Tony Allen vs. U2

Here’s another very interesting cover, when the Afrobeat master Tony Allen meets U2 for an amazing version of “Where the streets have no name”. As a reminder, Tony Allen is the co-founder of Afrobeat and being the drummer of Fela Kuti made him a key person on the African music scene. You can also hear his drumming on the recent album of “The Good, the Bad and the Queen”. His version of “Where The Streets Have No Name” will make you feel the vibes of Afrobeat with a brilliant input of percussion, sax and choir. If you get a bit tired of the original version, this is a good way to listen to that nice tune.

Tony Allen - Where the streets have no name:

 

This song is featured in the album “In The Name Of Love: Africa Celebrates U2″ which contains re-interpretation of famous U2 songs by some of the best African artists, including Angelique Kidjo, Tony Allen, Les Nubians, Keziah Jones and many others. If you like covers that bring something original to the song, then this album is definitely worth listening to.

 

Move your feet !!

Some fresh tunes to keep you moving during this summer.
The first track is from the Swedish producer Andreas Kleerup, taken from his recent eponymous album (2008). This album also features some great female Swedish voices such as Titiyo, Lykke Li and Neneh Cherry. The present track is “On my own again”, it sounds a bit kitschy-80’s at the beginning but the melodious chorus becomes rapidly catchy.
Kleerup “On my own again”

“On my own again” is a good track to get a summer evening started, and once you’re really in the mood for dancing, you can play the remix of MGMT’s Electric feel by Justice
 This track is a dancefloor killer. If you like MGMT’s latest album (Oracular Spectacular) and also appreciate the sound of Justice, then you’ll love that track, this is to become a club hit for the summer, for sure.
MGMT “Electric Feel” (Justice remix)

If you’d like one of these tracks, just leave me a comment.

Being a fan of… Depeche Mode

Continuing the series about music fan, I met Mariola a couple of years ago, she’s a big fan of Depeche Mode (DM). It’s always very interesting to discover how a big music fan feel about a band and their music, to see how her life is influenced by the band. There always are amazing stories in each fan, nice anecdotes, funny moments to share. Mariola told me how she fell in love with DM, how their videos influenced the choice for a career and how their music opened her to other music genres.

How and when did it start between you and Depeche Mode?

It was when I was 15… ten years ago. I used to watch loads of MTV, when it was still a music channel.. and I watched a video called Barrel of a Gun.. and I loved it and then it came It’s no good.. and I became a fan. It was hard because I lived in a small town and no one, at least not the guys my age I knew, liked Depeche Mode too much. Of course with the time, I started to meet people who loved Depeche Mode too, but at the beginning I felt a little bit lonely about my obsession.

Do you have a big collection of their records? Any rarities among that?

I have all Depeche Mode Cd’s.. and most of the videos (mostly in VHS) but no rarities. Some of my friends have many rarities, really cool ones, but I have never been the collector kind. But I do have a Depeche Mode treasure, something that I really value, and it is the drumstick of the drummer who was with David Gahan on the Paper Monster’s tour and the one touring with Depeche Mode in Playing the Angel. He threw the drumstick at a concert in Copenhagen. Of course everyone around me was fighting to take it because it fell on the floor, and I couldn´t reach it… but then the bodyguard took it, told all the guys to calm down and he gave it to me. It was an amazing feeling and it surpasses all the rarities.

How much do you follow their news (TV documentaries, books, website) ?

Until I was 18 I bought all the magazines, recorded all their TV shows and documentaries and had all the DM books. But now my interests are wider and I don’t really have the time to follow their news too much. Of course I visit their website once in a while, but that`s it.

What is your best memories related with Depeche Mode?

Many of the good memories in my life are related with Depeche Mode. I met many of my friends because we love Depeche Mode.
One of my favorite recent memories are the concert in Monterrey MX, another is the David Gahan concert in Copenhagen, in which we sang together (DG and me) the chorus of the song I Need you.. uf.. I almost fainted. And another is about a Depeche Mode tribute me and a friend organized in Uruapan when we were 16. The place had never been that full, singing Depeche Mode and having a great time.

What is the craziest thing you’ve done for that band?

mmm. nothing really.. besides the normal things like going to concert and scream, or going alone to a cold city for a concert.. that´s all.. maybe if i lived in England or something, I would stand outside their record studios or their houses but I live faaar faar away.. (lucky them :P)

What do you think of Dave Gahan solo career?

Paper Monsters is brilliant, it was a very good chance to hear what Dave has to say and to hear his own compositions. I think it was a very healthy thing for the band and for him.. and now he is more confident and he could write some songs for the Playing the angel album. But I must say it´s pretty difficult to separate his work from DM music and even in the Paper Monsters concert, it was more like a Depeche Mode concert than a Dave Gahan solo concert. Anyway, I love this guy and whatever he does.

You now have started a career in the picture and movie industry, to which extend does the videos form DM (and others) have an influence on your work?

One of my main interests in my professional and personal life are music videos and photography, and actually I decided that I wanted to be a video director after I saw Anton Corbijn´s work with Depeche Mode. One of the Depeche Mode´s videos that has influenced the most is Never Let me Down again (see video below) and Barrel of a Gun. I love the black and white imagery, the use of the grain, the natural light, the eastern Europe style, the Berliner style, the makeup, and the contrasts.
Also, when I take photos as a hobby, I think that many of them reflect the style and the lyrics of Depeche Mode, at least that is what I want to reflect on them. Of course, Depeche Mode and Anton Corbijn are not my only influences, I am also very influenced by the works from Chris Cunningham, Floria Sigismondi, Mark Romanek and art and music in general. Other videos that are a main inspiration for me are “Perfect Drug” from Nine Inch Nails, “This is Hardcore” from Pulp and “Untitled no. 1” from Sigur Ros.  
 

Thanks to Mariola for her brilliant words about Depeche Mode. If you want to see how depenche mode and other videos might have influenced her, here are some of the art work she did: on deviantart and baklight.
Depeche Mode - Never let me down again 

Sam Sparro vs. Fat Freddy’s Drop

 

There’s that song I keep on hearing on commercial radio, It’s “Black And Gold” by Sam Sparro. I presume this Sam Sparro is commercially successful, then. Nice song, great soul voice, not much to complain about. Maybe just one thing that recalls the previous post about covering songs, sampling and stealing. I have an impression of “déja entendu” when I listen to that song. I don’t know if it’s me or if it really sounds like Fat Freddy’s Drop’s “Wandering Eyes”. Here are some audio excerpts from both songs and you can judge by yourself if there are any similarities.

Fat Freddy’s Drop

Sam Sparro

 

It seems to me that at some point the voice will say “I got the wandering eye, ta da da….”. OK, that’s not completely obvious but I feel the voices sound similar, also the beat maybe. It’s not a sample but more a subtle source of inspiration, and there’s no need to pay copyright for this. If you haven’t had the chance to listen to fat Freddy’s Drop yet, get their album “Based on a true story”, really amazing and their live performances will really make you move.

 

Speaking of Sam Sparro, the Danish pop band Alphabeat made a cover of that song, for the BBC live lounge show too (see previous post). After hearing their song ”10 000 nights of thunder” quite intensively in Denmark last year, they have now massive airplay on UK radios. And anyone who heard this (only?) single, knows how annoying this song is, it gets stuck in your head and doesn’t go away for the whole day. To show they are able to can do something else, here’s the cover form Sam Sparro’s Black and Gold, when pop meets pop!

Alphabeat - Black and Gold.mp3 (4MB)

 

Foals vs. Gwen Stefani

Very often has Hip hop sampled, copied, stolen from rock and pop music. That’s nothing new. More rarely has rock been inspired by hip hop, we’ve seen Zach de la Rocha from Rage, rapping on rock and many other artists since. Some hip hop artists use sample to a point where you actually don’t know what they brought to the song. You might like Puff Daddy’s “I’ll be missing you” but the sample from The Police’s “Every breath you take” makes that song so good, “I’ll be missing you” is actually more a cover than a real sample song. And the same applies for most of the songs by Kanye West, he outrageously stole Curtis Mayfield’s “Move on up” for his “touch the sky” or even Daft Punk, Diana Ross more proof here  

It’s time for payback, it’s time for rock to get inspired by new RnB, Hip Hop or everything that heavily uses samples.
Foals (picture), the great band hailing from Oxford, likes the production by The Neptunes, so they decided to cover the song “Hollaback Girl” sung by Gwen Stefani and produced by The Neptunes.

They also play it live some times, with much energy. Here’s a studio recording from the BBC radio 1’s live lounge session. I love how they re-interpreted that song adding brass instruments, mimicking the beat with real drum, very nice cover. What do you think?