10 Cover Songs That May be Better Than the Original

10. I Will Survive

covered by Cake

originally by Gloria Gaynor

Somehow, California alternative rock band, Cake does an interesting cover of the popular disco song. I guess they're both just trying to be optimisitic

9. The Man Who Sold The World

covered by Nirvana

originally by David Bowie

This cover is wonderful, I'm assuming Kurt was such a Bowie fan that he had to cover it during Nirvana's famous Unplugged session. I'm not certain exactly what version of Bowie's is the original since at one point in the 90's he redid it again and made it sound really creepy. I like the folksy undertone of the lyrics and obviously the guitar solo. This may have been biased but I really believe this is one of the best covers out there.

8.Flagpole Sitta

covered by Chiodos

originally by Harvey Danger

I like when the artist doing the cover brings in their own style into the song but still give it a feel of the original. Chiodos covered the song on "Punk Goes Pop", which is full of other interesting covers if you're into punk rock. Originally, Flagpole Sitta was popular somewhere in the late 90's and Weird Al Yankovic actually incorporated the chorus into one of this Polkas.

65daysofstatic - We Were Exploding Anyway

65daysofstatic are an interesting mix of IDM, and electronic with post-rock from Sheffield, UK. It's pretty hard to put a definite tag on what their music is, it's very experimental and flows around a from beat and electronic orientations to churning guitars with some intense riffs.

As of April 19th, they are streaming their newest album We Were Exploding Anyway, to be released April 26, on their myspace page. So, I had the pleasure of listening to the whole thing, for free! Overall it's a really upbeat album, full of really glitchy aspects. It's like post-rock you can dance to. Highlights of the album are definitely Dance Dance Dance that rises slowly, and by a minute in it's just a heavy tribal beat with blaring electronics that develop perfectly, spinning you in a circle. It's surely my favorite track.

Their singles, Weak4 and Crash Tactics, are alright as well since they do more of the style blending, and have a post-rock with IDM feel. The last song on the album, Tiger Girl, reminds me almost of a rave song that builds in intensity over several minutes and feels really emotional. I recommend listening to the stream and if you dig it, buy the album!

Jimmy Smith - Root Down

I can never get enough jazz, especially if it has an organ involved. When there's a deep funk influence that is really groovy, I have to move myself. A friend linked me to "Root Down" on youtube simply saying, "funkgasm" followed by the url. So, I have to post it, it's ridiculously awesome.

Make sure to listen to part 2, or you're missing out on some slick soloing supported with an amazing rhythm section. The album was recorded live way back in 1972 and the Verve remasterings have a really organic feel to them. Overall, it's really soulful and smooth, including a cover of Al Green's "Lets Get Together."

Man Man

With Man Man hailing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , it's difficult to know where to start, as with their music. It's literally insane, but so unique you have to hear something by them. Their style is described as somewhere between evil circus music and gypsy jazz. It's loud, it's got ridiculous percussion, and all of the members have fun pseudonyms.

Give it a listen:

Their style started off in Man In a Blue Turban With a Face being really out there, with lots of eastern European influence and quite experimental. They moved to Six Demon Bag, arguably their best with a very frantic pace that jumps all over the place. It's full of screaming and intense passages followed by very fluid verses. Finally, to a more accessible Rabbit Habits that is clearly more produced but none the less, great. It refines their style of gypsy madness with some smooth jazziness at the same time.

Start with The Ballad of Butter Beans on Rabbit Habits for a good example of their overall style. It's got a face pace with xylophones, their characteristic vocal style and solid percussion.

Portugal. The Man - American Ghetto

photo via portugal the man myspace

I've listened to these guys for a few years now and they continue to develop beyond my expectations. Their style has such a huge range, I believe everyone would like at least one of their albums. Those that dive into experimental rock with lots of samples would be drawn to albums such as Waiter: "You Vultures!" and It's Complicated Being a Wizard. To get some spacey, but down to earth at the same time, listen to Censored Colors. And for just really colorful experimental rock and roll, Church Mouth and The Satanic Satanist. Their EPs have a strange feeling of falling somewhere right between all of those moods and I'm a really big fan of The Pines and The Devil.

Anyways, as of March 2010, Portugal. The Man has started a sort of prerelease sale for their newest album, American Ghetto. You buy the actual album which is released sometime in May on CD and Vinyl. But in that purchase, you get the option to download the album in several formats, most notably FLAC, my favorite, and some high quality 320kbs MP3s.

Past fans may have a little trouble adopting this album, but after a few play throughs everything clicks and is awesome. American Ghetto goes towards a sample and really riff driven sound, and keeps that twangy rock n' roll sound somehow with some playful solos. I'm just going to highlight on my favorite song of the album, When The War ends. It slips away from the nature of the rest of the album and blasts off to a really distant mood, but once the lyrics come in, it becomes very joyful. Somehow, they managed to put in such a unique song but over all it feels right in place with the rest of the album right at the end, summing everything up.

Other tracks to enjoy: The Dead Dog and 60 Years. Don't forget, John Gourley's lyrics still are insane and are composed of some kind of elaborate metaphors that could only be thought up in Wasilla, Alaska.

LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

So uh, James Murphy's latest leaked. I managed to listen to it on a stream and now it's all over the internet. I covered my love for dance punk and all of the old stuff here so I figured I had to address this since I'm a pretty big fan of his stuff.

So first off, the newest dance punk "anthem" is available on his myspace and it's pretty good. In my opinion, not nearly the best song of the album. It's loud, repetitive and fun as any of his stuff but I feel it's a little forced. It's full of fun riffs and tones that sound like they came from some kind of 90's kids toy.

Besides this, in listening to the leak I loved the first song Dance Yrself Clean, which is available at the hypemachine. It starts out quiet and playful with a catchy high pitched riff and after a few minutes more electronics come in. Around now, you're grooving, you're into it. But, it builds more and brings in some heavier and really interesting chords that shake you. Afterwards he cools everything down in the typical fashion of going back to the original beat/riff mixture. I can't stop listening to it.

I can't wait for the album to come out now, the rest of the tracks are definitely a progression of his style including old influences and moving on. In my opinion, this is certainly going to be on my best of 2010 list.