The Soft Pack cover Phoenix… and more covers
Fri 23 Oct 2009
White Hinterland does Justin Timberlake
This is a very beautiful cover by Portland’s White Hinterland, made rather simple by replacing JT’s electro synths/beats with a single tom drum and the siren-like voice of Casey Dienel. It’s a very mellow cover of one of the biggest pop hits of the twenty-first century and it breathes new life into the song, hopefully giving it a whole new audience. White Hinterland’s version appears on a recent limited edition tour EP titled Fresh From The Garden.
White Hinterland- My Love: MP3
The Soft Pack does Phoenix
This song sounds a bit like The Velvet Underground circa 1969, but it’s actually The Soft Pack (formerly The Muslims) covering French indie-pop group Phoenix. The four piece San Diego band sound a bit like The Strokes here too, bringing a swinging rock n roll surfer vibe to the song, that was originally a psychedelic tune and part of the late 2000’s psych pop renaissance.
Port O’Brien does Beyonce
Kanye’s right, Beyonce is one of the biggest stars in modern pop music and many critics agree that her music is polarising and breaks many boundaries within the realm of popular music. But again this cover opens the song to a new audience, because lets be honest, not everyone likes Beyonce. San Francisco’s Port O’Brien are a kind of indie/folk/alt country band and with that comes a new way of presenting this song. That said they’ve kept some of Beyonce’s stylistic techniques, especially in the vocals, where you can hear the same harmonies used that gave the original such an emotional, breathtaking quality. They’ve added some nice droning guitar parts and some sweet pings on an old toy piano to give the song their own unique touch.
Matthew Crawley does Blondie
Some people may know Matthew Crawley as the guy who runs the Mum club night at Auckland venue Cassette #9; others may remember him as the lead singer in both The Cosbys and The Conjurors. He is also a solo musician who has been performing his wee folk songs somewhat infrequently for the past year. Take a listen to his cover of Blondie’s ‘Heart Of Glass’, you might be surprised. He has a wonderful voice that sounds a little bit like Antony Hegarty; embracing a similar passionate singing style, that at times sounds like he’s going to burst into tears. Matthew’s good friend Mira Reil took the lovely photo.
Matthew Crawley- Heart Of Glass: MP3
Posted by Nick Fulton under New Zealand, U.S.A, UK
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:48 pm
aul dee’s jam’s a stoan col wiggla!