Been on a Detroit techno kick as of late and in the process stumbled upon a couple of great Versions -worthy covers. For those slaves to the six string who have a hard time separating the "T" word from images of pacifier chomping K-soaked rave zombies or worse, Lady Gaga, need I school you on the fact that real, pure, Motor City techno is the greatest (but most sorely overlooked) contribution to African-American music since jazz or perhaps Parliament. Arguably it's originator is today's tribute fodder, 'Magic' Juan Atkins (AKA Cybotron ), and [...]
Unlike my post on AC/DC the other day, I got nothing but nice things to say about Van Halen . Despite being a dyed in the wool, cardigan carrying Smiths fan in high school, I always secretly dug VH. The inner hesher inside me always wanted to roll up in the school parking lot with aviator shades in a bitchin' camero blaring Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love , yelling ' HEYYYYYY WHO WANTS TOOOO PAAAAAARTAAAY!' While Diamond Dave may have been the antithesis of Morrissey, these lyrics could just have easily come from This [...]
N°3 in an ongoing, but sadly irregular, series of Blue Monday covers is today's cache; jazz/lounge renditions of New Order 's finest. Of which there are two-ish female versions; a lite n'breezy one from Austria's Pastel Vespa (who also manages to weave in touches of Love Will Tear Us Apart and Bizarre Love Triangle ) and un sac de versions from the always welcome Nouvelle Vague . Pastel Vespa - Blue [...]
Before Santogold, MIA and other art damaged divas there was Kelis and her Milkshake . A Neptunes produced R&B oddity buzzing with great low-end electro bass and the promise of free milk that went on to be a massive rack shaker. La la LA LA LA... still waiting on that great follow-up Kel. So drinking that Milkshake today are 5 cover contenders. A nice likkle dubby downtempo version from Tiger Hifi (btw loving these guys, expect to see more of them here soon.), an [...]
I know, I know they are one of those bands that everyone like totally loves but I gotta confess, I never really liked AC/DC . In fact I can't stand them. It's got nothing to do with their musicianship or anything like that, for me it's much more visceral. Whenever I hear, say, You Shook Me All Night Long , it's like I have an allergic reaction. I picture sweaty, smelly Angus Young under those 8,000 megawatt stage lights and immediately my skin starts to itch and it feels like the temperature starts to [...]
Today's cover is the bittersweet, indie-disco fused Boy From School by Hot Chip. Dispensing with the electronics however are four indie covers; 3 acoustic renditions by Grizzly Bear , British India and Portastatic and 1 slightly more rocking number from Maritime (which oddly enough ends in an acoustic fashion). Grizzly Bear - And I Was A Boy From School British India - And [...]
Everybody loves the sunshine. Especially when it's Roy Ayers ' rare groove classic Everybody Loves The Sunshine . A falling piano line into a soulful stroll through a mid-1970s Central Park. Where the warm sun hits your dashiki and 'the bees and things and flowers' means that that a jazz-funk age of Aquarius never ended. Those in the know include folks like Gilles Peterson who perennially drops it in to his sets as well as Sunshine samples galore cropping up in scores of Hip Hop and R&B tracks (Common, Mos Def, Brand [...]
It may be hard for most to recall but New Order weren't the only pioneering post-punk electricians coming out of Manchester during the early 80s. Languishing under their shadow were fellow Factory records label mates Section 25 and their, now considered classic, electro track Looking From A Hilltop ; 4 and some change minutes of haunting vocals and unrelenting modulating synths over a Kraftwerk inspired beat (produced by New Order's Bernard Sumner no less). 20 years later, and shortly before their rather sad demise, Glasgow indie power pop trio BIS paid homage to Section 25 [...]
With so many covers at the Versions G, it's kinda hard bein LEO P O L D. OK, lame attempt at rap I know, I'm way too middle class white Jew-boy to have any kind of flow. (Oh hey that rhymes!) But here's something that's certainly less lame; 4 fun covers of Snoop Doggy Dogg classic Gin & Juice . Rolling down the street smoking collie weed is the reggae/dub antics of Prince Fatty (with Jamaican legend Winston Francis on vocal [...]
Wall Street losin' dough on every share They're blamin' it on longer hair Big men smokin' in their easy chair On a fat cigar without a care. People Make The World Go Round, The Stylitics haunting slice of Philly soul eerily rings as true today as did back in 1972. More interesting however is the odd bit of resigned wisdom that follows: But that's [...]
Been dying to feature 70s glam groover 20th Century Boy , by T Rex , for some time now. One would think there would be a virtual velvet goldmine's worth of amazing covers, yet instead my ears have been bored by the tepid lot of note-for-notes out there. Determined not to pack away the eyeliner just yet, I dug deeper and found a trio of Versions worthy versions. Leading with a personal fave is eclectic UK trio Belleruche . No strangers to VG they [...]
Musician. Illustrator. Professional tea brewer . Mr. Scruff is no doubt Manchester's quirkiest renaissance man. And dilettante he is not. Prolific creator of jazzy breakbeats he's got no less than 6 albums (5 of which on the mighty Ninja Tune label), numerous singles and countless mixes under his belt. He's no slouch in the drawing department either. Besides branding himself with his signature badly drawn jazztastic potatoes (gander here and here ) his illustrations also routinely turn up in fancy coffee table books like Booth Clibborn's who's who of street art tome [...]
Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy! I was able to scare up two more covers of our original post on Happy House by Siouxsie & The Banshees for Flashback Friday. Two electro-disco-pop numbers from Belgium's Shindu (on prodigious Franco hipster label Kitsuné ) and the other from Marseille's Celluloide . Heureux! Heureux! Joie! Joie! Shindu - Happy House Celluloide [...]
Nowhere near as ubiquitous as 1999, When Doves Cry or Kiss or anywhere as dirty as say Darling Nikki , When You Were Mine , by Prince is still a perennial favorite amongst the die-hards and, judging by the small grip of covers today, fellow musicians as well. It's a simple, stellar piece of heartbreak pop that, despite being released in 1980, could have easily been heard coming out of some Detroit jukebox sandwiched somewhere between The Shirelles and The Shangri-Las. Fun fact: this one [...]
I'm out of town for a few days, leaving in about an hour in fact, but here's a nice one to tide you over for the next few. Painfully minimal dubstep (or is that just redundant) auteur James Blake , flexes his vocals chords for the first time for a surprisingly sublime and soulful dubby cover of Limit To Your Love by the Canadian hotness that is Feist (co-penned with her infamous pal and old roomy Chilly Gonzalez). James Blake - [...]
The UK really has the formula on lock down when it comes to innovating new dance music; Bass + Beat / Soul = Yet another amazing new electronic genre. Then every few years they just fatten and improve the bass a bit, reshuffle the beats, let the soul stay timeless (circa early 70s timeless) and voila!, new sound. So back in the late 90s/early aughts sprung yet another of their brilliant innovations; 2 Step Garage . Using house music as a blueprint (and to some degree a likkle jungle/drum & bass ), 2-Step upped [...]
One that will surely make the Scissor Sisters burn with envy for covering the wrong track; a slow and sleazy 70s cosmic disco version of Pink Floyd 's lacerating Money by Italos Rosebud . Keep your hands off my stack. Rosebud - Money Enjoy! LS
Being more than a bit of a purist (I think the correct term is irritating snob ) it's next to impossible for me to get behind any reggae that doesn't emanate from Jamaica, or limited situations, the UK. It's a music whose soul springs more from the day to day social struggles of living in those locales rather than, say, a particularly grueling semester at Cal State Long Beach. However another island is being given a free pass today; New Zealand. More exciting than Lord of The Rings , Gary The Sheep or the great [...]
Versions Galore
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