Weekly Track Roundup 2/5/2024: Cover Songs
Going straight into 2024 covering song covers! Someone else may have written it… but they performed it better. Or different in a unique way. Two(2) things can be good at the same time! Anyways…
Robert Glasper — “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
My dad put me onto this song, it totally changes the vibe of the original track and is super groovy and relaxed. it’s like a vibe 180.
—Emmett Favreau
Lianne La Havas — “Weird Fishes”
Lianna La Havas takes the Arpeggi out of Weird Fishes/Arpeggi. Ends up sounding really cool.
- Elijah Davis
This is - in my opinion - the epitome of what a perfect cover is. This version acknowledges the original, while brining a completely new take on the sound. Immediately, the track starts with the original drum beat, then quickly switches to an RnB half-time feel. The song is beautifully sensitive with incredible narrative drama. My favorite way to enjoy this one is by listening to it directly after the Radiohead version.
- Terry Brannigan
Fischerspooner — “The 15th”
it's kind of fucking nuts how well the original Wire song holds up, but i wanted to highlight Fischerspooner's cover here. it's a minimal synth take on "The 15th", sort of like an old-school sweat-soaked club track, and it comes together surprisingly well. a bit of that dancefloor surreal heartache
—Max Levin
D'Angelo — “Feel Like Makin' Love”
Maybe my favorite song on maybe my favorite album of all time, and I didn't even realize it was a cover of a Roberta Flack song until last year. It's immensely respectful to the original but D'Angelo seamlessly brings it into the groovy, laid-back sound world he built on Voodoo.
—Nathan Hausspiegel
Nirvana — “Oh Me”
There are a few obvious picks when discussing great covers. The first few that sprang to my mind were Jimi Hendrix's All Along The Watchtower (a Bob Dylan Song), any of the many covers of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, and of course, Nirvana's The Man Who Sold The World (a David Bowie song). Nirvana's cover of The Man Who Sold The World is incredible but I want to celebrate some of my other favorite covers from the MTV Unplugged Album. In particular, I want to express my love for Oh Me, one of a few Meat Puppets covers on the album, which I love deeply. Oh Me's guitar rift has this wonderful rhythmic quality that I find incredibly satisfying. It doesn't vary much throughout the song but it doesn't need to. Since it's a live recording made for television, the little nuances in Kurt's play come through beautifully. In the moments where the riff changes it feels exciting yet inevitable. When it returns to the familiar pattern it isn't a let down either. Everything feels natural. The vocals are simple and somber. Kurt Cobain has such a sensitivity to the emotional nuances of the song. Often, covers feel somewhat awkward because the cover artist's take on the song doesn't seem to match up with the feelings provided by the original. This is not to say that Kurt sounds anything like the Meat Puppets. His performance is much more muted and relaxed. However, his take on it fits with Oh Me's lyrics and melodies flawlessly. Nirvana strip Oh Me down to its bare bones compositionally but they inject it with a sort of earnest emotionality that the Meat Puppets didn't quite achieve. Finally, on a personal note, Oh Me is very important to me. It's a song I've gone to for comfort since I was in middle school. It's calm but not chill. It's warm but not overly sweet. It creates a feeling that I've always felt safe in. I believe that counts for something.
—Bennett Gottesman
Jimi Hendrix — “Star Spangled Banner” (Live at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, Aug 18, 1969)
For those who don’t know its history, this song was written and performed in 1969 in protest against the U.S.’s involvement in the Vietnam war. Hendrix’s haunting cover of the National Anthem, beyond being a beautiful work of art, is a jarring statement of what our anthem represents and what this country stands for.
—Gray Carver
BENI — “いとしのエリー”
More people might know the Ray Charles cover of this song (Ellie My Love - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU39--Ccwes), but might not actually know that version is also a cover of the original Southern All Stars song (Itoshi no Ellie) sung in Japanese and released in 1979! BENI's version essentially marries the two together, being both a cover of a song and a cover of a cover of said song. This version of the song retains the English lyrics of the Ray Charles cover, the emotionally charged vocal runs of the Southern All Stars original (placing them at the start of the final chorus, post key change in this version) and adds its own flavor, making excellent use of synth reminiscent of 2000s Japanese R&B and of Korean girl group GFRIEND's earlier sound. Specifically what drew me to listen to this song on repeat was the unique production and how it perfectly suited the singer's voice, creating an overall relaxing vibe whenever I listened while also keeping the theme of longing present.
—Luné Maldonado
Asian Glow — “The Flag Is Raised”
The Flag Is Raised is one of Bladee’s best songs in recent memory, from what in my view is a very underrated album. Asian Glow’s cover is absolutely gorgeous and pays full respect to the original song, I’d recommend everyone listen to both.
—Lily Lazar
Jane Remover — “dust bowl”
This stray cover of a now-deleted Ethel Cain demo became the genesis for the career switch that would take Jane from the eccentric adolescent sound of her 2021 effort Frailty to her slow, somber, and matured 2023 epic Census Designated, one which pulled many aesthetic influences from Cain but twisted them into something wholly unique and authentically Jane.
—Cassandra Weigle
Taj Mahal — “Statesboro Blues”
A wonderful cover that breaths a different type of life with the electric blues. Taj Mahal generates something new and beautiful from an already emotional blues ballad.
—Graham Glassner
