Two great recordings from two of my favorite indie-rock bands popped up on the web this week. Not to encroach on another blog’s turf, but the first track is a cover of Holly Miranda’s seafaring song “Waves” by the Brooklyn trio, and NPR favorite, The Antlers. The audio quality isn’t stellar, but the beauty is certainly still there.

The second song is a live cut of “Meridian” that Shearwater posted on their website a couple of days ago. Recorded at Lincoln Hall in Chicago this past April, Jonathan Meiburg & Co. show that there is really little difference between studio and live sessions with their music. Amazing!

The Antlers // Waves (Holly Miranda Cover)

Shearwater // Meridian (Live in Chicago)

Made a nice find in the record store the other day as I saved a Suckers‘ 7” from being relegated to the sub-$1 bargain bin. I remember hearing about this record a while back, but I thought at the time that the $7 Insound was wanting for it was a bit high (however, it seems my standards have changed). Anyways, after spinning the record a couple of times the past few days I’ve come to the realization that it would have been a good buy originally and was a great buy for the two bucks I was able to cop it for.

The A-side is a synth-driven pop jam, something that Suckers have a knack for doing. I don’t know if it’s just the low fidelity of my audio system or what, but lead singer Quinn Walker has a tinged of Spencer Krug in his subdued vocals — you know the strained quivering and the knack for inflecting just the right syllable just the right way. The six minute track (a genuine surprise nowadays on a seven inch) is a prety epic affair. Crescendos and decrescendos are abound throughout the song, ultimately leading up to a grandiose falsetto-featuring climax, à la The Darkness, before tapering off at the end.

The B-side is a pleasant enough remix of their hit song “It Gets Your Body Movin’” by Yeasayer‘s Chris Keating. Although there is pretty much nothing added that makes you turn and cock your head and think “that’s interesting”, the remixed track certainly is true to its name and would be sure to get some people off the wall and onto the dance floor if it was played during a party.

Concerning mp3s of the tracks, it seems that it’s one of the few times where the internet failed me. You can stream the A-side from Pitchfork but when it comes to the B-side remix, it looks like you’ll just have to suck it up and buy the record. Sorry =( To hopefully placate you, here is the a Daytrotter recording of the original track “It Get’s Your Body Movin’” off of Suckers’ self-titled EP as well as a recent cover they did of The Raveonettes‘ stellar “Boys Who Rape (Should All Be Destroyed)”:

Suckers // It Gets Your Body Movin’ (Daytrotter Session)

Suckers // Boys Who Rape Should All Be Destroyed (Raveonettes Cover)

Came across two cover songs today that are amazingly good and are worthy of some Two for Tuesday coverage. The first is a cover of The Magnetic Fields song “Yeah! Oh Yeah!” by UK chanteuse Tracey Thorn and Swedish oddball singer/songwriter Jens Lekman. It seems like the two are diving head first into a musical relationship, as Jens is slated to be featured on a couple of tracks on Tracey’s upcoming album, while Thorn is returning the favor by writing lyrics about Lekman. Though a lot more melodic that the original 69 Love Songs-featured song, it is quite surprising how similar Tracey/Jens voices are to that of Claudia Gonson and Stephin Merritt.

The second song is an out-of-nowhere cover of Justin Timberlake’s wildly popular hit “My Love” by Portland native White Hinterland (née Casey Dienel). Stripping the overly-produced track of all its bells & whistles, Dienel takes Timberland out of the equation and replaces it with only a minimalist tribal drum beat and her soft, beautiful voice. What a great rendition! And if you like this, be sure to cop White Hinterland’s latest album Kairos from Dead Oceans today!

Tracey Thorn & Jens Lekman // Yeah! Oh Yeah! (Magnetic Fields Cover)

White Hinterland // My Love (Justin Timberlake Cover) [via: Dipped in Dollars]

Ever since I first caught wind of the project a couple months back, I’ve been counting down the days until Fanfarlo’s iTunes session become finally available, and today is the day! Included in the EP are live recordings of five hits from their Reservoir LP as well as a cover of the Smashing Pumpkins track “We Only Come Out at Night”.

I was first introduced to the band through a post made by IGIF this past spring and was subsequently turned into a rabid fan when NPR posted an amazing Tiny Desk concert (which, with five performers, wasn’t that tiny). Although the band has been rigorously compared to Arcade Fire or Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and vocalist Simon Balthazar has gotten plenty of Zach Condon-like references, they have still been able to carve out a niche for themselves, bringing in flocks of fans who appreciate their complex, smooth sounding full-band arrangements.

You can check out Fanfarlo’s version of the classic Smashing Pumpkins’s song as well as a past cover of Bonnie Prince Billy’s track “A Minor Place” below:

Fanfarlo // We Only Come Out At Night (Smashing Pumpkins Cover)

Fanfarlo // A Minor Place (Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy Cover)

It always seems like there is about ten times as much music out there than what you are able to listen to. Case in point, I stumbled across these two cover songs that were both released early last year and subsequently got lost in my mammoth music library. The first track is nice version of Wavves‘ classic teenage anthem “So Bored” by Ottawa/Bologna artist His Clancyness. I found out about the cover after listening to Mr. Clancy’s heart wrenching ballad “Mistify the Ocean” and decided to delve deeper into his music.

The second song I’m embarrassed I didn’t get around to listening to in ’09 is from the critically acclaimed singer/actress Marianne Faithfull and is a cover of Neko Case‘s “Hold On, Hold On”. Sung in a more sultry voice than Case, Faithfull dirties up the track giving it darker overtones than the original transforming the song into something you expect to be played in a hole-in-the-wall bar rather than world famous concert halls.

Check out both of the covers below paired with their originals:

His Clancyness // So Bored (Wavves Cover)

Wavves // So Bored (Live in NYC)

Marianne Faithfull // Hold On, Hold On (Neko Case Cover)

Neko Case // Hold On, Hold On

In a sort of post-mortem celebration of Memphis garage rocker Jay Reatard’s prolific career, two cover songs have been circulating around the blogosphere this week. The first, a morbidly appropriate take on Nirvana’s “Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle”, was released on his website after the tragedy and is possibly his last recording he ever made. The second track, a cover of Beck’s “Gamma Ray”, was done a while back but Beck reposted it on his site after hearing news about Reatard’s death.

Jay Reatard // Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle (Nirvana Cover)

Jay Reatard // Gamma Ray (Beck Cover)

Oh my god, stop the fingernail scratching on the blackboard:
Vivian Girls // So Bored (Wavves Cover)

Not much better, but at least it sounds like some effort was put into it:
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson // Sitting on the Dock of the Bay (Otis Redding Cover)
Via Lullabyes.net

OK, I’m sort of feeling this:
Amanda Diva // Karma Police (Radiohead Cover)

I’m a sucker for any Radiohead cover:
Amanda Palmer // Creep (Radiohead Cover)

Wow, this is a pretty interesting take on a classic:
Emily Wells // Juicy (Notorious B.I.G. Cover)

Now THIS is a cover song gone right:
Other Lives // The Partisan (Leonard Cohen Cover)

All I can say is wow, this is bizarre. Antony, normally known for his stellar choice of arrangements and compositions, in a laspe of judgment decided to cover Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love”. I first heard this on his most recent show in NYC covered by pitchfork.tv and NPR and I was a little confused. You can decide for yourself:

Sara Lov is a singer/songwriter and member of the “on hiatus” LA group The Devics. I haven’t gotten a chance to listen to her 2008 solo EP The Young Eyes yet, but I did come across a cover she did of Arcade Fire’s “My Body is a Cage” that is absolutely killer. More straightforward than the original with tempo (no interminable organ fermatas here), Lov is still able to keep the mystery with an ominous piano line and a smoky voice.

Sara Lov // My Body is a Cage (Arcade Fire Cover)

Evidently this is one of several covers that Lov has done recently. In fact, on her myspace page she is letting fans request songs for her to do that she’ll put together into a video cover series. Her most recent song is “Kissing Families” by the Silversun Pickups:

Tundra, better known as Ben Jacobs to the non-robot world, puts his own patented fluttery synth and keyboard lines to good use, only this time it’s on Franz Ferdinand’s already synthed out “Ulysses”. But where in Parallax I became disinterested with Jacobs’ insane style by track 3, he tones it down a bit for the remix and, at the length of 1 song, it is a perfect dose of his music.

Anyways, if you haven’t heard it yet or don’t know what hypem is, you can check it out below:

Ulysses // Franz Ferdinand (Max Tundra Remix)