Tag Archives: covers

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GLONO Video: Two Cow’s Micah Schnabel Live

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Video: Micah Schnabel – “Throwing Rocks at the Sun” (live)

Shot by Whiskey Bender Productions for Glorious Noise during a solo/acoustic performance at Beat Kitchen in Chicago on January 7, 2010. Micah Schnabel is the singer-songwriter-guitar player for one of GLONO’s favorite bands, Two Cow Garage. We’ve been gushing about them for years, and now Micah’s got a solo album, When The Stage Lights Go Dim, out now (or coming soon?) on Suburban Home.

I spent about ten minutes clicking around Google and the Suburban Home website and I can’t figure out how to buy the damn thing. Maybe it’s out of print already, and maybe they’ll reissue it, but there’s not much info online.

Anyway, he just wrapped up a solo acoustic tour, and the whole band is hitting the road in March. We’ve got a couple more live videos after the jump, including another song from When The Stage Lights Go Dim plus a great Bruce Springsteen cover off Nebraska.

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Alessi’s Ark – Simple Man (Lynyrd Skynyrd cover)

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A lovely cover of the Skynyrd classic by British folky Alessi’s Ark. This song lends itself particularly well to being covered. We saw Clem Snide do it years ago in Chicago and it kicked ass. This is a decidedly more subdued, but just as tasty, version.

MP3: Alessi’s Ark – “Simple Man” (Lynyrd Skynyrd cover)

Stream it on SoundCloud.

Alessi’s Ark: iTunes, Amazon, Insound, wiki

Lynyrd Skynyrd: iTunes, Amazon, Insound, wiki

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Jeff Tweedy, Feist, Beck cover Skip Spence

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Video: Record Club: Skip Spence “Broken Heart”

I did a quick search of the archives and I’m surprised to see we haven’t covered Beck‘s “Record Club” project at all. It’s a cool idea where a bunch of musicians get together and cover an entire album in one day. Beck then releases the songs on his web site and Vimeo channel. He’s already done The Velvet Underground and Nico (ft. Nigel Godrich, Giovanni Ribisi) and Songs of Leonard Cohen (ft. MGMT, Devendra Banhart), and now he’s halfway through Skip Spence‘s Oar (ft. Wilco, Feist, Jamie Liddell).

“Broken Heart” features a duet with Jeff Tweedy and Leslie Feist, and it’s really nice. A few more of my favorites from this installment after the jump…

Via TwentyFourBit.

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Del The Funky Homosapien – Bring Da Ruckus

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Del The Funky Homosapien

MP3: Del The Funky Homosapien – “Bring Da Ruckus” (Wu-Tang Clan)

I suppose the kids call this a remix. But it’s got an entirely different beat and all new lyrics, so… Ah, who the fuck am I to question hip hop jargon? Regardless of what you call it, this new Del track is unquestionably dope.

Apparently, a bunch of former and current Dap-Kings got together, called themselves El Michels Affair, and released a full-band instrumental version of Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers) earlier this year. They called it Enter the 37th Chamber. And now a bunch of rappers are rhyming over those instrumentals and it’s being released next year as…what else? Enter the 38th Chamber, of course. Can the 39th Chamber be far off?

Del The Funky Homosapien: iTunes, Amazon, Insound, wiki

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Neil Diamond – The Chanukah Song

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Video: Neil Diamond – “The Chanukah Song”

The “Jewish Elvis (with a charting Christmas song)” covers Adam Sandler to remind everybody that Henry Winkler and all the other cool people celebrate the Festival of Lights. This year, Hanukkah begins at sundown on Friday December 11. From A Cherry Cherry Christmas, out now on Sony/Columbia.

Neil Diamond: iTunes, Amazon, Insound, wiki, web.

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Robbie Fulks + Shellac + Michael Jackson

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Man oh man, this Robbie Fulks Michael Jackson tribute album is getting more awesome and more crazy with every new detail. Now, we find out that Steve Albini‘s noisy three-piece Shellac plays on it:

Shellac is a magnificent punk band in Chicago whose three members I’ve been friends with for years and years. If we haven’t gotten together on record before, it’s only because we have absolutely nothing in common, musically speaking. After hearing our collaboration, you may still think we have nothing in common.

Everything Fulks has said about this album leads us to believe that it’s going to be very, very far removed from the stripped down, acoustic renditions of these covers that initially won us over. Instead, what he’s describing is a much weirder and potentially more fascinating project than just a country singer with a beat up Martin doing quirky covers of soul-pop songs.

Robbie Fulks: iTunes, Amazon, Insound, wiki

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Peter, Bjorn and John – Summer Breeze

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MP3: Peter, Bjorn & John – “Summer Breeze” from Indie Rocks! A Benefit Album For Malaria No More, out November 17 on RED.

Blowing through the jasmine in my mind. That’s right, the Seals and Crofts jam. You know you love it. It’s a staple of the 70s Creepout genre.

The PBJ cover is included on a benefit for an organization dedicated to wiping out malaria deaths in Africa. So hey, good cause. Other artists on the album include Great Lake Swimmers, The Walkmen, and um, Third Eye Blind… Full track listing after the jump…

Peter, Bjorn & John: iTunes, Amazon, Insound, wiki

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Robbie Fulks Completes Michael Jackson Tribute

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Anyone who has had the pleasure of seeing country artist Robbie Fulks in concert over the last ten years is going to be thrilled to hear that he is in the process of finishing up his long-rumored collection of Michael Jackson interpretations. If you’ve never seen him, you might think this sounds like a stupid, jokey idea. It’s not. It’s awesome. And sincere:

So the period of my life (2000-2009) during which I get to arrange and track and mix great songs like “Billie Jean” and “The Man in the Mirror” to suit my own voice and aesthetic interests comes to an end, which makes me sincerely sorry. Nine years, six studios, 21 tracks (don’t worry, I won’t foist all of that on you); and amid it all the tributee made a comeback record that fizzled, was jailed, fled the US, became ever more a figure of pathos and contempt and fun and disgust, began to stage another comeback, died. The aughts were happier times out where I live.

Fulks says it could be out by Christmas. To share a feel for what some of this might sound like, we found a 20-second live video snippet of Fulks doing “Going Back to Indiana” at the 2008 Hideout Block Party here in Chicago. Check it out after the jump…

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Five from the Archive: Weir Does Dylan

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WeirBob Dylan is arguably the greatest modern songwriter, and certainly the most influential. People all over the musical spectrum cover his songs. But there a special few who specialize in covering Dylan. For me, Jerry Garcia has always been the premiere Dylan interpreter. If you don’t believe me – or if you do – you should check out the Garcia Plays Dylan collection. Particularly the “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.”

But now I have to say that Jerry’s old partner in crime, Bob Weir, is giving Jerry a run for his money these days. Bobby has always been adept with the occasional Dylan cover, but he and RatDog have really embraced it. They play a Dylan cover at well over half their shows.

Below are five of the best from the 2009 RatDog shows available in the Live Music Archive.

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Top Five Covers by Umphrey’s McGee

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Umphrey's McGee at RothburyUmphrey’s McGee is a jam band, which means they’re great to see live.

At Rothbury this year, they played a great cover of “Comfortably Numb” (YouTube). They have a reputation for playing good covers, particularly Floyd. So I was stoked when a buddy of mine told me about the upcoming show at Michigan Theater on October 2. I got tickets, and it got me thinking about their repertoire of covers. How varied? Eclectic? Well executed? Lucky for you and me, they let people tape their shows, and they let those tapers post their recordings to the Internet Music Archive.

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