The Cover Edition

It’s been a while, so I thought I shouldn’t put this off any further. Yes, it’s List Addicts Fridays once again, and today’s theme is ‘covers’. In the history of List Addicts, I have never made a covers post before, mainly because a lot of other blogs do. They even have weekly posts about it. Heck, some even dedicate a whole blog to covers. But since mine’s not a regular thing, this week’s list is special – my own take of favourite covers from indie bands that have perked up my ears at one point. The idea actually came from watching Glee this week – a TV show that’s based its success in witty writing and wonderfully executed song covers. One of their earliest hits was their rendition of Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ which at first listen, I thought they were covering Petra Haden‘s cover of the Journey song. And with this, my list begins…

 

1. Petra Haden – Don’t Stop Believin’

This one comes from the excellent 2007 all-covers album Guilt By Association . I came upon it checking out The Concretes cover of Take That‘s Back for Good, but found loving this track a whole lot more. A purely a cappella version, it brings a nice creative twist to the song (especially with that bit of Wilson Phillips inserted at the end).

They held a music video contest for songs in the album, and the video entry for this song was my favorite. The equally quirky music video told a love story between a sunny side up egg and a calculator, with tinkerbell in drag lip synching to the song. The video didn’t win the main prize, but it made the song all the more unforgettable – undeniably a notch up from the Glee version if you ask me.

 

2. Pomplamoose – Favorite Things

Pomplamoose is one of the best all-around cover bands. They mostly do covers, but they make it their own. To regular visitors of this blog, you might’ve been introduced to them via their awesome rendition of Aerosmith‘s I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing and to some, from their viral video cover of Lady Gaga’s Telephone. Here, they cover one of my favorite songs from everyone’s all-time favorite movie – The Sound of Music. It’s a nice jazzy take on My Favorite Things that’ll definitely be one of those things that you’ll tack on to remember, along with raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, so won’t feel so bad.

 

3. Figurine – My Suitor

I love Figurine. I do. I do. I wish they would make more songs. Forget The Postal Service, I want more Figurine.

My Suitor is actually a cover of an 80s song by Belgian band Berntholer, sung by the band’s vocalist Drita Kotaji, in her unique Albanian accent. This might actually explain the accent in Figurine’s version – which faintly sounded like a Japanese one, especially with the electrobeats making it adorably cute and all. Coincidentally, a Japanese artist named Kahimi Karie also covered the song in 2001. For me, Figurine’s cover still trumps all other versions.

 

4. Free Loan Investments – If You Leave

It’s that epic OMD song from Pretty in Pink – and to hear it be done the way Free Loan Investments did it was a delight to my ears. It’s like updating a classic 80’s new wave electropop song to a contemporary indie pop version – Swedish style. As I’ve said before, if they ever do a Pretty In Pink remake, they should definitely include this in the soundtrack.

 

5. Superchunk – Say My Name

This one is the second song off the Guilt By Association album that I have on my list. If you haven’t gotten a copy of this album yet – you should 😉

One of the best ways to cover a song is to completely flip it around. Make a dance song into a rock song and replace the female vocals to a rock out male one. It might not work for some songs but with Destiny’s Child‘s Say My Name – Superchunk just made it sound like it was really meant to have been a rock song after all.

photo by AndYaDontStop