
mp3: xu xu fang - fascination street i've been posting a lot of covers this week, so why not keep them coming? xu xu fang will be releasing a new ep, seven days now , this tuesday and it opens up with this incredible cover of the cure's "fascination street". vocalist barbara cohen, employing those same spectral vocals she used on air's "radian", is a great fit for the dark, densely layered sound songwriter bobby tamkin has conjured for xu xu fang... and this cover of "fascination street" is an excellent showcase for the [...]

mp3: the flaming lips with stardeath and white dwarfs - borderline (madonna cover) mp3: the black keys - her eyes are a blue million miles (captain beefheart cover) from record store day ... on beautiful sea foam green vinyl. side a is the flaming lips with stardeath and white dwarfs covering madonna's "borderline". the lips played this at the green earth thing on the mall last sunday and wayne said they had originally wanted to cover a prince song, but the artist did not approve. no surprise there... side b is [...]

mp3: lykke li - after laughter (comes tears) mp3: el perro del mar - (at your best) you are love another record store day 7"... side a is lykke li covering wendy rene's "after laughter (comes tears)" and side b is el perro del mar covering aaliyah's cover of the isley brother's "(at your best) you are love"... did you get that? last year lykke li and el perro del mar teamed up to play a few songs for la blogotheque 's take away shows and "after laughter (comes tears)" was [...]

mp3: islands - cyanide breath mint one foot in the grave was reissued yesterday.... with 16 unreleased bonus tracks tacked on! i haven't listened to those yet, but i'm looking forward to it. one foot in the grave was my favorite beck album until sea change came along, and i still hold it in high regard. i clearly remember the day i picked up the album... it was Rainy one... i was 16 and should have been at school, but instead went out for [...]

mp3: lavender diamond - new ways of living mp3: destroyer - new ways of living .... [buy] mp3: destroyer - new ways of living [ notorious lightning version] .... [buy] i'm usually fairly critical of destroyer covers... so far, dan appears to be inimitable... that remains the case with lavender diamond's cover of "new ways of living", but it may be the best destroyer cover i've heard so far. lavender diamond can't match [...]
bat for lashes excellent 2007 debut, fur and gold , is the mp3 deal of the day on amazon today. pretty hard to pass this one up for only .99 cents i'd think. video: bat for lashes - i'm on fire

mp3: brian eno - king's lead hat ........ [buy] king's lead hat = talking heads . anagrams = fun. mp3: manishevitz - king's lead hat mp3: ultravox - king's lead hat mp3: the dirtbombs - king's lead hat manishevitz and ultravox's covers are both recorded live -- manishevitz from a daytrotter session in february of 2007 and ultravox from a london show in 1980. [...]

mp3: wand - arriving james jackson toth, formerly of wooden wand, is releasing an album of demos entitled hard knox or "are you sure hank jr done it this way?" on may 26 through thurston moore's ecstatic peace label. the album is being released under the name wand , and is made up of songs written between 2002-2007 that never made it on a wooden wand album. the songs are all demos recorded at toth's home, for the most part, shortly after they were written. for what it is, it sounds fucking [...]
i was pretty excited when i first read about npr 's new partnership with pitchfork.tv to offer video broadcasts of shows in the all songs considered concert series. i've never been too clear on the details of the npr thing, but i've been to many shows that were recorded for all songs considered and the performances are frequently worth revisiting... whatever the selection process is, it's a good one. now that i've got around to watching the inaugural concert of the partnership, antony and the johnsons at sixth and i synagogue , i can [...]

mp3: vandaveer- hey, that's no way to say goodbye ..... [buy] can't recall if i've posted this leonard cohen cover before... but i'm leaning towards no. it's from before the goldrush , a benefit comp for teach for america released late last year. it's for charity, so i should probably encourage you to buy it... instead, i'll encourage you to check out vandaveer in the back room tonight at the black cat, with birdie busch and sharon van etten. tonight's show is the kick off for a 7-day mini-tour, [...]

mp3: nick cave and the bad seeds - avalanche leonard cohen is coming to merriweather monday, may 11... somewhere towards the end of a series of shows that are apparently his first in this country in over 15 years. tickets go on sale february 27, but you can grab em tomorrow during the presale (here) from 10a-10p... password is "takethiswaltz". this cover of cohen's "avalanche", which opens his third album songs of love and hate (1970), comes from nick cave and the bad seeds' 1984 debut from her [...]

mp3: the new pornographers - hey, snow white [link removed by request] (here, you can stream it now) you may have heard of this dark was the night compilation... produced by aaron and bryce dessner of the national to benefit the red hot organization ... it's got 31 exclusive tracks from an amazing collection of artists... including arcade fire, spoon, sufjan stevens, bon iver, yo la tengo + many more... and several interesting collaborations, like david byrne and the dirty projectors, feist and grizzly bear, blonde redhead and devastations, and [...]

mp3: dead heart bloom - hymn mp3: dead heart bloom - folsom prison blues dead heart bloom will be shooting a video during their set at fight club in dc next wednesday ( address and map here ). pretty cool way to spend an evening on all counts... awesome local artist, nice intimate (is it weird to call a place named "fight club" intimate?) and relatively unknown venue to see them in, only $5 to get in... and everyone likes being part of a video shoot, right? check out this live video [...]

mp3: dead heart bloom - hymn mp3: dead heart bloom - folsom prison blues dead heart bloom will be shooting a video during their set at fight club in dc next wednesday ( address and map here ). pretty cool way to spend an evening on all counts... awesome local artist, nice intimate (is it weird to call a place named "fight club" intimate?) and relatively unknown venue to see them in, only $5 to get in... and everyone likes being part of a video shoot, right? check out this live video [...]

mp3: azita - i'm happy ... [buy how will you?] mp3: azita - don't let it bring you down azita has got a new album coming out tomorrow, titled how will you?... i have not yet heard the record, but "i'm happy" suggests good things to come. at least as noteworthy as this new release though, is azita's arresting cover of neil young's "don't let it bring you down" from after the goldrush . for over two months it has [...]

mp3: captain beefheart - her eyes are a blue million miles ...... [buy clear spot ] mp3: shortstack - her eyes are a blue million miles ...... [buy covers ep ] i came across this cover while checking gypsy eyes records' site for info on vandaveer's forthcoming second album, divide & conquer ... of which there is none. so not wanting to leave empty handed, i checked out some of the other artists on [...]

a recent reading of kevin courrier's book on captain beefheart's trout mask replica from the 33 1/3 series has got me listening to that album more than i have in years.. its a nice background piece on beefheart and his relationship with zappa for those who aren't familiar with beefheart's history... with some great insights from magic band members on the writing and rehearsing of trout mask replica to please us diehard fans. john french's description of crafting drum parts to tie together the various shifting melodies and time signatures [...]

mp3: friendly fires - i'm good, i'm gone (lykke li cover) mp3: silver jews - the right to remain silent as excited as i am to be seeing lykke li at the 6th & i synagogue (which is becoming one of my favorite venues in town) tonight ... the knowledge that the silver jews are playing their last show ever this afternoon and then disbanding is hanging over my head.. yeah they're playing in tennessee (in a cave), which would be quite a trip... and the news that it would be their [...]

update : added covers from venice is sinking and the black heart procession... thanks for the tips! mp3: setting sun - you got lucky mp3: handsome furs - you got lucky (live) mp3: venice is sinking - you got lucky (live) mp3: the black heart procession - you got lucky (live) two covers of tom petty and the heartbreakers' 1982 hit "you got lucky". setting sun's cover was included on the recent [...]

to promote their co-headlining north american tour kicking off in california this evening (and heading to the black cat backroom feb 8) , the morning benders and the submarines are releasing free covers of each others songs. click the link below to hear the morning benders covering "1940" from the submarines' honeysuckle weeks and the submarines covering "waiting for a war" from the morning benders' talking through tin cans . download "1940" and "waiting for a war" for free here.