i put a spell on you because you're mine

A girl at the young tender age of 14 and drawing comparisons to Adele and Florence Welch covering king of stripped down and vulnerable songs; a New York threesome taking on a dreampop favourite; an indie darling showing her vocal prowess via a classic.

Enjoy folks.

Birdy - Skinny Love (Bon Iver Cover)

Yellow Ostrich - Zebra (Beach House Cover)

She & Him - I Put A Spell On You (Screamin' Jay Hawkins Cover)

you think you'll find yourself out there

Photo from Brian Ferry.

My Morning Jacket - Circuital
Delicious song from old boys MMJ. The first 2 minutes is dedicated to a very delectable synthy bop with an intermittent yet affecting Jim James. Right after, the whole song is caressed into a fine country-rock number. Of course, which rock song is without it's own mad solo riff - cue 5:16. And it rounds up just like how it started, the staccato beat like jumping little elves on your heart.

Monarchy - I Won't Let Go
I wonder if the 8-bit intro that totally reminds you of the games of old is for the video only, or it comes with the studio track. They rocked Coachella (love youtube for that), and now they've released another solid dance number, with the usual starry out-of-this-world beats, toned down here to fit nicely into the background. I'm loving the whole song, and again reaffirms my opinion that Monarchy seems to have the magic touch. Btw, raining cupcakes?

Edwin van Cleef - Lisztomania (feat. Jane Elizabeth Hanley) (Phoenix Cover)
This dance cover, which borders on a total remake, of Phoenix's hot song of 2009 is a heady mix of swirly sexy down-tempo beats and woozy vocals from Ms Hanley. Seems like there's some solid gold here from Edwin van Cleef, an upcoming House DJ based in London.

when you appear i know i won't be here

BACK!!! Like finally.

Tame Impala - Expectation
Totally wall of sound-esque, Tame Impala literally gives us a kaleidoscopic performance that seems like it's going to tear everything apart, yet in a weird sort of way, come across as cool, calm and collected. I think it's partly due to Kevin Parker's vocals which are eerily drug inducing.

Cut Copy - Take Me Over
I don't know what's more exciting, TRON which is soon to be released, next week in fact or that Cut Copy, fellow label mates of Tame Impala and Aussies dropping their first single for their new album "Zonoscope" in February 2011. As Whitford croons "Take me over, take me out, to the jungle through the night in paradise, paradise", it personifies this synthy pop funk that Cut Copy is reeling us in with. The synths are typical of Cut Copy, but this almost saccharine pop number less so. Nonetheless, you'll still love Cut Copy. I still do. Stay tuned for their new album!

Gorillaz - Crystalised (The xx Cover)
Check this out! It's dope as hell, Damon Albarn and co covering an XX favourite. So affecting and showing on his face, it contrasts a little with the minimalist emotionless style of The xx. Anyone's gotta love BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge for giving us music lovers all sorts of amazing covers, some of which I've featured before.

Chief - Night & Day
Utterly a-fucken-mazing. Succinctly summed up by Paul Lester from Guardian as "Masters of mellow, this LA four-piece specialise in pretty melodies evocative of 1970s America". Sounding similar to Fanfarlo, Midlake and by extension any 70s band, certainly not "smacking of originality" in Mr Lester's words, their arresting earnestness and lyricism sure is a breath of fresh air.

it's never quite as it seems

Passion Pit - Dreams (The Cranberries Cover)
A lovely cover by Passion Pit in my opinion. Bringing their trademark synths into play, a spacey and ethereal rendition of the delicate original. Check out the original here.

Trentemøller - Sycamore Feeling
As per the video description, "Sycamore Feeling is a beautifully melancholic downtempo song with haunting vocals courtesy of singer Marie Fisker. Fiskers sensual, intoxicating performance, framed by a lush instrumentation with lots of ambience, make this another great Trentemøller-track." (sic)

Frightened Rabbit - Not Miserable
Quaint ole Scottish indie rock.

Fanfarlo - Comets
Like a streak of comet across the midnight sky, it blazes a trail with it's fantastic orchestral arrangements and slowly disappears into oblivion, but not before impressing itself upon onlookers.

you hear the day beckoning

Two Door Cinema Club - Poker Face (Lady GaGa Cover)
These geeky dudes sure know how to work up a cover. Kevin Baird and his kooky "muhm muhm muhm", ginger haired Alex Trimble with awesome vocals and Sam Halliday with his straight-laced rendition of the chorus. These guys are dope.

Two Door Cinema Club - Come Back Home
Irish electropop group TDCC certainly knows how to work the beats and hooks. And they've got a really mind-boggling split reality music video. The insane pop hooks littered all over the song are extremely infectious and really gets you going. I think being signed to Kitsune Music certainly helps, for they've got the cred and ability to spot brilliant potential acts - just look at what they have in their barn and you know TDCC are in good stead.


Playing up the mystery and certainly no less hype surrounding them, enigmatic and still faceless duo that is Monarchy became the first band to perform a live broadcast into space. Fitting for a band who've built their music on space-like synths and hypnotic grooves.

Monarchy - Love Get Out Of My Way
And next up is a super dope video to accompany a Michael Jackson moonwalk-ish song. Slick pop ditty with sleek synths that while may not be as good as their previous singles, is still pretty damn good. That said, it's got the pace that was lacking in the more cool and collected tracks released earlier. These guys are as good at concealing their identities (word has it that they're actually Milke, not too sure though) as they are at fanning the flames of hype surrounding them. With singles such as Phoenix Alive and Gold in the Fire, and numerous remixes of hot tracks, they deserve mad props for making everyone want to know who's behind such fantastic music. And I need to get this off my head, the popping moves and choreography of the video is fucking sick.

Monarchy - Love Get Out Of My Way (Benny Benassi Remix)
This is like a steroid-pumped version of the original. Decidedly more dancey and featuring deeper bass, plus it's own music video to boot. Hot stuff.

well, decided to do something a little different.

Coldplay - Vida la Vida

Lady GaGa - Vida la Vida

the judgement is for all the readers out there on her take on coldplay's song, very obviously, some people didn't take too well her version of the song. but really, spot her changing a teeny bit of the lyrics.


Kanye West - Love Lockdown

White Lies - Love Lockdown
inspiration for this post came from an earlier post.


Kanye West - Heartless

The Fray - Heartless


Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire

James Morrison - Sex on Fire