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Dusted || The 10 Best Cover Songs Of February 2023

By / / Alternative Rock, Blues & Roots, Country & Folk, Funk & Soul, Garage Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Psych, Punk / Leave a Comment

Not all new music is really new, as many artists cover songs. Sometimes these are songs by their favorite artists, eg as a tribute to such a musical hero for a special reason, or they simply feel that a song deserves to be dusted and polished to reacquaint fans with great songs from the past. Other times, bands cover songs as a parody. Regardless of intent, some of those cover versions are so good or so much fun, we’d like to put a spotlight on them. Chosen from a wide range, here are – in random order – ten of our favorite covers from last month – links to the pages where you can add them to your wantlist included.

In February we saw tributes to David Bowie, Terry Hall, Bob Dylan and Tom Verlaine come by, and last week we wrote about releases from CTMF and Moron’s Morons with successful covers, but there was much more. As far as we’re concerned, these were the highlights.

1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) || Cover: Tropical Fuck Storm || Original: The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Submersive Behaviour, the 5th full-length from Australian art-punk outfit TFS, is a 5 track cover album. Their version of Jimi Hendrix’ 1983 lasts almost 18 minutes, and is as alienating, bewitching and epic as can be. Out digitally and on vinyl LP through Joyful Noise Recordings.

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New album: Winkler || For You, Now

By / / Indie Pop, Psych / Leave a Comment

Like crocuses in the snow, spring breaks through in For You, Now, the full-length debut album by Boston-based five-piece Winkler. Songwriters Justin Schaefers (guitar, vocals) and Christian Schmidt (drums), together with Ava Connaughton (bass), Alex Massey (guitar) and Maddy Simpson (vocals), play a kind of 60s psychedelic pop – Beatles and Byrds are never far away – with some pinches of folk, surf and slacker rock. You’ll hear eight somewhat wobbly but very nice songs, with clever lyrics (“I can’t skate // but I think I could try // you see, I’m so tired of standing behind // who I’d much rather roll beside”), which are flowery decorated with splashes of organ, flute, cello, violin, viola, mandolin, saxophone, soundscapes and harmony vocals. This is an artful, cinematic and melancholic record – call it good times.



For You, Now is out digitally via Barbersound. Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Technicolor Noir || Technicolor Noir

By / / Garage Rock, Psych / Leave a Comment

This is also garage rock, but not really as we know it. The band name – Technicolor Noir as in an imaginary movie subgenre where the film noir is shot in technicolor – reveals that everything here revolves around opposites and unexpected combinations. We’re talking about an attention-worthy project by French garage/indie rock/power pop veterans Astro (The Tribe, Bang!, Scope, Bouton Rouge) on vocals & guitars, Yves Choisy (Les Guillotines) on bass, keys, mouth harp & vocals and Eric Barbarin (La Moutarde Me Monte Au Nez) on drums & vocals, and Russian expat Seva Slepushkin (Karovas Milkshake) on guitars, harmonica & vocals as a new member, with the help of some atypical instruments (backward guitar, harpsichord, sitar, marracas, sound effects, etc.) and special guests (Franck “Muskrat” Musard, Martin Kubasik, Adèle Barbarin). On this self-titled full-length album you’ll hear twelve varied songs that clearly seem to stem from the psychedelic 60s, with original hooks, fine melodies and a vintage sound. The lyrics fluctuate between straightforward (“Clapping hands, shaking hips // It’s alright… What’s going on?”) and hallucinatory (“Baa baa black sheep, have you any cool?”), the music moves from swinging rhythm & beat to mesmerizing folk pop. It’s a rich record that feels like an ode to music history, a successful soundtrack for what could be the imagination of a dark story in Hollywood colors.



Technicolor Noir is out now digitally (self-released). Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Dignan Porch || Electric Threads

By / / Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Psych / Leave a Comment

Ever since I discovered Dignan Porch’s Observatory LP (2014), I’ve had a soft spot for the eclectically melodic noise pop of the UK act. Essentially the brainchild of Joe Walsh (Manchester by-the-way of South London), Dignan Porch has built quite the discography in impressive DIY fashion. That spirit also applies to the new record Electric Threads, which Walsh mostly wrote, played and recorded himself. Walsh also made video’s for each of the songs on the record, which you can find here. Of course, DIY spirit is one thing, but can become particularly interesting and impressive depending on the quality of the output. Rest assured, from the opening strum of Pictures to the fading hiss of Ancestral Trail, Electric Threads is an interesting hunk of underground pop. I am choosing that broad description purposefully, because Dignan Porch has never been easy to bog down to one specific genre. Electric Threads has gorgeous heartbreakers, jangle, psych and noise poppers, and indie swooners as well. Meanwhile, the dreamy melodies have a timeless quality, kind of like a slow wave that lifts you up only to drop you off at the end with renewed energy and a fresh perspective.

Listening to Electric Threads brought me back to the excitement of discovering this band the first time round, it’s that good, it’s that inspired. Buy the LP through Safe Suburban Home (UK), Hidden Bay Records (EU) & Repeating Cloud (US).




Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Hidden Bay || Repeating Cloud

New album: Soft On Crime || New Suite

By / / Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Power Pop, Psych / 1 Comment

The debut from Dublin three-piece Soft On Crime was “rehearsed in a damp basement, recorded in a converted swimming pool, continued in the band members’ homes, and finished in a clandestine fifteen-minute visit to the music department of a nearby college.” Although we all are suckers for underdogs, you hardly need this backstory of headwinds, set-backs, and duct tape solutions to appreciate New Suite. What an extraordinary collection of songs!

Soft On Crime namedrops Soft Boys, Feelies, Vic Godard, Hüsker Dü as influences in the press release for New Suite, and on their early singles they also reference Superchunk, Pavement, Jawbreaker and even Marked Men. The good taste of the band translates to their music, which is at times jangly powerpop, at other time psych pop, indie rock, mod, and new wave. Never too polished, always melodic, Soft On Crime keeps you on your toes, constantly curious about what comes next. There are a lot of great ideas, and interesting musical parts on New Suite and their execution matches that ambition. Who dares to say that being Soft On Crime is ineffective is very wrong indeed.




Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Glyders || Maria’s Hunt

By / / Alternative Rock, Country & Folk, Psych / 1 Comment

The cover art doesn’t give much away what to expect, but Glyders are a Chicago-based trio that turn up the heat with their neo-psychedelic Americana peppered with T. Rex influences. Their full-length debut LP Maria’s Hunt contains ten atmospheric songs, dreamy and mysterious – recorded analogue at home, classic quality. Josh Condon (vocals, guitar), Eliza Weber (bass) Joe Seger (drums) have created a wonderful album full of colorful music that could be the soundtrack of a road movie through the desert.

Maria’s Hunt is out now digitally, on cassette and vinyl LP through Country Thyme/Drag City Records. You can listen to the full album via Soundcloud and the streaming services. RILY The Stands’ All Years Leaving and The Wheels’ The Year Of The Monkey.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Drag City

New album: Kacimi || Couronne d’Eph​é​m​è​res

By / / Funk & Soul, Indie Pop, Psych / Leave a Comment

Alexis Kacimi is the owner of Le Pop Club Records, but he also writes and records music under his own (sur)name. His latest LP is Couronne d’Eph​é​m​è​res, where he joins forces with La Mécréance, a freakbeat combo from Geneva. The record starts off strongly with Monter Dans Le Ciel. The song is a psychedelic garage pop treat and a perfection entrance point to the varied bunch of songs. Kacimi et al touch many corners of ’60s and ’70s pop music on Couronne d’Eph​é​m​è​res, and offers a little bit for everyone and a lot for some. It is a seductive record that makes you bop your head, shake your hips, but also allows some quiet contemplation. It is out now on CD, Tape and vinyl through Le Pop Club.




Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Neverland Ranch Davidians || Neverland Ranch Davidians

By / / Garage Rock, Psych, Punk / 1 Comment

Billed as “smoldering, psychotic R’n’B like the missing link between Blues Explosion, Suicide, and Stax Records,” here’s the self-titled debut album from the Neverland Ranch Davidians. (I think we can also safely mention The Dirtbombs and The Gun Club as reference names.) That the L.A. trio mixes punk, blues, rockabilly, psych and soul doesn’t say much in itself, it’s about the who and what. We’re talking about Tex Mosley (guitar, vocals), known from The Hangmen, Will Bentley (guitar, backing vocals) and Max Hagen (drums, backing vocals), and their sound is raw, primitive, distorted and authentic. They cover Link Wray (Butts In My Beer) and Ray Charles (I Believe to My Soul) in a creditable way, but the ten original songs here are even more powerful. As far as I’m concerned, Rat Patrol and Knee On My Neck stand out, respectively a garage rock banger with doo-wop influences and a blues rocker with a message, but actually the whole record is fascinating. Those heavy guitars and screamed lyrics – breathtaking.

Neverland Ranch Davidians is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP through Heavy Medication Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs || Heavy Medication

New album: CVC || Get Real

By / / Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Psych / 1 Comment

To start with the inevitable comparisons, fans of the records released by JJ Cale, Todd Rundgren and Steely Dan in the 70s will feel right at home with CVC‘s music. However, they are not a pastiche, but live up to the title of their varied debut album: Get Real. CVC, or Church Village Collective in full (named after their hometown in Wales), are a six-piece chamber psych outfit featuring Francesco Orsi (vocals), Ben Thorne (bass), David Bassey (guitar, vocals), Elliot Bradfield (guitar, vocals), Daniel ‘Nanial’ Jones (keys) and Tom Fry (drums). The twelve songs here (two already known from last year’s Real To Reel EP) are sunny, luscious and rousing, and sound as amazing and colorful as the band members look.

Get Real is streaming now and will also be available on cassette, CD and vinyl LP through CVC Recordings. Also available – exclusively from Rough Trade Shops – is a CD EP with four bonus tracks featuring CVC playing live cover versions as The RagTag Wedding Band, partying with AC/DC’s It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock n’ Roll).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || CVC || Discogs || Rough Trade

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