cage the elephant

Top 50 Cover Songs of 2014 (25-1)

My favourite 25 cover songs of 2014 (with original artist in parentheses);

25. Alt-j – Fitzpleasure (A cappella)

Not technically from 2014, but a beautiful cover nevertheless.

 

24. Sam Smith – How Will I Know (Whitney Houston)

Mr. Smith covered a bunch of tunes in 2014, and this was my favourite. He takes an already great pop song/melody, sung by a likewise preternaturally gifted singer, and makes it sound sensational in a way that only he can.

 

23. Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires – Born In The USA (Bruce Springsteen)

So, so different than the original. It actually sounds like a new song, such is its wayward exploration of one of The Boss’s best tunes.

 

22. Hot Chip – Atomic Bomb (William Onyeabor)

Hot Chip make everything they touch fun, including this cover.

 

21. Grouplove – Ways To Go/Spiderhead (Cover of their own song)/(Cage The Elephant)

I love that Grouplove spontaneously covered their own song before they tackled the Cage tune, for which they issue all kinds of justice. Grouplove imbed an alt-country soul to maybe the best song from Cage’s latest album, and it works out great.

 

20. The Cure – Hello Goodbye (The Beatles)

The Cure covering The Beatles? Yes please, I’ll have some of that.

 

19. London Grammar – Pure Shores (All Saints)

“Pure Shores” is one of the best pop songs of the late 90’s/early aughts. William Orbit’s production on the track is magical. It’s All Saints’ best song by a mile, and I love that it’s been given a new sound almost a decade and a half after its release. Hannah Reid’s pristine voice sounds great guiding this cover to its beach.

 

18. Sufjan Stevens – A Little Lost (Arthur Russell)

Sufjan for all of the feels. Always.

 

17. The Honey Ants – You Can Call Me Al (Paul Simon)

The most genuine and heart-warming this song has yet sounded. The harmonies in this version are gorgeous. Paul Simon, Al, and those wishing to be called Al should all be proud.

 

16. Capitol Chidlren’s Choir – Father Father (Lauren Mvula)

I really wish this troupe would do more covers, as everything they do is golden. But, I guess, you know, school and all.

 

15. Kiesza – What Is Love (Haddaway)

Wonderfully-sung, stripped down version of the untz-untz classic.

 

14. Foster The People – Hold On, We’re Going Home (Drake)

Really, really dig this brooding, auto-tune employing, synth-heavy cover that Mark Foster and his people have cooked up.

 

13. Henry Green – My Number (Foals)

Where the original is a jittery, ooh-laden alt-pop gem, the cover is a cavernous, deep breath of a song. I like the turn down. It’s peaceful here.

 

12. Local H – Team (Lorde)

If you’re wondering what a Lorde track would sound like with a hard rock facelift, here lies your answer. It works.

 

11. Avec Sans – Running Up That Hill (Kate Bush)

Running Up That Hill is a classic song. Placebo’s mid-aughts cover (featured most notably on The O.C.) is astounding(ly good). You’d think it’d be pointless for another act to have another go at it, right? Wrong. Whatever the motivation, I’m glad Avec Sans made this cover. The synth work on this cover is phenomenal.

 

10. Say Lou Lou – Instant Crush (Daft Punk)

A warmer, more personal take on one of the better songs from Daft Punk’s last album.

 

9. Arctic Monkeys – Feels Like We Only Go Backwards (Tame Impala)

I love the original. The lyrics, melody, and music are all fantastic. But when Alex Turner drops his signature croon on a track, he makes it his own, and that’s that. This is an amazing cover by a brilliant musician.

 

8. Nazca – Survivor (Destiny’s Child)

Jaw-dropping cover. Adds a healthy serving of emotional resonance that the original can’t touch. I know the original was a huge hit for Destiny’s Child, but it sounds kind of dated at this point. Frankly, this cover is better.

 

7. Red Hot Chilli Pipers – Wake Me Up (Avicii)

If you like bagpipes, this is your jam. When I first came across this tune, I thought the Red Hot Chilli Peppers had done the cover. Then I learned to read, and then I realized the tune’s by an aerophone-wielding collective of Scots. This instrumental cover is brilliant.

 

6. Les Claypool’s Duo De Twang – Stayin’ Alive (Bee Gees)

This cover is batshit crazy. It’s unlike anything I’d heard, cover or otherwise, in 2014. It’s incredible.

 

5. Chvrches – Do I Wanna Know? (Arctic Monkeys)

Chvrches’ more-than-two-years-hot-streak knows no bounds. And it doesn’t apply to just their own stuff, but everything they touch. This cover is sensational. The synth work by Iain Cook and Martin Doherty is sublime. No synth-based cover of this song could’ve been constructed in a better way.

 

4. Manchester Orchestra – Escape (Jimmy Buffett)

Do you like pina coladas? Do you like cover songs that come from the deepest part of left field that they have to climb over the wall, into the bleachers, out of the stadium, down the street, and into another area code? Do you like getting caught in the rain? Do you have half a brain? If you find yourself answering yes to any of these queries, you’ll probably like this song. Hell, if you just listen to this song, you’ll probably like it. And I’ll like you. Life is simple sometimes.

 

3. Sturgill Simpson – The Promise (When In Rome)

What do I hear when I listen to this Sturgill Simpson cover? A beautiful fucking song. The original is a slinky synth-pop ditty in the vain of Erasure or Pet Shop Boys. It’s a really cool track. This cover couldn’t give two shits about cool. It’s a grassroots promise, and it conveys the gravity of that commitment in a profound, heart-rattling way. Extremely impressive.

 

2. Todd Terje f. Bryan Ferry – Johnny and Mary (Robert Palmer)

Bryan Ferry is a fucking force on this cover. Not because he’s yelling at the top of this lungs, but because his vocal is stranded on an island of pain, where life’s experiences — the tumult of reflecting on those experiences in particular — is the only hope of getting off. If a man is wise with no one to share his wisdom with, is he still wise?

All that power and I haven’t even touched on Todd Terje’s awesome track. The vibe he’s constructed is a perfect match for Ferry’s pensive, aching vocal. It’s sparse when it needs to be, filling when it should be. “Johnny and Mary” is a classic song. I feel like this cover can already be called that too. Mighty, mighty stuff.

 

1. The Tea Party – The Maker (Daniel Lanois)

Hands down, my favourite cover of the year. It’s the ode to deep water. It’s Daniel Lanois’ melody and lyric. It’s Jeff Martin’s typically teflon-strong vocal. It’s reminiscing about the fields of Abraham. It’s the cymbal. That purposeful, perfectly timed cymbal. It’s The Maker.

Whose maker? Mine, yours, this song’s, all song’s, all things.

It’s the guitar. It’s the best song on The Tea Party’s latest and long-awaited new record. It’s that one of the best bands in Canadian history is back together. It’s that all three of them are brilliant musicians.

All of it, moving.

Usually, I’m taken aback by covers that alter the source material in very obvious ways. That’s what makes a cover stand out. Why do it if you can’t bring something something fresh and original to the project.

What touches me and astounds me so much about this cover is that The Tea Party don’t really change things that much. It’s not a dance version of a country song. It’s not a rock version of an a cappella tune. The melody is unchanged.

The original is — although I only discovered it in 2014 — one of the best songs a Canadian band or artist has ever produced. Of this I’m sure.

And yet, I’m completely transfixed and transported. At their best, The Tea Party have always had that power. They’ve proven that on songs like “Psychopomp”, “Fire In The Head”, “Release”, and “Save Me”.

For a band that have issued some of the best and most original rock music of the last 20 years to produce a cover this affecting is a fucking marvel.

It had been 10 long years since The Tea Party last released new music. If it proves to be a one off, and they never make another record again, they should find solace in this cover.

They took a piece of art that already, wonderfully, gracefully, existed in the artistic consciousness. They didn’t make it better. They didn’t make it fresher. They made it their own. They gave us a reminder. Of what music is capable of. Isn’t that the point of it all?

Top 30 Songs of Summer 2014 (15-1)

Without any preamble, here are my favourite songs of this past summer:

15. Tokyo Police Club – Tunnel Vision

Who who, who who, who/Who who, who who, who/Who who, who who. Rinsed and on repeat. “Tunnel Vision” is Tokyo Police Club throwing down a Thor-like hammer on the Canadian alt-rock scene.

 

14. Cage The Elephant – Take It Or Leave It

I went on a bit of Cage dive this summer, with “Take It Or Leave It” being one of the tracks I played often. I love the changing dynamics/rhythm, a t(r)ick that Cage have come to master. It’s become apparent to me that Cage The Elephant have (deservedly) become quite popular, but, in spite of this success, I think they’re underrated. They’re energetic, from left field — sometimes so out in left field that they’re playing basketball on the diamond. I dig their takes on melody, I dig (lead singer) Matt Shultz, I dig their collective effervescence. It’s clear the band really likes making and performing music. It’s clear that I like Cage The Elephant.

 

13. Perfume Genius – Queen

Don’t you know your Queen? I didn’t. But I think I do know. She’s regal and resplendent in coruscating purple gems. The sound of Her voice is power embodied, emboldened is the sparkle in Her eye. Her grip on a sceptre is unrelenting, convincing the kingdom with the scent of Her Royal Highness. I pledge allegiance to Her. This is my Queen. This is the new Perfume Genius.

 

12. Sarah Bareilles – I Choose You

Nothing less than a super sweet, super earwormy pop song from Sarah Bareilles. It’s not the first time she’s pulled it off , and it won’t be the last, I’m sure, either. The woman knows her way around songcraft like very few others.

 

11. FKA Twigs – Two Weeks

A sultry, engulfing experience, “Two Weeks” gets better with each listen. It’s a slow slithering snake with an electric heart and an icy, steely venom. It seems like an elixir, a pulsating energy that appears to rejuvenate. In reality, it’s a poison that constricts the veins until blood ceases to flow. Death never sounded so good.

 

10. Justin Timberlake – Not Such A Bad Thing

The most straightforward pop song on probably either of JT’s 20/20 albums, and what a great thing to be. Whereas almost all of his recent output leans experimental, in terms of structure and sound, “Not Such A Bad Thing” seeks to be only one thing: catchy. And my, how it is. From an album released in September 2013, “NSABT” has been a slow builder of a hit, but one that reached ubiquity in spite (because?) of this. And you know what? Despite a kajillion plays on every format imaginable, it still sounds great. Not many would have said this when both 20/20 albums had been released, but I do believe there’s a chance “Not Such A Bad Thing” will be the most remembered track from either LP.

 

9. Ed Sheeran – I See Fire (Kygo Remix)

“I See Fire” is Ed Sheeran’s soundtrack contribution to The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug. This is Kygo’s remix of that song. The rest is magic. I see fire, I feel warmth, I hear a breath. Of a life that lingers in the surroundings. But unlike the dragon that resides somewhere in the dark and dreaded shadows, this life seeks to guide, aid, and proclaim, that even though a battle is at hand, victory is in the other.

 

8. Jessie Ware – Tough Love (Cyril Hahn remix)

There are already a handful of remixes that have stunned me into excitement, but the Cyril Hahn remix of “Tough Love” might be the leader of the pack. Sourcing an impossibly sexy and slow-tempo’d original, Hahn takes this remix somewhere else entirely. He makes the song scoot in its boots, turns the pensive vibe of the original into a celebration of hard work. He makes tough love seem like a joy. What an accomplishment.

 

7. Broods – Bridges

It took me a while to see “Bridges”‘ appeal. There’s a lot of people renting space in synth-pop sounds at the moment. It takes a really special effort to differentiate and stand out from the crowd. Broods has done that here. The chorus is just sensational. The vocal is pretty yet punishing. The track is a wave of beats and broods of beauty.

 

6. The New Pornographers – Brill Bruisers

I don’t know why I was a little late to this party, as “Brill Bruisers” is one the most immediate songs The New Pornographers have ever released. Once it broke for me, it broke hard. Bo ba, bo ba ba, bo for all of the ears. All of the Newmans. All of the Nekos. All of the time.

 

5. G.R.L. – Ugly Heart

“Ugly Heart” made my best of list in April. I’d listened to it a number of times, and obviously liked it enough to scribe my affection for it. But I really listened to it this summer. A lot. More than a lot. And what I heard was hands down one of the best pop songs I’ve heard in recent memory. The verses, the chorus, the vocals, the lyrics. All of it is perfect. Dr. Luke and the GRLs eschewed the EDM-led pop that’s dominating the mainstream for a guitar-led stomper. The move couldn’t have been smarter. Some may categorize this as disposable pop, but they’d be wrong. I think “Ugly Heart” is good enough to find a space on various rotations for years and years to come.

 

4. The Tea Party – Water’s On Fire

The Tea Party are one of Canada’s finest bands of all time. Jeff Martin’s voice, his guitars, Jeff Burrows’ drumming, Stuart Chatwood’s jack-of-all-trades-ness, their way with melody — I’d missed all of it. I’m so glad they’re back. That they came back with such a wonderful lead single made me even happier.

 

3. La Roux – Sexotheque

Before the summer, La Roux’s rocket landed back on earth with three incredible pop songs, “Let Me Down Gently”, “Uptight Downtown”, and “Tropical Chancer”. All of them are amazing pop songs, all mega-hits (in this realm or another). Some logicians might say that with three lead songs so strong, the rest of the album may pale in comparison. That would be wrong. “Sexotheque” is another brilliantly catchy ditty. La Roux’s latest album, Tropical Chancer, is one of the best albums of the year, and “Sexotheque” is a big reason why.

I’m also strangely taken by the fan-made video that I’ve linked below. In a way, it doesn’t relate to the song at all — it’s clearly a music video for another, probably Caribbean or Latin track. But something about the whole thing works. Sun and tunes have a way of making life’s incongruities irrelevant. Oh summer songs.

 

2. Paper Kites – Leopold Street

Yes, “Leopold Street” is a song from 2012, and I just did a list of my favourite songs of the summer that are not from 2014. So why didn’t I include this song there? I’m not completely sure, other than to say I first heard this two-year-old track a couple months ago and fell so deeply in love with it that it’s now inextricably linked to this past summer.

The music is lovely, an acoustic guitar led pop song with melodies above, on, and below ground level, a song stacked with sounds that make ears perk up and feet tap along. Juxtaposed with such sunny, sweet sounds are lyrics that speak of pain. A pain about family, about love, about loss.

The companionship of one side with the other, light and dark, the hope of summer’s beginning and sadness at its unavoidable end is what made “Leopold Street” one of my favourite songs of the summer.

 

1. alt-J – Left Hand Free

Ain’t shady baby, I’m hot, like the pa-rodigal son. Pick a petal, eeny meeny miny mo, and flower, you’re the chosen one…

The most straightforward song on alt-J’s phenomenal sophomore album, it’s also the most sing-a-long worthy. And my, how I exercised that right this summer.

I think alt-J could be the best band on the planet (Future Islands are right there). Their way with instrumentation, vocals, lyrics, melody, and breadth of sound is unmatched by any other band around. Only two albums in, they have several songs that could be classified as monumental, in how they touch the spirit, caress the ears, sing to, about, and from the heart.

“Left Hand Free” is not like that. In fact, it’s unlike any alt-J song to date. It’s got one thing on its mind: fun.

Isn’t fun what summer’s all about? Girls just wanna have it. So do guys. Until daddy takes the T-Bird away.

“Left Hand Free” is the epitome of fun, a soliloquy from the sun.

Thank you summer. Thank you music.