVegan
The Ruckus
Hyperbolium
Star Maker Machine
Sleigh Bells - Demons (Official Music Video)
The Rains of Castamere by The National
A-Trak & Dillon Francis - "Money Makin'" (Official Video)
DIIV "How Long Have You Known?" (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Nas - Daughters
Neutral Milk Hotel- Aeroplane Over the Sea
Bison - Quill
SABRINA JOHNSTON + TIEFSCHWARTZ
THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF EDWYN COLLINS (Part 9)
