Nate Haduch

Back in 2011, NME listed 30 cover songs that are better than the originals, as determined by their writers and readers. I’m not going to weigh in on the truth of their assertions, but listening to this playlist of the covers and the original songs is a pretty good way to pass the time.

(via @philipkd)

Update: My friend Matt Haughey thought this list sucked and made his own selections. Something I had forgotten: Matt was responsible for the bootleg of the Ted Leo Since U Been Gone / Maps mashup.

Also, the Coverville podcast has done more than 1350 episodes featuring all sorts of cover songs. (via @john_overholt)

Tags: best of   music   remix

Helvetia, the solo project of Duster‘s Jason Albertini and an OG Band To Watch, has announced the new album Essential Aliens. The follow-up to last year’s This Devastating Map, Essential Aliens was recorded in Albertini’s basement in Portland, Oregon over the course of the past year. Lead single “New Mess” is a beautifully fuzzy rocker, and its accompanying music video, also made by Albertini, was inspired by a recurring dream in which his life is turned upside down by a ghost. Watch and listen below.

Nike and the Brooklyn design company MSCHF have settled the lawsuit over the line of Satan Shoes that were created as part of the promotional rollout for Lil Nas X’s now chart-topping single “Montero (Call Me By Your Name).” Per The Hollywood Reporter, as part of the settlement, MSCHF has asked customers who bought and then received the Satan Shoes — and a similar line of Jesus Shoes that were released in 2019 — to voluntarily return them for a full refund. (It’s unclear how many Satan Shoes were actually shipped out.)

Foley artist Richard Hinton talks about how he creates sounds for nature documentaries like Planet Earth. I love watching Foley artists do their thing, but I have mixed feelings about these made-up sounds!

Despite the veneer of neutrality of nature documentaries, I know there’s no such thing as objective truth when you’re dealing with cameras and film editing. And silent video is boring. But on the other hand, just making up sounds that spiders don’t actually make — I don’t know. I’ve posted about this before, regarding a video series about how Planet Earth II was made:

I hope the third program is on sound, which has been bugging me while watching Planet Earth II. I could be wrong, but they seem to be using extensive foley effects for the sounds the animals make — not their cries necessarily, but the sounds they make as they move. Once you notice, it feels deceptive.

See also How Fake Are Nature Documentaries?

Is it manipulation? Or good storytelling? And what’s the difference between the two anyway? A silent security feed of a Walmart parking lot is not a documentary but The Thin Blue Line, with its many dramatizations and Philip Glass score, is a great documentary.

(via open culture)

Tags: audio   Richard Hinton   TV   video

Art director Riana McKeith is watching Wandavision, each episode of which takes place in a different time period from the 50s to the present day. As a loving homage, she’s illustrating scenes from the show in the style of cartoons from each time period. Here’s the first episode, which takes place in the 50s a la I Love Lucy or Leave It to Beaver:

I don’t know enough about 50s cartoons to do more than guess at the inspiration of that one (Hanna Barbera? Looney Tunes?) but her 60s scene is obviously inspired by The Jetsons and The Flintstones:

My kids and I are obsessed with Wandavision — it’s a big ol’ love letter to television — and this project is the perfect complement to the show.

Tags: animation   Avengers   remix   Riana McKeith   TV   Wandavision

Evermore, a fantasy-themed “immersive experience theme park” in Pleasant Grove, Utah, recently sued Taylor Swift for trademark infringement over her new album of the same name and related merchandise. Representatives for Swift called the claims “frivolous” and “baseless.” And now, Law360 reports that Swift is countersuing Evermore — for playing her music without a license.

adjective: Full-figured; pleasingly plump; buxom.

Author and illustrator Edward Carey has been making a drawing a day since the beginning of the pandemic. He recently completed his 250th drawing, with “no end in sight, alas”. He’s posting each day’s drawing to Instagram; here are a few of my recent favorites:

And the whole lot laid out on the floor:

That’s so many days. (via austin kleon)

Tags: Edward Carey   illustration

noun: A feeling or state of elation or well-being.

Thundercat performed at the virtual Adult Swim Festival yesterday, and Ariana Grande joined him onstage to help out with a performance of “Them Changes,” the Drunk highlight that Thundercat originally released on his 2015 mini-album The Beyond/Where The Giants Roam.

It wasn’t the first time that Ariana Grande has played “Them Changes,” either. In 2018, she covered the song for the BBC Live Lounge, calling it her “favorite song from the past year and a half” and saying that Thundercat is “a super-brilliant artist.”

In a new statement about the collaboration, Thundercat adds, “It feels like Ariana and I are forever connected through Mac [Miller], and this is part of the healing process.” Watch and listen to them do “Them Changes” together below.

 

<h2>”DNA” (From <em>DAMN.</em>, 2017)</h2>

<h2> “Backseat Freestyle” (From <em>good Kid, m.A.A.d. city</em>, 2012)</h2>

<h2> “Alright” (From <em>To Pimp A Butterfly</em>, 2015)</h2>

tktktk

 

<h2> “M.A.A.D. City (From <em>good Kid, m.A.A.d. city</em>, 2012)</h2>

<h2> “King Kunta” (From <em>To Pimp A Butterfly</em>, 2015)</h2>

<h2>”Humble” (From <em>DAMN.</em>, 2017)</h2>

 

<em>Listen to the playlist on Spotify</em>.

The Grammys are not always necessarily known for being the most in touch of institutions, but they're trying to evolve a little bit. In 1991, the Grammys introduced the world music album category, with the intent to recognize "international non-Western classical music, international non-American and non-British traditional folk music, international cross-cultural music based on the … More »

"Shut Up" is both an overture and a feint. At the outset of Ariana Grande's new album, her nimble powerhouse voice stacks up upon itself in an orchestral hall of mirrors, cascading and dissolving amidst the pizzicato plucks. With her critics in the crosshairs, she speak-sings, "How you be using your time? You be so … More »

Early voting is now open in most states, and Fiona Apple has shared a punny little PSA making her preferred presidential candidate clear. In a video posted on Instagram by her friend, housemate, and occasional spokesperson Zelda Hallman, Apple sings "Bidin' My Time," a song written by George and Ira Gershwin for the 1930 musical … More »

Fontrell Antonio Baines, a rapper who performs under the name Nuke Bizzle, was arrested for unemployment fraud after rapping about committing unemployment fraud, as The New York Times reports. Baines was charged with three felonies: access device fraud, aggravated identity theft, and interstate transportation of stolen property. More »

Public health safety measures don’t have to be bureaucratic, dour, and oppressive. They can even be fun. This is a sign from my local hardware store here in Vermont reminding shoppers to social distance:

Journalist Rebecca Boyle recently asked her followers to share their local Covid-19 signage and they responded with some great examples.

This homage to the Ministry of Silly Walks might be my favorite:

You can scroll through the whole thread for many more.

Tags: COVID-19   design   Rebecca Boyle   Vermont

One of the definitive images from Flaming Lips concerts over the years -- perhaps the definitive image -- is Wayne Coyne rolling across the crowd in a giant "space bubble." When the COVID-19 pandemic began, this bit inspired an ingenious Coyne doodle that then became a T-shirt in the Flaming Lips webstore, in … More »

Bonnaroo is supposed to be happening right now. Obviously, we still live in a COVID hellscape right now and it isn't. But like many other music festivals, Bonnaroo is moving online with a Virtual Roo-Ality stream featuring new and archival performances. And one of those archival performances is the Beastie Boys' last concert … More »

Last year, Sleaford Mods' Jason Williamson accused IDLES of "appropriating a working-class voice." Then Fat White Family, another UK band, chimed in to agree: "the last thing our increasingly puritanical culture needs right now is a bunch of self neutering middle class boobs telling us to be nice to immigrants," they More »

The Recording Industry Association of America just released its report on the first half of 2020, and as Bloomberg points out, it contains a hell of a stat: For the first time since 1986, vinyl records are outselling CDs. More »

Back when Gaslighter was announced, the Chicks were still known as Dixie Chicks and the world was only just beginning to really feel the effects of the pandemic. Because of those circumstances, the release date of the album was pushed back from early May until now, and since then … More »

Last month, the popular Nashville country trio Lady Antebellum announced that they were changing their name to Lady A due to the term antebellum's unfortunate association with slavery. Which was all well and good, except for the fact that there was already a 61-year-old Black woman named Anita White who had been performing … More »

At the 2015 VMAs, seemingly on the fly, Kanye West announced plans to run for president in 2020. A lot has changed since then -- including Kanye loudly throwing his support behind Donald Trump's presidency -- but it seems he's back on the 2020 campaign train. Tonight, on Independence Day, he tweeted that … More »

Sacha Baron Cohen is at it again. The prankster crashed a far-right rally in Olympia, Washington over the weekend to sing a song about injecting liberals, Obama, Fauci, the World Health Organization, CNN, mask-wearers, and more with the "Wuhan flu." As The Daily Beast reports, event organizers say that Baron Cohen first pretended … More »

Ten-year-old musician Nandi Bushell went viral earlier this month after posting a video of herself covering Rage Against The Machine's "Guerrilla Radio" on guitar, bass, and drums in support of Black Lives Matter. Rage guitarist Tom Morello himself gave her his seal of approval, retweeting her cover with the caption, "Well now we are on … More »

Donald Trump held a rally in Tulsa, OK last night with a disappointing turnout. Sources told The New York Times that Trump was "furious" at the under-attended event. At least a third of the 19,000-seat BOK Center arena was empty, even though Trump's campaign boasted that over a million people had tried to … More »