There were so many great covers over the last three months that not one song from Macy Gray's new covers album could make the cut. OK, that was a joke. In all seriousness, though, it took quite awhile to decide what to cut from the dozens of songs considered for this season's list. I'll admit that this collection trends a bit toward the sappy side, but you know what? I'm sappy. Emo cred aside, all ten of the performances below are wonderful interpretations of their source material, some staying true to the original, others veering wildly away. Stream [...]
Of all the tasks assigned to the music critic, evaluating a cover song may be the most difficult. The grade bestowed upon any re-make depends not just on the quality of the performance, but also on the grader's relationship to the original song, not to mention his relationship to that relationship (Do you love covers of songs you hate? Do you hate covers of songs you love?). As such, there is bound to be disagreement about a list like this. Some will wonder why I included no covers from the Nirvana or U2 tribute albums that were released this year; [...]
By most accounts, 2011 has been a backward-looking musical year. Whether it be the 80s lite-FM love of Destroyer , the new-wave stylings of Cut Copy , the R.E.M. worship of The Decemberists , or the Pavement-envy of Yuck , much of the year's best music has been unabashed in announcing its influences. Such a year may disappoint some, but it does provide one pleasant bonus: a surfeit of awesome covers. With the onset of Spring, we are about to see an absolute outpouring of new covers, from the new " Franz Ferdinand Covers [...]
We here at Frontier Psychiatrist are no fans of the Grammys. But, the announcement that tonight Cee-Lo Green, the mastermind behind 20102s "Fuck You," will be performing along with the Muppets (and Gwenyth Paltrow, presumably in the role of Janice ), has us somewhat giddy for tonight's awards. As such, we celebrate the 53rd Annual Academy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Music Industry by bringing you five classics from Grammy-winning artists...performed by contemporary FP favorites. Enjoy the show. James Blake - "A Case of You" (Joni Mitchell Cover) [...]
This is part three in Salacious Sound's The History of Electro. To recap what we've covered so far head on over to Part I: The Death of Disco and the Rise of Kraftwerk and Part II: Electro Gave DJs Their First Grammy! Following Kraftwerk's rocketing rise to fame in 1981, little uncertainty about the influence of electronic music in the domain of global pop culture remained. But the synth-driven acoustics of Computer World only tell half of the story of electro's early development. After [...]
It's Los Angeles, the year is 1984 and the city is hosting the olympic games, but outside of the many media spot lights constantly being shone upon LA county, residents and key members of the west coast electro movement, Andre Manuel (The Unknown DJ) and Louis (Three D) King, are forming Technohop records. Launch pad for artists such as Ice T, and a label that would blur the lines between old school west coast hip hop, early techno and house. It all resulted in me having lots of cool tracks and lots of stock photos of people in awesome looking [...]
Frontier Psychiatrist
salacious sound
Beat Electric
the Weekender ::: New music from Catcall // the National // Summer Camp
Ado – Pressure
KNIFE PARTY – RAGE VALLEY EP
The Inner Flame: A Tribute To Rainer Ptacek
