Best Unreleased Live Lounge Covers
The Live Lounge is a segment from Joe Whiley’s Radio 1 show on the BBC. There have been two double-disc CDs so far, but that is nearly not enough for the amount of content which has been aired. Here are some of the unreleased tracks which I think are great:
That’s Not My Name [The Ting Tings] – Dizzee Rascal & Chrome
Changing the lyrics slightly, Dizzee and Chrome, don’t quite have a perfect voice for this one. Neither Dizzee or Chrome seem to quite hit the high notes. It’s a shame because the modified pop song sounds great in Dizzee’s trademark sound.
My Doorbell [The White Stripes] – Jack Johnson
A slightly bluesy track from Jack Johnson, an ode to the good old days. It’s less of the poppy modern stlye he has been using lately.
Seemingly a perfect fit, Jack Peñate keeps the quick tempo of the original, but strips it down to just him and his quitar, and a couple of hand claps. Doesn’t seem like he quite finished it properly, but well worth a listen.
Golden Skans [Klaxons] – Kaiser Chiefs
A tiny bit faster than the original, otherwise it is quite faithful to the Klaxon’s version. Why would someone change such a good track? Somehow, I actually prefer this cover. Perhaps it is the britpop sound of the Chiefs.
Fluorescent Adolescent [Arctic Monkeys] – Kate Nash
Though, I am not a Kate Nash fan, I really respect this cover. Seeminly, Kate Nash’s has more verocity than Alex’s. With chirpy piano instead of a bass, she smashess the poppy sound, which I initially judged the song to be, with a snappy, loud guitar.
Buy Live Lounge on; Amazon
Who’s Got The Crack – The Moldy Peaches
I know everyone has heard of The Moldy Peaches (you know, that cute Juno song), but I am here to destroy those happy images, that these guys are a bunch of cutesy indie pop musicians. Who’s Got The Crack, starts with their campside sing along style and a slow, slightly distorted guitar. It moves to the chorus; “Whoooooooooo’s got the crack?”. As you can see, their passionate and quite unnerving singing can’t really be translated through text. As the song keeps moving, the informal arrangement becomes more chaotic, with more absurd lyrics and the gain moving unhealthy too much to the right. “I want to be a garbage man but a sailor stole my gloves” and “I am a goat in a moat”, are some of the strange lines (but not the strangest) in the song. A fantastic track, I don’t think it could really be made any better. The Libertines covered it in one of their demos before the realease of their second album, and isn’t quite as good as the original, unless you are a die-hard Libertines fan. It would have been amazing to have seen them live, but sadly, that will never be.
Thanks to Minneapolis Fucking Rocks for the file! Since I have been having a couple more hits than normal, I have removed it.
Lightspeed Champion – Rarities
I’m afraid I have gone and written another post about Lightspeed Champion, I am sorry. Anyway here are my favourite rarities from the God of music himself:
Hooker Song – Catchy harmony and catchy lyrics, but still in his style of aggressive but cute songs; “Kill me baby, won’t you kill me?” Similar to “Patricia the Stripper”, the story is based around Dev’s awkwardness after hiring a hooker.
Happy Birthday – Showing off his guitar skills, this is how I introduced my anti-Lightspeed Champion friend to worship him. With sweeping crescendos from the violins, this track could have easily been on the album. Lyrics are once again, a critical attack on himself. But how else do you want it? Thanks to The Cold Cut blog for this one.
Flesh Failures – My favourite rarity, this was simply an extra track from the bonus CD of his debut. It’s a song from the musical Hair, and it really suits Dev’s style. Its just a repeating small chord pattern and Dev singing alone. Half way through, he is joined by some beautiful backup singers, which really boosts his vocals.
Another Song About Being Alone – One of the best Christmas songs I have heard (I’m not really into the “classics”), we just have to hope he records this properly. Oddly, it was released on his youtube account, just before Christmas.
Passion Pit
I found Passion Pit via Hype Machine, they were last on the most popular. Certainly far too low for such an interesting band. Do I want to listen to another Justice remix or something new and different? After investigating further, I only managed to find three tracks from them, two of which I really enjoy.
Sleepyhead – “Everything is going to the beat”, is looped into the beginning, and so it does. A mix of chimes and eastern style music, it starts off with a female vocalist reminiscent of the South Park character, Wing. The verses are stripped down to nearly nothing, except some bass drums, to keep to the beat. It builds up again for the chorus, with some great sampling and scratching. A really cool song.
Better Things – My favourite, and I cannot stop listening to this. It starts with a lo-fi recording of a young boy proclaiming the next song as “the best song you have ever heard”. Can we blame them for trying? High pitched voices and really fast scratching is mixed with 80s keyboards. There are some more great loops here (the “Oh No!” swapping out with the vocalist’s is memorable). The lyrics fit the joy of the song; “Baby don’t be unhappy! Baby don’t be sad! Better things are coming, I’ll swear there is truth in that!” and make you want to join in with the falsetto singer.
To me it’s twee mashed with dance, what are you waiting for?
10 Greatest Bands Of All Time
After seeing this little article, I decided I would make by own list;
- The Libertines
- Arctic Monkeys
- The Beatles
- The Strokes
- The Smiths
- Vampire Weekend
- Franz Ferdinand
- The Clash
- Oasis
- The Cribs
What’s Yours?
Justice
The French Electronica duo have had “the buzz” for a couple of years now, but they are still creating fantastic music via their legendary remixes. Their Electric Feel remix has been stuck in the Hype Machine popular page for two months. Though I do not believe that particular one deserves that much attention because it is very similar to the original, it is still pretty cool. They basically just crank up the bass, and why change it anyway? Klaxons are up next, with Justice basically ripping out the lyrics of As Above, So Below and forcing them into a groove machine a la 80s era, with lots of keytar power. Probably their best remix to date, unless the infamous When The Sun Goes Down remix is really by them.
Their debut album, †, is also quite great with the fantastic opener, Genesis, starting with the hard-hitting low synth and dramatic drums. Moving into their radio friendly pop hit, D.A.N.C.E, which combines Jackson Five style singing and an awesome funk bass line. My highlight is the itchy Stress, which does what it says on the box, but in a really good way. Justice have definately pushed me into the boundries of House, with their mix of sythns, electronica, rock-influence and amazing light shows.
Wonderback – Jay Z vs Oasis
The awful media attack on Noel and his views on Jay Z being at Glasto, has actually created something good. Not just good, something pretty damn brilliant. Wonderback, basically has the Wonderwall chorus and the piano parts mixed with Jay Z’s rap backlash on Noel’s “scandal.” The lyrics are pretty good, but the way it is arranged (a nod to the triplet of producers, Cookin Soul) is really cool. Just after the breakdown; “Somebody shoulda told him I’m a fuckin’ rock star.” And instead of starting, it ends with a screaming crowd and Jay Z shouting “I just got one thing to say!” Pretty basic musically (but what do you expect?), but the main beat is definitely on the good side and Wonderwall still holds up as a good track. One of the best remixes I’ve heard in a while.
The blog should be up and going very soon. I’m working on getting this all on wordpress, because of the music features and all. It’s really frustratingly slow, so bear with me, and hopefully everything will work in the next couple of days.
