At Least They're Shared

Okay, so here's mix #2. There's no attempt at being clever with the tracklisting here, just some songs that I love. Here you go:

"At Least They're Shared"

01. Califone - The Orchids (Psychic TV cover)

I think this is one of the best cover songs of all time. Not only is it far superior to the original, but Califone truly adapted it to be their own. Back when I still did the radio thing, this one got a shitload of spins.

02. Mark Kozelek - If You Want Blood (AC/DC cover)

Mark Kozelek has released a crap-ton of covers under his own name and Sun Kil Moon. Even though Modest Mouse is one of my favorite bands, I think Kozelek's AC/DC covers record "What's Next to the Moon" is his best one.

03. Harvey Danger - Save It For Later (English Beat cover)

Another one of my favorite bands that got resigned to one-hit-wonder status in the 90s. I always loved the original version of this song and this one makes me just as happy, if not more.

04. Coalesce - Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin cover)

The best hardcore/metal/metalcore/whatever band in the world takes on one of the most popular bands of all time with great success.

05. Faith No More - I Started A Joke (Bee Gees cover)

Another one of the best covers of all time. My friend Spencer gave me specific instructions to play this at his funeral if he beats me out of here. I also recommend the music video for this song.

06. Antony and the Johnsons - Crazy in Love (live) (Beyoncé cover)

Antony and Beyoncé are both beautiful, shimmering goddesses. Match made in heaven.

07. Lightspeed Champion - I Never Meant To Hurt You (Good Shoes cover)

I've listened to this track more than any other Lightspeed Champion track, which isn't really fair to the dude as he's a great songwriter. This song has great lyrics, is super catchy, and perfect for dudes like me who don't really give a fuck and lie about being in love but still feel shitty when they hurt someone's feelings because they're not as tough as they pretend.

08. Adem - Loro (Pinback cover)

Adem's cover album "Takes" is seriously incredible. His versions of Aphex Twin's "To Cure a Weakling Child and Boy/Girl Song" is one of the most brilliant digital to analog renditions I've ever heard. He also does great version of Björk, PJ Harvey, and Yo La Tengo, among others.

09. Rohner Segnitz - Nebraska (Bruce Springsteen cover)

Rohner is the lead singer of Divison Day and this track can be found on a solo release he put out about five years ago. I've always loved his voice, but particularly the unconventional and captivating vocal melodies he writes.

10. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The World's Greatest (R. Kelly cover)

I might lose some hipster points (if they're still being measured by Pitchfork's tastes) by saying I don't really like Will Oldham. I think he tends to be uninspired and rambling both in original and extra-"Prince"y recipes. But, if you read the above title as "the world's greatest R. Kelly cover" you'll understand how I feel about this song. I love how this version is totally devoid of irony and really showcases how great the song is.

11. The Mountain Goats - The Boys Are Back In Town/Ignition Remix (Thin Lizzy/R. Kelly cover)

John Darnielle comes in a very close second in the R. Kelly cover contest, but his "Ignition" tag at the end of a solid Thin Lizzy cover is clearly tongue-in-cheek. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

12. Dirty Projectors - Depression (Black Flag cover)

Best band of the last decade? Maybe. Best live band of the last decade? Definitely. Dave Longstreth is a true innovator and hopefully he continues his near-flawless track record well into the next decade.

13. Eels - Get Ur Freak On (Missy Elliott cover)

I remember catching Eels live back in 2001 or 2002 and being totally caught off-guard when they launched into this cover. It totally brought the house down and was a perfect edition to an already fantastic live show. While I haven't really been in love with E's post-"Daises" output, I'd still recommend catching them live if they ever roll through town.

14. Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Graceland (Paul Simon cover)

There are a ton of cover versions of this song and my favorite is probably a version my friend Andy did a couple months ago during a backyard performance. I love this version simply for its unwavering rhythm line. I'm not sure why, but it gets stuck in my head and I never want it to end.

15. Taken By Trees - My Boys (Animal Collective cover)

If I didn't lose hipster points for that comment made above, I certainly will for this: Animal Collective has gone downhill following their best record, "Sung Tongs." "Merriweather Post Pavilion" wasn't even near my top 20 for 2009 and if you've seen them live recently, you've no doubt been disappointed (or you do a lot of drugs). This reworking of "My Girls" illustrates exactly what Animal Collective has been missing for the last five years: organic beauty. Taken By Trees should just cover all of "MPP" and I'd probably listen to it all the time.

16. The Decemberists - Bridges and Balloons (Joanna Newsom cover)

I also love Final Fantasy's Joanna Newsom cover, but I went with the Decemberists simply because I've been listening to Owen's new and amazing "Heartland" non-stop for the past week and figured I'd give another band a chance. Colin Meloy does a great Lisa Simpson impression though.

17. The Chairs - Flume (Bon Iver cover)

This cover can be found on a free covers EP put out by the Chairs that also features versions of Neutal Milk Hotel and Radiohead songs.

18. The Books - Cello Song (ft. José González) (Nick Drake cover)

I went with this track because I figured someone would post José's excellent version of "Heartbeats" only to find that not only was that true but someone posted this song as well. Nevertheless, the Books are one of my all-time favorites and this song is amazing.

19. Mobius Band - Digital Love (Daft Punk cover)

As I mentioned on my post for the other mix, I'm fascinated by covers of electronic music. This is a great redux of a Daft Punk classic, despite Mobius Band changing one chord that takes a second to get used to.

20. Schneider TM and KPT.michi.gan - The Light 3000 (The Smiths cover)

Best cover ever? Quite possibly.

21. Kaki King - Lovestoned (Justin Timberlake cover)

One of the best moments on Justin Timberlake's "Futuresex/Lovesounds" was the "I Think She Knows" bit at the end of "Lovestoned." Kaki King clearly recognized that too, because she ditched the whole first part of the song and only covered the end.

Again, all songs are tagged to appear as a single compilation in iTunes. The songs, art, and tracklists for both mixes I'm posting today can be downloaded by following this link:

http://www.minusnumbers.com/mixtape

That's all for this month! Hope you like the mixes.

-jp

I Want To Be Like Them

There are so many amazing cover songs that this task was really difficult. I sorted through about 300 or so before coming up with 42 that I couldn't dispense with. I made two separate mixes (will post the next one in a second) to keep things a little less unruly. Even as I post these mixes, however, I can't stop thinking about songs like "Take Me to the River"; "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?"; "Nothing Compares 2 U"; "All Along the Watchtower"; "The Mercy Seat"; "Korobeiniki"; "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)"; "I Will Survive"; "Three is a Magic Number"; Far's version of "Pony"; Original Hamster's "Notorious DSP." Hopefully those show up on someone's mixes, because I thought it'd be ridiculous to make a third.

Anyhow, before I started working on a mix I thought it would be awesome if I could sequence it where artist A would cover B and B would cover C, etc. This proved impossible out of the songs I'd amassed, but I still had block of artists covering each other, so I decided to just stick with that. Here's the tracklist:

"I Want To Be Like Them"

01. Gnarls Barkley - Gone Daddy Gone (Violent Femmes cover)
02. Violent Femmes - Crazy (Gnarls Barkley cover)

Cee-Lo Green and Gordon Gano are both crazy in their own right, but I love both of these songs and the stylistic choices they each used. The Violent Femmes version of "Crazy" almost sounds like Morricone song on mushrooms. Love it.

03. Thom Yorke - All For The Best (Miracle Legion cover)
04. Vampire Weekend - Exit Music (For A Film) (Radiohead cover)
05. Hot Chip and Peter Gabriel - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (Vampire Weekend cover)
06. Max Tundra - Playboy (Hot Chip cover)
07. Matthew Carroll - Carbon Cones (Max Tundra cover)

These are some of my favorite artists and there's no real story here, with the exception of the Matthew Carroll cover. Oddly enough there's an entire album of Max Tundra covers called "Best Friends." Each artist tackles a track from his debut album "Some Best Friend You Turned Out To Be" and recreates the record. I'm always intrigued by covers of electronic music and it's a fun listen. Oh, it's also fun to hear Peter Gabriel sing his own name.

08. Dump - Yo Yo Bye Bye (Why? cover)
09. Why? - The Wig Master (Xiu Xiu cover)
10. Xiu Xiu - Under Pressure (ft. Michael Gira) (Queen Cover)

I've been working on these mixes for a couple days and just now as I went to write this, I saw that someone else put up this Xiu Xiu track. Oh well. I think it just goes to show how great a remake it is. The Why? cover of Xiu Xiu, however, takes the worst (albiet creepiest) song from Xiu Xiu's best album and turns it into something incredible. Yoni really gets the the heart of Jamie Stewart's original intentions and, by adding lyrics of his own, makes the song really special (and still creepy).

11. The Frogs - Rearviewmirror (Pearl Jam cover)
12. Pearl Jam - Love, Reign O'er Me (The Who cover)
13. The Who - Eyesight to the Blind (The Hawker) (Sonny Boy Williamson II cover)

I felt it appropriate for The Frogs to follow Xiu Xiu as they share some sonic similarities. I love their take on "Rearviewmirror" as they make a fairly straightforward rock song (with overlooked dark lyrics) into the pained tale of abuse that it should be. Pearl Jam is my childhood favorite and I still love them dearly, especially their cover songs. I don't think I've ever heard them take on someone else's music and not do it justic. With that said, their Who covers are in a league all their own due to the obvious fandom of PJ's band members. Finally, this Who song is the only track on "Tommy" not written by a member of the band. Fun fact!

14. Iron & Wine - Waitin' for a Superman (Flaming Lips cover)
15. Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs - Borderline (Madonna cover)
16. The Postal Service - Suddenly Everything Has Changed (Flaming Lips cover)
17. The Shins - We Will Become Silhouettes (The Postal Service cover)

I avoided Iron & Wine's "Such Great Heights" assuming it would show up on someone's mixes, but the Flaming Lips cover is just as good and works in this incestuous little block. The Flaming Lips version of "Borderline" is one of my favorite tracks from them in years. It's well-known fact that the Shins version of "We Will Become Silhouettes" is far superior to the original.

18. Jonah Matranga - Birthday (The Sugarcubes cover)
19. Björk - It's Oh So Quiet (Betty Hutton cover)
20. Death Cab for Cutie - All is Full of Love (Björk cover)
21. Andrew Kenny - Line of Best Fit (Death Cab for Cutie cover)

Jonah is my homie for life and has done so many great cover songs. "Birthday", however, is one of my favorite Björk(-related) songs and Jonah's version is my favorite of all of his covers. I him play it at the Onelinedrawing "reunion" show last year even though he said he was only going to play originals. Andrew Kenny is the lead singer of American Analog Set and his DCFC cover is taken from the "Home V" split he did with Ben Gibbard. That split has some AMAZING songs on it and should be owned by everyone.

All songs are tagged to appear as a single compilation in iTunes. The songs, art, and tracklists for both mixes I'm posting today can be downloaded by following this link:


http://www.minusnumbers.com/mixtape

Happy New Year!

-jp

Brand New Skinny Ghost

Hi everyone! Here is my submission for October/Halloween. "Scary" music isn't really something I'm conscious of, so I went more for dark, moody, and noisy in this mix. Also, I'm pretty sure that using Type O Negative is cheating (or a cop out), so my bad for that. Here's the tracklisting:

"Brand New Skinny Ghost"

01. Atlas Sound - A Ghost Story
02. Fever Ray - If I Had a Heart
03. Björk - Storm
04. Optiganally Yours - Oar
05. Bat for Lashes - The Big Sleep
06. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Stagger Lee
07. Tom Waits - What's He Building?
08. Hovercraft - Phantom Limb
09. Type O Negative - Christian Woman
10. Patrick Wolf - Childcatcher
11. Fuck Buttons - Ribs Out
12. Wolf Eyes - Stabbed in the Face
13. Hymie's Basement - Ghost Dream
14. Boards of Canada - The Devil is in the Details
15. M83 - Car Chase Terror
16. Godspeed You Black Emperor! - The Dead Flag Blues

All files should be properly tagged to add as one complete compilation into your iTunes, but I included the image art and tracklisting in the .zip file, just in case. You can download at this link:

http://www.minusnumbers.com/mixtape

Can't wait to hear everyone else's mixes! Happy October!

-jp