An alarming number of interesting Fleetwood Mac covers have accumulated in my inbox by all sorts of artists. These are just a few of my favorites including Vampire Weekend doing a bouncy cover of Everywhere and Cat Power with an acoustic cover of Dreams. Dreams was of course also covered by The Morning Benders in their cover album the bedroom covers. These accomplished covers all provide a fresh take on the 70s flavor Fleetwood established and is still representing to this day (for better or worse).

Vampire Weekend – Everywhere [Fleetwood Mac cover]

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The Morning Benders – Dreams [Fleetwood Mac cover]

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Cat Power – Dreams [Fleetwood Mac cover]

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Hey look! It’s El Perro Del Mar. A Swedish artist with a Spanish name which means the dog from the sea. The band consists solely of Sarah Assbring, who has produced four full length albums since her 2005 debut album Look! It’s El Perro del Mar!. If you think she sounds like she hangs out with Lykke Li, you might be right because there is a video of the two performing the song Change of Heart from the 2009 album Love is Not Pop. Below is a live video of El Perro Del Mar covering The xx, who are playing a show in Montreal next Saturday at Metropolis which appears to be sold out!

El Perro Del Mar – Change of Heart

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The long awaited collaboration album between Danger Mouse and James Mercer of The Shins was released last week. The project is called Broken Bells and their self titled album features ten songs which lean closer to what you would expect from James Mercer rather what we are used to hearing from Danger Mouse. The song Vaporize is a particularly good representation of how the two sensibilities work together; Mercer’s vocal style is straight out of The Shins songs we all know and if you listen carefully you’ll recognize the organ sounds which Danger Mouse has been so fond of playing in Gnarls Barkley.

Broken Bells – Vaporize

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Do I even need to tell you that The Morning Benders are from Berkeley? They’re doing a tour of the America with a few stops in Canada including Montreal on April 15th at Sala Rossa. Tickets are 12$ + tax. The video below if for a song from their new album Big Echo called Excuses.

The Morning Benders – Excuses

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Click for The Morning Benders Tour Dates (more…)

When he’s not setting world records for performance lengths and challenging Andrew WK to piano battles, Gonzales has been known to take electronic songs and transpose them beautifully onto the piano. This recent rework of the Erol Alkan and Boys Noize track Waves is no exception. It takes the original digital experience and gives it the analog soul it deserves. Full disclosure: I like this piano version a lot better than the original song.

Gonzales – Waves [Erol Alkan & Boys Noize Remake] removed by request

Erol Alkan & Boys Noize – Waves removed by request

I can’t help but be tickled every time a folksy female singer songwriter covers a gangster rap. The last good one I remember was by Kendra Morris who covered the Kanye West track Can’t Tell Me Nothing. Normally I keep these indulgences to myself but in the case of Anya Marina, her original work on the new album Slow & Steady Seduction: Phase II is well worth the mention.

Marina’s soft whispering way of singing is mistakenly reminiscent of some the styles Emily Haines has perfected with Metric and her solo project. Apparently, there is an empirical medical reason for the style of singing, according to her bio,

her doctor once told her she had the larynx of a “very young adolescent.” When asked what that meant for her singing career, he replied, “Well, it’s not like you’re ever going to be singing at the Met.”

Who knew having any body part of a very young adolescent could be a good thing? Of course having one of your songs featured on Grey’s Anatomy also helps. The song in question “Move You” is one of the more up tempo songs on the album and sounds a lot more like the cutesy conversational singing style of Lykke Li.

Anya Marina – Vertigo

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Anya Marina – Whatever You Like [T.I. Cover]

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The last time San Francisco based band The Dodos played a show in Montreal was a year ago for Pop Montreal. While the festival was a few weeks ago, the show this friday at Sala Rossa is a co-production between Pop Montreal and Blues Skies Turn Black. For those of us – me included – who weren’t able to see them last year, this has been a long time coming.

Although the “new” album Time to Die has only officially been out for a month, to some of us it may not be as fresh since a copy was leaked online as early as July. The production on this album definitely has a different feel than 2008’s Visiter which was produced by John Askew. Known for having a hand with bands like The Shins and Fleet Foxes Phil Ek has produced a polished and less acoustic feeling album. That being said, I got my tickets yesterday for a very reasonable 16$ at Casa del Popolo (4873 Saint-Laurent). For those of you don’t know that is the cafe/bar across the street from Sala Rossa. It appears that you can no longer get tickets online.

Joining them is New Zealand based indie pop band The Ruby Suns who have made a name for themselves in America after signing with Sub Pop records in 2007. The price at the door is the same as in advance tickets.

The Dodos – The Strums

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The Dodos – Acorn Factory

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Way back when, in the deep American south, the banjo was amalgamated from lingering concepts of other African instruments. Then it was adopted by white people became somewhat of a mainstay in Country and Bluegrass circles. In 2009 if you hear a banjo being plucked by the soft fingers of an urban youth, it is more than likely that some brand hipster indie rock is going on. Nothing wrong with the occasional dip in the skinny jeans club you might say? It is in this spirit that this little retrospective of banjo rock was assembled.

The most recent to me at least is London based folk band Mumford and Sons who just released their debut full length album Sigh No More two days ago on October 6th, 2009.

The Dodos from San Fransisco got a lot of press for their 2008 album Visiter and they also just came out with an album last month called Time to Die. Expect a post on that album coming soon.

Finally I dug up an old Sufjan Stevens track which contrasts sharply with his latest project the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

Mumford and Sons – Little Lion Man

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The Dodos – Walking

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Sufjan Stevens – All The Trees Of The Field Will Clap Their Hands

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Yet another Kings of Convenience single has been going around the Internet in the last weeks before the release of their new album Declaration of Dependence. They have begun touring in Europe but no Canadian tour dates have been posted yet, although their postcard to the fans promised there would be. The album will be officially released October 20th, 2009 and a full track list can be found below.
Kings of Convenience – Boat Behind

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01 24-25
02 Mrs. Cold
03 Me in You
04 Boat Behind
05 Rule My World
06 My Ship Isn’t Pretty
07 Renegade
08 Power of Not Knowing
09 Peacetime Resistance
10 Freedom and Its Owner
11 Scars on Land
12 Second to Numb
13 Riot on an Empty Street

It’s not often I post a song here because it’s funny, but this is one of those times. Some young lady currently running around playing shows in California under the name Soko produced this humorous tale of a girl who’s love interest got stolen by “that bleach-blonde girl”. I haven’t heard the rest of the album so don’t take my word on that.

Soko – I’ll Kill Her

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