Listen to Your Heart is a clubby dance song, with pulsing synths, autotuned vocals, and a piano outdo. It’s like a muscular and relentless steamroller. It’s fun and ridiculous.
The original version, by Roxette, is a pop ballad. It’s really sedate by comparison.
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Waltz #2 is a pretty if downbeat acoustic ballad, with lovely harmonizing.
It’s a cover of a Elliott Smith tune. The lyrics, and the biographical details behind them, are dark.
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Bad Romance is a one-man indie pop ukelele and synth cover of the Lady Gaga song, which I now recognize prefigures a couple of elements of Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball video – namely, some nudity and the crying close-ups. Is this a stretch? Sure it is, but I felt like linking the Chatroulette version of the video. It’s like an early Christmas gift!
(Nothing But) Flowers is a relatively straight cover of the Talking Heads tune, with nice world music instrumentation. It’s about, well, someone who finds themselves in a bucolic and pastoral setting, and misses technology. “If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower.”
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face is a more uptempo cover of the song popularized by Roberta Flack, recently covered here by NemesisVex. The uptempo is more like the real first version – like The Kingston Trio, or Mary Travers, of Peter, Paul and Mary. Although this is more uptempo, it’s still folk, with an acoustic guitar.
We are gonna be friends is a pretty faithful cover of The White Stripes song, similarly acoustic and folkish. It’s a warm song about childhood friendships.
one last breath is a synthpop cover of a song by, uh, Creed (warning: Creed). This is a fun dancy electronica song.
People Got to Be Free is a Moog-based 80’s synthpop take on the 1960’s song by The Rascals, like that crossed with the krautrock of Kraftwerk’s “The Model.”
Heart of Glass is an awesomely eclectic cover of the 1970’s disco Blondie tune: it features “acoustic guitar, ukulele, mandolin, piano, jazz organ, vibes, panflute, synth vox, drumset, a couple of bean shakers, tone blocks, clapping-and-stomping-in-the-bathroom, kazoo, and at least three vox takes.” It manages to perch just on the edge of falling apart, which is a really fun and interesting place for music. It sounds like a party, though it’s all by one guy.
Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye is a fun and goofy cover of the Steam song, as heard at sporting events everywhere. There was a Music Challenge for the number one song when you were born, and so there more off-kilter covers are on the way!
the boy in the bubble is a catchy electro song. It’s a cover of the Paul Simon tune, which video has some very 80’s computer animation.
Really Bad Moon Rising is a hilariously lofi take on the Creedence Clearwater Revival classic rock song. This version has only an accordion and ukelele as instrumentation. And by “lofi,” I mean, it was done in one take from a laptop’s built-in mic.
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face is an a cappella song, dubbed over and over again, including the drone background. It’s sort of eerie. It’s a cover of the song popularized by Roberta Flack, which is the best-known version – though it was first a folk song, by The Kingston Trio.
Wuthering Heights is an acoustic version of the Kate Bush song. It’s sort of unplugged, and sparser than the original track.
Physical is a dirge-like dance / noise cover of the Olivia Newton-John pop song. I like the subterranean baseline.
Trigger warning: Mortality.
Dead Man’s Will is a slow, pretty, and sad folk song, a cover of a Iron and Wine / Calexico tune, which has sorta depressing lyrics.
Memo To My Son is ORthey’s second cover from Randy Newman’s 1972 album “Sail Away,” in his pre-Pixar-soundtrack days. It’s hilarious and sincere, with pretty music. Here’s the original version.
All Shook Up is a pleasantly off-kilter cover of the Elvis classic, with a swing, drone, and unusual instruments. See the Music page for an amusing video, in which flapjax is a cartoonish charmer.
Don’t Stop Kazooin’ is a gleeful kazoo quartet cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.” I love cortex’s happily lofi covers, can you tell? Tomorrow will be different.
You Got It is a raucous bluegrass Roy Orbison cover.
Kids is a lofi cover of a song by MGMT. It’s raucous and fun.
Axel F cover sorta is more of a remix of the theme to Beverly Hills Cop, by Harold Faltermeyer, full of staccato keyboard playing. It’s an upbeat and bouncy synthpop song.
Where Is My Mind is a cool little garage rock cover of the Pixies tune, with a theremin wailing away and rockstar guitars.
Mr Brightside is an acoustic-ish relatively twee indie pop cover of the indie rock song by The Killers.
This is andysouthrop’s only posted song, and his only comments are on the thread for the song.
Hero is a drunken stream-of-consciousness shambles of a cover of the Enrique Iglesias song. I find this much more amusing than I should.
Road To Nowhere is an a cappella cover of the classic New Wave song by Talking Heads. All of the layers, instruments included, are based on waraw’s vocals.
Sleep in the temple is a sorta honkytonk cover of Prince’s “Thieves in the Temple.” I like the harmonica work here. This is american caesar’s first appearance on the podcast.
(don’t fear the) reaper is a pretty cover of the Blue Öyster Cult song, with a cello instead of an electric guitar, woman-fronted instead, and atmospheric in an ethereal way.
The Bottom Falls Out of the Clouds (demoriffic version) is an acoustic and folk cover of a song from cortex. It’s sort of pretty, and slow, not downbeat exactly, but enjoying a rainy day.
Supersonic (Remix) is a house remix of the 1999 Jamiroquai song, with lots of disco and bursts of horns and bits of acid house.
This is the only song darainwa’s posted.
Headless Horseman is a wistful ballad, driven by banjolele and guitar. It’s a bit more rocking than the original version by The Microphones.
This is shaping up as a week of remixes and remakes!
Downtown is a slow drudge rock version of the 1964 song, written by Tony Hatch, performed by Petula Clark, and covered many, many times. It’s not cheerful, and it’s melancholic and heavy, but not too heavy.
We Close Our Eyes is a pretty well-done one-man indie pop cover of an Oingo Boingo song.
Edit, 2013-10-05 – Whoops, attached the mp3, finally.
Heroin is uncleozzy’s straightforward rock take on the Velvet Underground song.
Femme Fatale is cortex’s piano rock / garage rock cover of the Velvet Underground song. It’s his second shot at it; his first take involved a Christopher Walken impression, which also makes a secret appearance in the background here.
Heroin is a garage rock cover of the Velvet Underground song, primarily singing and a guitar. (Though, there is a high-pitched drone.)
Sunday Morning is a mellow Caribbean take on the Velvet Underground song. The string instrument here is the cuatro; the genre is danzon; the whistling and percussion feel organic.
(Saturday Night And) Sunday Morning is an irreverent dancy Eurodisco remix of Sunday Morning, the Velvet Underground song.