Covers

Cover of the Day: Pickwick – Ladyluck (featuring Sharon Van Etten)

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Celeste in Covers | Leave a comment

I’ve always wonder about covers – I’m sure the originator of the song is pleased that another band is playing tribute to them, but is there always anxiety that someone else is going to do it better? I feel a little bad for Richard Swift when I say it, but Pickwick, a garage R&B band out of Seattle, blows his version of Lady Luck out of the water. Honestly though, I feel worse for myself that I won’t be in town when they come to Chicago on April 19th to play Schubas. Check out the single featuring Sharon Van Etten:

Cover of they Day: Patrick Wolf – Born to Die (Lana Del Rey cover)

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Ricky in Covers, Song of the Day | Leave a comment

Remember Lana Del Rey?

While she might have left our collective mind over the course of the last nine months (mostly due to her tragic SNL performance), it’s hard to forget that period between October to December 2011, when the New Jersey youtube singer was the hottest ticket in town. Patrick Wolf sure didn’t, and as such, has released a cover of “Born to Die.” You might recall this song from the tigers that are in the music video.

Simplifying the original song, Patrick augments his vocals with a simple string section and this track sounds good. Check it out.

Patrick Wolf is touring North America next week, get your tickets.

9/18/12 – Philadelphia, PA @ World Café Live
9/20/12 – New York, NY @ Joe’s Pub
9/21/12 – New York, NY @ Joe’s Pub
9/22/12 – Boston, MA @ Royale Nightclub
9/23/12 – Montreal, PQ @ L’Astral
9/25/12 – Toronto, ON @ The Music Gallery
9/28/12 – Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door
9/29/12 – Vancouver, BC @ Rio Theatre
9/30/12 – Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theatre
10/2/12 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall

Cover of the Day: Ellie Goulding (with Tiny Tempah) – Hanging On (Active Child)

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Ricky in Covers | Leave a comment

If Ellie Goulding was a character in Dungeons and Dragons, her ‘cover another artist’ ability would probably +100 or something. I don’t actually know if that’s a correct comparison since I don’t know anything about Dungeons and Dragons, but that is what I am assuming is on the cards. As we all know, Ellie Goulding can cover songs well, whether it be a club track like Rhianna’s Only Girl in the World or a classic ballad like Elton John’s Your Song. This time around she takes on a track by Active Child, of all people.

Hanging On was one of the standout tracks off Active Child’s debut record You Are All I See and one that focuses on Pat Grossi’s voice featuring minimal arrangements. The Ellie Goulding cover takes the track and makes it less depressing and more poppy (as you would expect) and also features a cameo by Tiny Tempah for some reason. I really don’t know why he’s in there, maybe he was chilling in Ellie’s studio, smoking some weed and decided to add his two cents. Why did I just assume he smokes weed? Weird. Anyway, it’s an ambitious reworking of one of the more unique tracks from last year. Does it work? I’m not sure, but it’s an interesting take regardless. Check it out.

Cover of the Day: Ellie Goulding – Only Girl (In the World) / Rihanna Cover

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Ricky in Covers | 1 Comment

BBC Radio 1’s yearly Live Lounge collection always seems to come up with a few gems. For those not in the know, the compilation is a collection of live tracks that were played at the Radio 1 studios. At some point during the Radio 1 sessions, someone decided it was a good idea to record these tracks, so starting in 2006, they released a yearly compilation of the best bits from the year. Now a lot of artist travel through Radio 1’s land and they often like to do covers for some reason so every year, you see some interesting covers, among those include

Arctic Monkey – Love Machine (Girls Aloud cover)
The Futureheads – Hounds of Love (Kate Bush .. also voted one of the best tracks of that year)
Amy Winehouse – Valerie (later re-recorded for Mark Ronson)
Diizzee Rascal – That’s Not My Name (way better than the original Ting Tings version)

You get the drift.

I just recently got the 2011 version of this compilation and stumbled upon this number, which features reigning UK Heavyweight Champion of the World Ellie Goulding covering USA’s Intercontentinal Champion – Rihanna (I would say either Katy Perry / Lady Gaga hold the heavyweight championship belt). If there’s one artist who has benefitted tremendously from doing covers in the past year or so, it’s Ellie Goulding. Her heartfelt rendition of Your Song topped charts all over the commonwealth and elevated her from mid-card to main event status. Why am I using wrestling terminologies? I don’t know.

For this compilation, Ellie covered Rihanna’s second best track (best dance track though) Only Girl in the World. Once again, she strips the song down to the bare basics, slows down the track and even adds a string section. The results are pretty good. It helps that the original song was fantastic, but this is an original and unique take on it. Check it out.

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