Cover Song
Phoebe Bridgers Covers Radiohead’s “Fake Plastic Trees” in a Church: Watch
In addition to releasing one of the year’s best albums so far, Phoebe Bridgers has spent the summer months covering a number of iconic artists. In June, she shared her official recording of John Prine’s “Summer’s End”, which she then followed up with a rendition of Gillian Welch’s “Everything is Free”, done in collaboration with Courtney Barnett. Now, Bridgers has taken on an alt-rock classic in “Fake Plastic Trees”. The indie folk artist’s Radiohead cover came as part of the BBC Radio 1 program Phil Taggart’s Chillest Show. And chill it certainly was. Bridgers recorded her delicate version of The Bends original inside of a church with help from rising R&B star Arlo Parks, who provided icy piano accompaniment. Bridgers previously covered “Fake Plastic Trees” live in concert in 2017, as...
Zakk Sabbath Premiere Cover of Black Sabbath’s “The Wizard” from Vertigo Album: Stream
Zakk Sabbath, led by guitar virtuoso Zakk Wylde, are set to unleash Vertigo, a faithful recreation of Black Sabbath’s iconic 1970 self-titled debut album. In advance of the LP’s release on Friday (September 4th), Zakk Sabbath have teamed up with Heavy Consequence to premiere their rendition of “The Wizard”. Wylde formed the cover band Zakk Sabbath in 2014 as a way to honor his beloved Black Sabbath, playing shows over the past several years. The trio is rounded out by bassist Rob “Blasko” Nicholson (a member of Ozzy Osbourne’s touring band alongside Wylde), and drummer Joey Castillo (Queens of the Stone Age, Danzig). With the album Black Sabbath celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Zakk Sabbath hit the studio to record a track-for-track recreation of the groundbreaking LP. “We recor...
Spirit Adrift Share New Song “Astral Levitation”, Cover Black Sabbath’s “Supernaut”: Stream
Spirit Adrift have shared the second single, “Astral Levitation”, from their upcoming album, Enlightened in Eternity. Additionally, the band has released a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Supernaut” from an upcoming tribute to the latter’s seminal album Vol. 4. “Astral Levitation” is another taut, literary heavy metal song following lead single “Harmony of the Spheres”. One of the band’s penchants is its ability incorporate various tempos in the same song, using mid-tempo sections to create an immensely listenable arrangement. “‘Astral Levitation’ is about searching within for untapped power during times of darkness and despair,” singer-guitarist Nathan Garrett said of the song. “It’s an empowering soundtrack to the challenging times we all currently face.” Likewise, the band pay tribute to thei...
Pure X Announce New Album Rare Ecstasy 2009-2019, Share Willie Nelson Cover: Stream
This past May saw Pure X return with their first album in six years. It turns out fans won’t have to wait nearly as long for a follow-up release, as the Austin natives have just announced a new rarities compilation: Rare Ecstasy 2009-2019 is due out October 16th through Fire Talk. The forthcoming project collects 12 “recordings and rarities” from throughout the indie rock group’s decade-long career. Per a press release, these songs “embody the Pure X sound” and offer up “a raw emotive portrait” of the band’s evolution over the years. As a teaser of this Pure X collector’s item, their cover of Willie Nelson’s 1965 song “One Day at a Time” has been revealed. Mirroring the outfit’s past efforts, this rendition conjures up a wall-of-sound atmosphere, as though it were recorded in some smoky ca...
Miley Cyrus Covers Billie Eilish’s “my future” for BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge Month: Watch
Miley Cyrus for BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge Month (photo by Vijat Mohindra) and Billie Eilish (Amy Price) Days after taking the virtual stage for the 2020 MTV VMAs, Miley Cyrus is back with another pandemic performance. Today, she helped launch the latest edition of BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge Month with a four-song set that included covers of Billie Eilish and Eagles. Cyrus and Eilish really couldn’t be more different as pop stars, with one known for delivering literal Bangerz and the other for her hushed, alternative pop structures. Perhaps it’s unsurprising, then, that Cyrus’ rendition of “my future” is far more full-throated than the original. Yes, it’s still a delicate piano ballad with a grooving break, but Cyrus ups the defiance in the vocals considerably. Speaking to Live Lounge ...
IDLES Cover The Strokes, The Beatles, Ramones During Abbey Road Livestream: Watch
IDLES took over Abbey Road Studios for a three-part livestream this past weekend. Coming in support of their forthcoming full-length, Ultra Mono, the sets featured a bevy of new tracks — including singles “Model Village”, “A Hymn”, “Mr. Motivator”, and “Grounds” — in addition to past favorites like “Colossus”, “I’m Scum”, and “Never Fight a Man with a Perm”. The Bristol post punks also tucked in a few covers, including takes on The Beatles, The Strokes, and The Ramones. First came their dirge-y rendition of The Ramones’ classic “I Wanna Be Sedated”. Smoldering in its own sedation, the cover saw a psychedelic war wage between guitarist Mark Bown and bassist Adam Devonshire. Set No. 2 brought IDLES’ ripping version of The Strokes’ “Reptilia”. The band kept the melody largely intact, but scra...
Neil Young Details The Times EP, Shares “The Times They Are A-Changin’” Cover: Stream
Earlier in the month, Neil Young quietly announced a new EP called The Times. Today, he’s further detailed the release, which will come exclusively to Amazon Music HD on September 18th. As predicated, The Times EP captures July’s “Porch Episode” of Young’s Fireside Sessions series. The performance featured his updated “Lookin’ for a Leader 2020”, which contains revised lyrics to match the current state of political affairs in 2020. Also included are renditions of “Ohio”, “Alabama”, “Southern Man”, “Campaigner”, and the Homegrown cut “Little Wing”. Rounding out the collection — and giving it its name — is a cover of Bob Dylan’s enduring “The Times They Are A-Changin’”. Young has released the recording via his Neil Young Archives, and you can also stream it on Amazon Music or via ...
Elliott Smith’s Self-Titled Album Receives 25th Anniversary Reissue: Stream
Elliott Smith’s sophomore self-titled album turned 25 years old last month, and Kill Rock Stars is celebrating the anniversary by releasing a new deluxe reissue of the LP. Stream it below via Apple Music and Spotify. This deluxe edition features a fresh remaster of all of the album’s tracks, thanks to the official Smith family archivist Larry Crane pulling the from reels, cassettes, files, and DAT tapes to get recordings as close to the original Elliott Smith mix as possible. In addition to the original tracklist, the reissue includes the previously unreleased Live at Umbra Penumbra, capturing a September 17th, 1994 performance at Portland, Oregon’s Umbra Penumbra that’s the earliest known recording of Smith playing a solo acoustic show. “There are fan-traded MP3s out there of this sh...
Extreme Metal Stalwarts Enslaved, Kataklysm, and Ihsahn All Release New Singles: Stream
Renowned extreme-metal acts Enslaved, Kataklysm, and Ihsahn all released new singles with accompanying music videos on Friday (August 28th), delivering a thunderous dose of new music to metalheads everywhere. Norwegian metal veterans Enslaved have unleashed “Urjotun” as the third single from their upcoming album Utgard, due October 2nd via Nuclear Blast. “The lyrical idea for ‘Urjotun’ had been spinning around in the chaos in the back of my head for quite a while, when Ivar sent me the riff-demo last autumn,” stated Enslaved singer Grutle Kjellson of the song. “I knew instantly that this was it, the very soundtrack of the rise of the primeval giant, the Urjotun! Our mutual love and fascination for that early krautrock scene and for bands like Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk, finally fully as...
Rick Astley Turns Post Malone’s “Better Now” into an Acoustic Banger: Watch
Rick Astley has gone from RickRolling to rollin’ with his brothers like it’s Jonas. The 54-year-old British musician has shared a cover of Post Malone’s “Better Now”, and dare we say it might be better now. “There are a lot of words in this song. It’s not my song, I don’t really know it properly,” Astley says in the YouTube video capturing the performance. “But I love it, so I’m gonna give it ago. Here we go, let’s see what happens.” What happens is perhaps a more impactful version of the Beerbongs & Bentleys hit. By turning the track into an acoustic banger instead of the trap-y pop of the original, Astley highlights the blues nature in the lyrics. He gives the words a bit of a country twang and growls out the chorus, really bringing the song’s melancholy to the forefront. Honest...
Yo La Tengo Announce Sleepless Night EP, Share Cover of The Byrds’ “Wasn’t Born to Follow”: Stream
Yo La Tengo returned last month with a new instrumental EP called We Have Amnesia Sometimes. Now, just a few week later, they’ve announced a follow-up. Dubbed Sleepless Night, the band’s latest EP is set for an October 9th release via Matador. The collection features one original song alongside five covers, including a take on The Byrds’ “Wasn’t Born to Follow” that’s been shared as the lead single. Sleepless Night is actually the A-side to an LP previously only available in a limited-edition catalog for the Los Angeles County Musuem of Art exhibition Yoshitomo Nara. The show was Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara’s first international retrospective, and the artist himself worked with Yo La Tengo to choose the songs that appear on the EP. The six-track effort includes the new original tra...
Bright Eyes Cover Thin Lizzy’s “Running Back”: Stream
Bright Eyes returned last week with their long-awaited comeback album, Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was. In support of the release, Conor Oberst and his crew recorded a SiriusXM Session that featured a pretty unexpected cover song: Thin Lizzy’s “Running Back”. They also appeared on CBS This Morning over the weekend. While the indie/emo rockers maintain the folkier aspects of Think Lizzy’s 1976 Jailbreak original, Oberst’s distinctly raspy growl make this “Running Back” rendition a unique one all their own. We’ve certainly missed Oberst in Bright Eyes mode like this. As for the Omaha-bred band’s appearance on CBS This Morning, they performed Down in the Weeds singles “Persona Non Grata” and “Mariana Trench”. Oberst was joined by fellow Bright Eyes mates Mike Mogis and Nathan...
