Weekly Round-Up

A lot of covers this week - from CVRCHES covering Bieber and Father John Misty covering a Ryan Adams cover of Taylor Swift "in the style of The Velvet Underground" (yes, that happened) to a "new" vinyl release of Nirvana's rendition of  "And I Love Her" by The Beatles and Chris Cornell covering "Nothing Compares 2 U". I won't be covering (get it) any of those. Here are my personal music highlights from the passed week.

 

Tomas Barfod - "Glass Slipper" (Ft. Sekuoia And Kill J)

WhoMadeWho's Tomas Barford is a master of creating elaborate electronic pieces, which can also be subtle and radio friendly. "Glass Slipper" is my favorite release from last week. The super high, processed vocals of Danish singer Kill J are perfectly balanced by the deep bass beats produced by her compatriots Barford and Sekuoia.

 

Hazel English - "Fix"

I have only three things to say here: cute, lo-fi, Australian indie pop.

 

Sia - "Alive"

If somehow that chorus reminds you of Adele, there's a good reason for this: the track was originally to be featured on the Brit's latest album. But then is was offered to Rihanna. Then Rihanna gave it back, probably because she is a hard-ass pimp now. Basically, "Alive" was intended to be a pop hit, but was for some reason rejected by several pop singers. I guess that was for the better as the track turned out pretty good performed with Sia's nasal resonance.

 

Panama- "Jungle" (Chrome Sparks Remix)

Behind every good remix there is a good original. In this case anyway. Sydney's Panama are a flavorful band  with a tropical summer vibe and  Jeremy Malvin a.k.a. Chrome Sparks does them justice with his dance-floor-friendly remix of "Jungle". Check out Simon's full review here.

 

Yassou - "To Sink"

Yassou is a San Francisco-based four piece band the members of which describe themselves as making "tightly composed pop music with integrity". "To Sink" is an emotional piece combining delicate instrumentation and Lilie Hoy velvet voice.

 

Le1f - "Koi" (Jessy And Jeremy Chemistry Mix)

Queer-hip-hop artist Le1f released a flammingly hyperactive video for his new single "Koi" last month. This week Canadian Jassy Lanza and Jeremy Greenspan of Junior Boys responded with a great minimalist, oldschool-influenced, high-tension remix.

 

Other Lives - "Easy Way Out"

If you have felt dehydrated in the last few years of roaming around the monotonous indie-rock desert, Oklahoma-based Other Lives is just the glass of water you need. "Easy Way Out" off their new album Rituals is a delightfully grim tune, garnished with piano, strings and xylophone. Last week they released a video just as bleak.

 

Father John Misty - " The Memo"

It's gorgeous country-influenced pub ballads like this that makes me forgive Father John Misty for some of his other, less awesome reasons he appeared on media this passed week.

 

This weeks's best albums you can hear are by Eagles of Death Metal, surf-rockers Wavves and lo-fi George Clanton.