Passion Pit Covers "Tonight, Tonight"

Levi's has a new online series where popular artists cover classic songs. Passion Pit have chosen The Smashing Pumpkins seminal 1996 single, "Tonight, Tonight". Let's listen shall we?

"Heartbeats"

"Heartbeats" by Swedish synth pop group, The Knife, is one of my favorite songs of all time. I understand that a big reason as to why the song became popular in America is due to Jose Gonzáles's acoustic cover of the song, but I just don't like it. I'm not even one of these people that hates covers, much less stripped down covers. There are these trolls that hover over youtube day and night, slamming every cover version under the sun, creating inane arguments for us to all read and cringe over. I certainly dislike them more than I do his version of the song. I am totally cool with the idea of reimaging songs in this fashion. That being said, I'm sorry but his cover is lifeless and boring and actually puts my love of the original in danger because it makes me think of how the song essentially could have been a boring folk song first, that was just simply reworked with synthesizers. I of course know better than to give into this idea, but his version does stir this which is unfortunate. Here are both versions of the song in question.

Kele Interview

Yesterday, I interviewed Kele Okereke for a piece being featured in Big Shot Magazine. The interview took place at Mon Petite Cafe in NYC. I got there super early (my interview was at noon, I got there at 11) and ran into former MTV newscastor John Norris who was interviewing Kele on camera for a feature in Norris's new website project, NoiseVox. Kele arrived around 11:30. After Norris finished up with him, I had a whole hour to talk with him about his new record, The Boxer, out June 22nd. Prone to stuttering, and a very low talker, I was concerned if the tape recorder was getting everything he was saying, especially in a noisy restaurant. I haven't yet taken on the task of transcribing the type into text but I imagine it will be a bit of a challenge. Both he and his publicist were very nice and they invited me to a listening party that took place that evening. After playing the album twice, Kele came out and DJed for an hour or so. Look for the full story in the next issue of Big Shot.

Amanda Palmer to release Radiohead covers EP

It was announced on Friday that Dresden Dolls' frontwoman Amanda Palmer will be releasing Amanda Palmer Performs the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele on July 20 this year. While piano is Palmer's primary instrument, she has progressively incorporated the ukulele into her work over the past few years, mainly in live performance, but also in her project with Jason Wembley, Evelyn Evelyn. To give you an idea of how this EP will sound, here is a performance of "Creep" she did back in circa 2007. Check out the dude that gets totally dissed at the end. (Sorry for more than one "Creep" cover in two weeks)

Pinkerton Imitators Constantly Missing The Point

Pinkerton is one of those albums that despite its brilliance, it only influenced bad music. Groups like Yellowcard, Taking Back Sunday, and Dashboard Confessional have all cited the album as a major influence on their work. It makes sense - the unbridled emotion of the album is all of these bands' calling cards. Still, there is something in Weezer's mistreated masterpiece that these groups always fail to grasp. First off, the musicianship and production is top notch. Rivers Cuomo and Brian Belle's guitars cut through the sound like a buzzsaw, while being able to quickly jump into melodic noodling without missing a beat. Matt Sharp's finesse is all over the album - his basswork welds tightly to Patrick Wilson's heavy drums that Dave Friddman's engineering magnifies to an earbruising level.

None of these fan bands capture this dynamic, let alone the brilliant songs. Rife with clever lyrics and earworm melodies, Pinkerton pounds along like a band that knows how good they are. The songs sound broken in, but not overplayed. Despite the pain of the content, the group also sounds like they're having fun, never taking themselves too seriously. It's a type of record that despite the legions that now love it, will never see a counterpart, which is good in a way - this way, nothing will ever take anything away from it.