So, Sweet Dreams is in my top five songs of all time and I don’t tolerate covers of this song lightly.  However, Jhamell has does it justice with a raw indie  sound and pizzicato strings.

Jhameel – Sweet Dreams (Eurythmics cover)

As a Beatles fan, I typically cringe when an artist covers a Beatles track. They typically fall way short and come off as a bad karaoke singer. This is not the case when Andre 3000 took on the Beatles classic, “All Together Now”. On his cover version, Andre 3000 adds his special blend of funk, electronic, and soul takes this classic to new highest.

Andre 3000 – All Together Now (The Beatles Cover)

Love this semi-unplugged version of Plan B’s, “He Said” by CocknBullKid & Clare Maguire – when the organ part comes in, it just kills.  Also dig the back up vocals, when the guys chime in — good stuff.

Here is the original:

Plan B – He Said

Oops was written by Tweet and Missy Elliott (produced by Timbaland) for Tweet’s 2002 debut album, Southern Hummingbird. Theophilus had this to say about this cover track and his mixtape, “I Want You”:

Was a hard one covering this track. Def. wanted to cover an edgy song on “I WANT YOU” Shouts to Hudson Mohawke for killing the sounds

Theophilus London – Oops (Tweet Cover)

Also check out Theophilus on Maximum Balloons’ track, “Groove Me (ft. Theophilus London)

Taken from Seelenluft‘s 2008 full lenght titled, “Birds And Plants And Rocks And Things” is a cover from a classic 1970′s America tune called “Horse With No Name”.  Seelenluft manages to keep this classic track and add just the right amount of electronic elements to breath new life into it.

Seelenluft – Horse with no name (ft. Florian Horwarth) [America cover]

Lifting the very famous bass riff from Peter Gunn theme, Tricky is back with an all new album called, “Mixed Race”.   This particular track is a cover version of a dance hall hit from Echo Minnott.

Tricky – Murder Weapon (ft. Franky Riley)

Original Track from Echo Minott:

Echo Minott – Murder Weapon

Giving credit where it’s due, I just heard this on one of my favorite music blogs, Aurgasm.us.

Benjamin Duterde (aka Ben L’Oncle Soul (‘Ben the Soul Uncle’)), is a French nu-soul singer from the town of Tours.   His cover of White Stripe’s Seven Nation Army was included in his ep, “Soul Wash” EP, which was released in 2009.

Ben l’Oncle Soul – Seven Nation Army

Coury Palermo has just released is first EP, “boxsideoutV.1″ which can be purchased on iTunes.   And as an added bonus is releasing a new remix of his cover version of Eurythmics, “Here Comes The Rain Again”.  This particular cover is remixed by Odd Year.

Coury Palermo – Here Comes the Rain Again (Odd Year)

5. 6PM

5. 6PM – Down The Line (Jose Gonzalez cover)

I always enjoy a little splash of electronic elements on an otherwise organic track, which is exactly what 6PM did with  this cover of Jose Gonzalez’s “Down The Line” by 6PM.  6PM is the Spanish duo of Ivan Oubina and Rual Mon.  This track can be found on their Tape Worms EP.

Video of the Original track by Jose Gonzalez:

4. Coury Palermo

4.Coury Palermo – Here Comes the Rain Again (Eurythmics cover)

Spectacular cover of a classic and beloved Eurythmics track. Coury takes a minimalist take with organic flare and let’s his voice soar, twist and dive into an abyss of orchestration.

Original Track:

Just found my new love, it’s Jeppe Laursen.  Jeppe Laursen was one half of Junior Senior (the other half being, Jesper Mortensen), who scored a huge hit with “Move Your Feet“.  Late 2008, both members called it quits to pursue solo ventures.  And the first effort for Jeppe was this  cover of Fine Young Cannibals’ ‘Johnny Come Home’.   Jeppe recently also lent his voice to Classixx’s track called “I’ll Get You”.  Looking forward to Jeppe’s 2010 releases!  Warning — Shameless Plug: Jeppe, in case you’re reading this, would love to hear your voice on a track of mine — listen here for a taste of my work: http://www.thesixtyone.com/theoddyear/

Jeppe – Johhny Come Home

Jeppe – Big Boy

Classixx – I’ll Get You (Ft. Jeppe)

Classixx – I’ll Get You (Ft. Jeppe)  Coulson Remix

Slightly off topic was a tweet from Jeppe that “Kelis’ Accapella is so Andy Bell (of Erasure) it cracks me up”.  Sure enough, Jeppe is spot on.  Not really a Kelis fan, but this track I’m actually feeling.

Kelis – Accapella

Grooving, hypnotic cover of a Alan Vega track that was released in 1980 on his self-titled debut album.

LCD SoundSystem – Bye Bye Bayou (Alan Vega Cover)

I would love to do a remix of this cover.  This is a cover of an Animal Collective track called, “My Girls”.  Taken by Trees is the moniker used by Victoria Bergsman, whom you might recognize as the voice from Peter Bjorn and John’s, “Young Folks”.  The instrumentation on this track reminds me of Vampire Weekend.

From iTunes Foreign Exchange, we have two cover tracks from the likes of Yelle & Roby.

From wiki:

iTunes Foreign Exchange features two bands from two different countries covering one of the other’s songs in their native tongue.

Robyn – Becaus of Boys (Yelle Cover)

Yelle – Who’s That Girl (Robyn Cover)

I personally always lean toward the electronic side of thinigs… well electronics with some sort of beat.  So this remix of Lykke Li covering a King of Leon’s track “Knocked Up” is right up my alley by Death To The Throne.
Enjoy!

Lykke Li – Knocked Up (Death To The Throne Remix)

lyrics:

“Knocked Up”

I don’t care what nobody says
We’re gonna have a baby
Taking off in a coupe De ville
She buckled up on navy
She don’t care what her mama said, no
She’s gonna have my baby
I’m taking all i have to take
This takings gonna shape me

People call us renegade
’cause we like living crazy
We like taking on the town
Some people getting lazy

I don’t care what nobody says, no
I’m going to be her lover
Always mad and usually drunk
But I love her like no other

And the doctor seems to say he don’t know
Where we’re gonna go?
I’m a ghost and I don’t think I quite know
Where we’re gonna go?
Where we’re gonna go?

People call us renegade
Feel like we’re living crazy
We like taking on the town
Some people getting lazy

I don’t care what nobody says, no
I’m going to be her lover
Always mad and usually drunk
But I love her like no other

And the doctor seems to say he don’t know
Where we’re gonna go?
I’m a ghost and I don’t think I quite know
Where we’re gonna go?
Where we’re gonna go?
Where we’re gonna go?
Where we’re gonna go?
Where?

They gonna call us renegade, woah, oh, oh
Feel like we’re living on this town, woah, oh, oh
Woah, oh, oh, woah, oh, oh

And I don’t care if you don’t win

I don’t care what nobody says
We’re gonna have a baby
Taking off in a coupe De ville
She buckled up on navy
She don’t care what her mama said, no
She’s gonna have my baby
I’m taking all I have to take
This takings gonna shape me

Woah, oh, oh, woah, oh, oh

Video: Lykke Li – “Knocked Up” (Kings of Leon Cover) (Live on Carson Daly)

Video for Kings of Leon – Knocked Up:

I for one love accents on vocals — take for example, this cover of Jose Gonzalez’s “Down The Line” by 6PM.  6PM is the Spanish duo of Ivan Oubina and Rual Mon.  This track can be found on their Tape Worms EP.

6PM – Down The Line (Jose Gonzalez cover)

Spectacular cover of a classic and beloved Eurythmics track.  Coury takes a minimalist take with organic flare and let’s his voice soar, twist and dive into an abyss of orchestration.

Coury has several new projects in the pipeline:

- Three songs on the new Sleepthief record, “Labyrinthine Heart” (due in July),
including first single “World Gone Crazy“.
- Collaborations with Sunday Radio & Odd Year
- Recording an ep under the name Finley Grey (with former bandmate Matt Butler)
- Working on first solo album, “smoke, mirrors & the heartache that follows”

Coury Palermo – Here Comes The Rain Again (Eurythmics Cover)

Hey folks, here with another cover of a popular 80′s track.  This time around it’s a playful bossa nova cover of Billy Idol’s “Dancing with Myself.”  Reminds me of a mix of bossa nova meets The Bird and The Bee meets Billy Idol.

From wiki:

The song is reportedly about masturbation, although it is in truth about what Tony James and Billy Idol witnessed in a Japanese night club during the band’s 1979 Japanese Tour as patrons watched themselves dance in the space enhancing mirrors which covered the walls.

Nouvelle Vague released their cover in 2006.

From wiki:

Nouvelle Vague is a French musical collective led by musicians Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux. Their name is a play on words referring simultaneously to their “Frenchness” and “artiness” (the ’60s new wave of cult French cinema), the source of their songs (all covers of punk rock, post-punk, and New Wave songs), and their use of ’60s Bossa nova-style arrangements.

Nouvelle Vague – Dancing With Myself

As an early x-mas gift to us all, Hot Chip has release a new ep which is composed of re-imagined tracks from their third studio lp, “Made in the Dark”.

Description from Hot Chip’s website:

Hot Chip have posted up the second of the free tracks from the new EP with Robert Wyatt & Geese, ‘We’re Looking For A Lot Of Love’. Chosen from the band’s album ‘Made In The Dark’ by Robert Wyatt and re-recorded together in London earlier this year, Hot Chip’s old friends and collaborators Geese (aka Emma and Vince from The Elysian Quartet) also lent a hand to create this stunning new arrangement.”

Hot Chip have assembled a lovingly put together little present in time for Christmas involving the services of none other than the godfather of the experimental psych-prog world, Robert Wyatt and kindred musical spirits Geese. Long recognised as one of the pioneers of avant-jazz rock, from his beginnings as a member of Soft Machine and through his collaborations with Scritti Politti and Syd Barrett, Robert Wyatt brings his quietly magical touch to 3 songs personally chosen from Hot Chip’s 2008 album “Made in the Dark”. The result – as recorded at Gallery Studios earlier this year – are several mutations of songs that are as delicate and whimsical as they are adventurous and distinctive.

Meanwhile, Hot Chip’s old friends and collaborators Geese (aka Emma and Vince from The Elysian Quartet) also lent a hand, reworking the new, Robert Wyatt- assisted “We’re Looking…” while completely overhauling “One Pure Thought” from a straightahead floor shaker into something stranger, dreamier, but no less lovely. All in all, a deliciously unpredictable collaboration made in quirk-pop heaven.

Hot Chip with Robert Wyatt and Geese – We’re Looking For A Lot Of Love (Geese Mix)

Album

&

Hot Chip & Peter Gabriel -  Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (Vampire Weekend Cover)

Here’s a great cover of Vampire Weekend‘s, “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Hot Chip, with guest vocals from non-other than Peter Gabriel himself!  And not only is this a great cover of a great song, but there is a bonus line in the lyrics by Peter Gabriel.  For those unfamiliar with the original by Vampire Weekend, the song calls out the name of Peter Gabriel in the lrycis as:

“But this feels so unnatural Peter Gabriel too”

So… since this is Peter Gabriel singing, he added the following:

“and it feel’s so unnatural to sing your own name”

That killed me…. i know, i know,  doesn’t take much…  but that made me smile.

Lryics

As a young girl
Louis Vuitton
With your mother
On a sandy lawn

As a sophomore
With reggaeton
And the linens
You’re sitting on

Is your bed made?
Is your sweater on?
Do you want to
Like you know I do

But this feels so unnatural
Peter Gabriel too
“and it feel’s so unnatural to sing your own name” — added by Peter Gabriel
Can you stay up
To see the dawn
In the colors
Of Bennetton?

Is your bed made
Is your sweater on
Do you want to
Like you know I do

But this feels so unnatural
Peter Gabriel too

Is your bed made
Is your sweater on
Do you want to
Like you know I do

If one were to travel back in time too the Cavern Club where the Bealtes were discovered, and booked The Postmarks to play, they wouldn’t sound out of place.  The Postmarks have a 1960′s cavern sound that is mesmerizing and warm.  You can hear hints of bossa nova and Stereolab gracing their tracks.

The Postmarks – 11:59 (Blondie cover)

Myspace

Album Link:

Video for “Let Go”

Life Beyond Mars is the compilation of David Bowie covers commissioned from electronic music producers. This particular cover of “Magic Dance”, which was originally done by Bowie for the movie Labyrinth, includes the spoken-word intro.

Track Listing:

01. Au Revoir Simone “Oh! You Pretty Things”
02. Heartbreak “Loving The Alien”
03. Kelley Polar “Magic Dance”
04. Leo Minor “Ashes To Ashes”
05. Carl Craig Presents Zoos of Berlin “Looking For Water”
06. Drew Brown “Sweet Thing”
07. Matthew Dear “Sound & Vision”
08. Susumu Yokota “Golden Years”
09. The Emperor Machine “Repetition”
10. Joakim & The Disco “A New Career In Town”
11. Richard Walters & Faultline “Be My Wife”
12. The Thing “Life On Mars”

Kelly Polar – Magic Dance

Previous Post:

Kelley Polar – Ashamed of Myself

Kelly Polar – Entropy Reigns (in the Celestial City)