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againstthetidepbs · 8 years ago

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10 of my Favourite Covers

‘Cover band’ is a bit of dirty word in the music scene but I can’t help but always be captivated by a very stylish cover, I’m truly amazed by the different ways that bands can represent the exact same song. When I had completed my very first edition of Against The Tide on PBS, I remember being so exhilarated and thrilled with the show and so confused when the very next announcer (Big Ian Sutherland, Shaggin The Night Away) happily congratulated me ‘Good job! I loved that cover of Brazil that you played’. I froze, completely unaware that the Cornelius track that I had played was a cover of a 1939 song written by Ary Barroso. Since then I’ve often wondered how many more songs in my collection had been repurposed.

So here are my top ten favourite covers.

1. No Se Si Es Amor – Aleks and the Ramps (cover of ‘It Must have been Love – Roxette) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWDj8lQne-w

I’m probably going to credit this song for helping me fall in love with the banjo, an instrument I had previously hated with a passion. The wonderful thing about this cover is that you’ll be happily screaming along in a language that you’ve probably never spoken before just because you can really FEEL the emotion.

2. VCR – The Antlers (cover of VCR – The XX)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYoo6VwAh7E

Look if you love this song, you’re probably going to love it either way but there is something about The Antlers version that has a bit more mystery to it for me. Peter Silberman’s vocals are a beautiful contrast to Romy Croft’s originals and I love their take on the track.

3. Baby – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti (cover of Baby – Donnie and Joe Emerson)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3utvDLTynY

There is some sort of secret code that goes on when someone asks you which version of ‘Baby’ you prefer, Ariel Pink ‘s Haunted Graffiti or Donnie and Joe Emerson. I happen to think that both versions of this incredible song are just as good as each other but there is no neutrality in the Game of ‘Baby’, you choose or you die. So I’ll die knowing that I’ve chosen to put the Ariel Pink version onto this list and I’m pretty happy with that.

4. Crying – Austra (cover of Crying – Roy Orbison)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaGICH5oJYQ

This is a haunting song to begin with but I find Austra’s version quite dramatic in a very different way to the original. A strong string section and some choral additions make this a unique and beautiful version of a classic heartbreak song.

5. Ceremony – Chromatics (cover of Ceremony – New Order)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWsktZGQFfo

So many bands have covered Joy Division/New Order and I do really think it’s hard to do justice to their sound, which was such a revelation at the time. Ceremony is my favourite New Order track and I was quite sceptical of the Chromatics cover to begin with but now I think the slower, lo fi cover definitely holds it’s own against the original.

6. Lighthouse – Blood Orange (cover of Lighthouse – New Village)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba8-OyFw8ZA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moL0JgNek5A

I heard the cover before I heard the original in this case. I wouldn’t have known had not Blood Orange made this obvious when he released this track (the same year as the original). The differences here are subtle, more to do with the overall tone of the song rather than any huge stylistic differences. I’ve included both links to the cover and the original here so you can get what I mean.

7. Come All Ye Fair and Tender Maidens – Prudence Rees Lee (Cover of Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies – American Folk Ballad)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOrTia7Yymo

Some songs feel like they have always been a part of you, like you’ve known them your entire life. That may be slightly overdramatic but this cover of ‘Come All Ye Fair and Tender Maidens’ feels immediately familiar. The original artist long since lost to history, this song has been covered by a plethora of artists. This particular version by LA/Melbourne artist Prudence Rees Lee has a spooky earnestness to it that really resonates for me.

8. Again – How To Dress Well (cover of Again – Janet Jackson)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=353uFx6cWDw

I follow How To Dress Well on twitter and he’s frequently lamenting that nobody seems to understand how to classify his alternative/rnb pop stylings as an artist. I feel like this cover really helped to bridge that gap for me. A classic track by Janet Jackson reimagined in his very particular style.

9. Lotus – Belfast FM (Cover of Killing In The Name Of – Rage Against The Machine)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRAYh7auTwI

This is one of those covers that could possibly be written off as being a parody of the original song. But it seriously grows on you. If you forget about the original song, you can imagine this being the modern (well of it’s time, 2010) release of this song. No anger, just a whole bunch of irony.

10. Brazil – Cornelius (cover of Aquarela do Brasil by Ary Barroso)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4D_1ochyus

It would be remiss of me not to include this beautiful rendition of ‘Aquarela do Brasil’ recreated almost 70 years after the original, half a world away in Japan. Barroso’s ode to his hometown and it’s beauty has been reimagined many times but Cornelius’s version holds a special place in my heart. The album it was released on, ‘Point’, was one of the very first albums that led me down the path towards the music that I love and am lucky enough to spend every week curating a show about.

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againstthetidepbs · 11 years ago

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It's been 7 months since I last updated this blog, and it's kind of a strange time to decide to pick it up again as I'm about to head on holidays for four weeks... but here it is! Hooray! This past week, I didn't actually do the show, I was off waiting at the airport for a loved one to come home. Kate from the very excellent show Zero Sum, filled in for me. She's quite good and it was a beautiful show.

You can listen back to this week's show HERE.

One more to go and I'll be off to chase some sun. I will not be trailing a tiny inflatable deer behind me this time. (....that photo isn't actually me)

Playlist for Monday the 15th of July

James Blake | Once We All Agree | Enough Thunder EP

TRJAuE | Third Eight | Heights peak Boards of Canada | Come to Dust | Tomorrow’s Harvest

Children of the Wave | Kora Bomb | The Electric Sounds of Faraway Choirs I Hear Sirens | The Faint Reflection of Stars | Beyond the Sea, Beneath the Sky

Svelt | Epic Rogue Fest | Free Party Silversun Pickups | Skin Graph | Neck of the Woods

Small Black | Despicable Dogs ( Washed Out Remix )

Miles Cosmo | Fatherless Son | Fatherless Son

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againstthetidepbs · 12 years ago

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It's been so very long.... so here is an adorable cat.

Hello! Hi! I realised that I have been extremely lax in blogging this year. Who can say why? Is it a lack of enthusiasm? A lack of time? A lack of good photos of cats to put as the main picture?

I wanted to get back into the swing of things. Especially considering Against The Tide has moved into the much more listener friendly time of 5-7pm on a Monday. Oh yeah! Daylight!

The change has been slightly odd for me. Going from late nights alone in the studio to the busy daylight times with people popping in and out all the time, staff members waving at me through the glass.

You can check out the back catalogue of the shows I've missed (I could make a blog post for all of them... :-/) HERE.

And here is the quick version of the rundown for yesterday's show: Played some tunes from Meredith bands, played some tunes from Australian bands, accidentally played a tune from an English band I thought was Australian for some bizarre reason. Good work, me.

You can listen back to this week's show HERE.

Playlist for Monday the 3rd of December 2012

The Radio Dept | Against The Tide | Lesser Matters Fox & Sui | Summer Storm | Taboo

Brous | Streamers |

Prudence Rees Lee | Emmannuelle | Court Music from the Planet of Love Django Django | Hail Bop | Django Django

Jonti | Nightshift in Blue | Twirligig Elizabeth Rose | Fight or Flight | Crystallise

Galapagoose | Ploy

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againstthetidepbs · 13 years ago

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Rainy nights.

Sometimes when it's cold and rainy there is nothing that is better than staying in and playing records on the radio. Sometimes you don't wanna leave.

You can listen back to this weeks show HERE.

Playlist for Saturday 28th of April

The Radio Dept | Against The Tide | Lesser Matters Air Drops | Champions Chariot | Air Drops EP

Abstract Cannon | All These Years feat RLMDL | Sequences/Melting Sitcoms EP

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againstthetidepbs · 13 years ago

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Record Store Day: The show in which I attempt to play vinyl in the studio. :D

I've always been a bit scared of vinyl. Despite the fact that most of my time as a child was spent playing my Mums old Skyhooks and Elton John records on our old 80's record player. When it comes to announcing, I've been nervous about fiddling with the record players in the studio. NO LONGER. In celebration on Record Store Day, I went and bought a bunch of vinyl and played them on the radio. Pretty good! Records are fun. They are such lovely objects. Oh man, I think I'm in love.

You can listen back HERE.

Playlist for Saturday 21st of April

Gold Panda | back Home | Gold Panda - DJ Kicks.

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againstthetidepbs · 13 years ago

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Shark Week.

I did this week's episode in a Shark costume. I think that's all we really need to say.

Listen back HERE.

Playlist for Saturday the 14th of April

The Radio Dept | Against The Tide | Lesser Matters Geoffrey O'Connor | So Sorry (The Townhouses Remix) |

Hourglass Sea | L.A. Lights fail.safe | confines | parallels

Jamie XX | Touch Me |

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againstthetidepbs · 13 years ago

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HAPPY EASTER (This post is quite late)

Making myself a promise that I will make up all my radio posts today. Gonna do it. It's totally achievable.

Easter weekend's show is HERE.

Playlist for Saturday the 7th of April.

Bogdan Irkuk | The Thracian Plain | The Thracian EP

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againstthetidepbs · 13 years ago

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The one after that one before.

Ooh dear I don't know whether to actually make a post about this one or not. The audio archive for it didn't capture properly and therefore it's lost forever! I'll never hear myself fumbling over announcing the name of the Sufjan Stevens album ever again (until the next time I play it...) Um so yeah. This is pretty much a post with a bit of rambling and a picture of that giant demon baby that was in Melbourne last year along with it's giant demon baby siblings. They were everywhere! Somebody should really write a B-Grade horror film about it. Giant demon babies.

So anyway the point to this is, you can't listen back to this show. But here is the playlist anyways. You're welcome.

Playlist for Saturday 24th March 2012.

The Radio Dept | Against The Tide | Lesser Matters Glass Candy | Candy Castle | Beat Box (Tour CD)

Santigold | Disparate Youth (The 2 Bears Remix) Fort Romeau | SW9 | SW9

Sebastien Tellier | Cochon Ville | Skyline

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againstthetidepbs · 13 years ago

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Aleks and The Ramps play some songs! So the Ramps released their new album a few weeks ago and it's pretty damn awesome! If you don't believe me you should totally listen back to this show and hear for yourself. The dudes (and lady) came in to record a live set for Against The Tide and argue about fonts. Good times. B-)

You can listen back HERE.

Playlist for Saturday March 17

The Radio Dept | Against The Tide | Lesser Matters Oliver Tank | Last Night I Heard Everything in Slow Motion | Dreams

Jessica Says | Collarbones | Queen of The Night Catcall | Satellites |

Aleks and the Ramps Live To Air

Mystery Twin | Middle Dream Erothug | We Should Have Built From Metal | Touching Flash Forest | The Romantic Bone In My Sour Body

Seekae | 3 | +DOME

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againstthetidepbs · 13 years ago

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Hello team! Get ready for two weeks worth of updates in one go! My March shows have been pretty sporadic, because I've had weddings and parties and anything that have been going on. FULL ON TIMES. So lets chill out a little with some musics shall we?

This show was that day a few weeks ago when it rained and rained and rained all day long and I didn't get out of bed until 5pm and wandered into the studio in a rain soaked, sleepy daze. That is the best kind of way to announce Against The Tide. We are all aware of this.

You can listen back to the show HERE.

Playlist for Saturday March 3

The Radio Dept | Against The Tide | Lesser Matters Hot Chip | One Pure Thought | Made In The Dark

galapagoose | summersun | parquet #3 Azari & III | Reckless (With Your Love) | Azari & III

John Talabot | Naomi |

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againstthetidepbs · 13 years ago

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Last Weekend of Summer. ThankyouGoodbye.

I am very sad about the end of Summer. Summer is a wonderful wonderful time. And now it's all over. :( BUT Autumn is pretty sweet! It looks like it's totally going to rain for an entire month but WHATEVS. Everybody can just stay inside and listen to albums and drink wine and make out with each other. That's life!

You can listen back to last Saturday's show HERE.

Playlist for Saturday the 25th of February

The Radio Dept | Against The Tide | Lesser Matters POLICA | The Maker | Give You The Ghost

Zwicker | Oddity (John Talabot Misterioso Remix)

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againstthetidepbs · 13 years ago

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Losing My Voice. :-/

This week's show was made slightly more difficult by the fact that I seemed to lose my voice just before the show started and regained it shortly after the show finished. Clearly I had done something to offend the radio gods. However the music was good. And because of my lack of voice, I barely interrupt the flow at all! ;D

Listen back HERE.

Playlist for Saturday 18th of February

The Radio Dept | Against The Tide | Lesser Matters Nurses | Fever Dreams | Dracula

DRC Music | Hallo (feat. Tout Pussaint Mukalo) | Kinshasa One Two

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againstthetidepbs · 13 years ago

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3 weeks later...

Oh dear, oh dear. I haven't updated this blog for a very long time. Far too long. My apologies. It's been so long that I don't really remember how I was feeling/what I was doing in regards to this show. So here it is presented without comment.

You can listen back to my show from 3 weeks ago HERE. Oh dear.

Playlist for Saturday 11th of February

The Radio Dept | Against The Tide | Lesser Matters Holy Ghost! | Some Children | Holy Ghost!

The Knife | Silent Shout | Silent Shout

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againstthetidepbs · 13 years ago

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Laneway Special! Speaking to Washed Out and Active Child. Playing cool tunes.

I was one of those people who absolutely lost it when the Laneway lineup was announced. The whole thing read like a playlist from Against The Tide and I knew it was going to be totally awesome. As it was I had to run directly from the festival to the studio so I decided to just keep playing tunes from the artists.

Also I got to meet Washed Out and Active Child during the week! They both came in to chat to me about their music and touring and they were both mega awesome, chilled out, interesting dudes.

God I gotta say, that Active Child album still kills me every time. What an amazing record.

You can listen back HERE.

Playlist for Saturday the 4th of Feb.

The Radio Dept | Against The Tide | Lesser Matters Toro Y Moi | Still Sound | Underneath The Pine

Interview with Ernest Greene from Washed Out

Interview with Pat Grossi/Active Child

Active Child | Hanging On | You Are All I See Jamie XX | Touch Me (Instrumental) |

Glasser | Apply | Ring Poor Spirits | Benefits |

Major Napier | Crowning Observation | Major Soldier EP

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againstthetidepbs · 13 years ago

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Things I forgot to do last week: update this blog. Whoops!

:D :D :D

I'm about to do another update in about five seconds so for now let's just let the music speak for itself in this one, k? YAY!

You can listen back HERE.

Playlist for Saturday January 28th.

The Radio Dept | Against The Tide | Lesser Matters Aleks and The Ramps | Middle Aged Unicorn On the Beach with Sunset | Facts

Sparkle Motion | My Friend (Magic Silver White remix)

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againstthetidepbs · 13 years ago

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Easing back into things....

I feel like my brain has been on Summer vacation. I've been a lot more focused on picnics and beaches and laying around watching endless reruns of X Files than seeking out awesome new music. It's gonna change though! New stuff is arriving and it's sounding pretty sweet. The first hint of what we can expect from 2012 releases... It's gonna be a good one, I'm sure of it. This show is a weird one, more chilled than I've done in a while. But then I seem to say that a lot so it may be time to accept that Against The Tide is a chill program... I'm ready to admit I have a problem.

Also it was my Dad's bday on Saturday. This has nothing to do with anything and my Dad doesn't really know how to use computers for anything other than Jewel Quest but anyways: Happy Birthday Dad! :D

You can listen back to this week's show HERE.

Playlist for Saturday the 21st January.

The Radio Dept | Against The Tide | Lesser Matters Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs | You Need Me On My Own |

Amadou & Mariam | Dougou Badia (feat. Santigold) | Folila

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againstthetidepbs · 13 years ago

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Blood Orange!

It's the day after seeing Blood Orange play at the Northcote Social Club and I realise I should have made this update the day before that show because goddamn you'll wish you'd been there. Blood Orange is the show name of Devonte Hynes, a British/American musician who has gone under some other names in the past, probably the most notable being Lightspeed Champion. His newest record, Coastal Grooves is the first under the Blood Orange moniker and it's so so smooth. It's become my favourite record of the summer. I spoke to Devonte really briefly during the week and tried to get an idea of what kind of musician he is which seems to be 'a very busy one' and 'extremely independent'. Cool guy.

This show also features my very first attempt at a gig guide. I think it went VERY WELL. And on that note I'm taking a week off the show this week.... see y'all at Sugar Mountain ;)

You can listen back to this week's show HERE.

Playlist for Saturday 7th of January

The Radio Dept | Against The Tide | Lesser Matters Grimes | Skin | Vision

Interview with Devonte Hynes aka Blood Orange - Playing a show at NSC on Wenesday 11th of Jan

Hammocks and Honey | Simple Things | Spellbinder Mystery Twin | Middle Dream

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