(Un)Covered Round-Up: March-May 2016

I may have mentioned that I write a column for idobi about song covers. Here are the ones that have been posted since March!

• “Chocolate” (The 1975 vs Knuckle Puck)
• “Stressed Out” (twenty one pilots vs Our Last Night)
• “Roar” (Katy Perry vs Symmetry)
• “Beverly Hills” (Weezer vs Twin Atlantic)
• “Wake Me Up” (Avicii vs You Me At Six)
• “I Wan’na Be Like You” (King Louie/Louis Prima vs Fall Out Boy)
• “Riptide” (Vance Joy vs The Griswolds)
• “On My Mind” (Ellie Goulding vs Don Broco)

AND, even though I wrote a review of V.E. Schwab’s A Gathering of Shadows here, I also wrote a review for idobi, which you can check out here!

 

Music Monday Round-Up: February 29, 2016

Rather than talk about something new today, I’m linking back to a couple of music-related posts I’ve written over the past month-and-a-bit that weren’t included on this blog!

Mind the Gap

–Neck Deep (you can also read my review of their Toronto show here!)

idobi

• review of Nothing But Thieves’ self-titled debut
• review of Hands Like Houses’ third album, Dissonants
• round-table discussion of Panic! at the Disco’s Death of a Bachelor
• (Un)Covered column: “As Long As You Love Me” (Backstreet Boys vs The Maine vs Paradise Fears)

And in un-music related news, I also reviewed V.E. Schwab’s fantastic novel, A Darker Shade of Magic for both Mind the Gap and idobi!

 

I am the champion and you’re gonna hear me roar

To be honest, I haven’t been listening to much else besides Panic! at the Disco’s Death of a Bachelor, but I had to share this cover.

I saw Symmetry open from Don Broco in December, and they were a lot of fun! They’re pop rock, so if you like The Summer Set or Paradise Fears, you’ll probably like these guys too. I’ve been meaning to look up their actual songs, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. If their original songs are as good as this cover, I’m going to have to keep a close eye on them!

 

I’m a nightmare dressed like a daydream

A couple of weeks ago, I considered handing in my “pop punk 4 life” card. Why? Because I listened to a Taylor Swift song – and I liked it.

I often say that I don’t like Taylor Swift. But, while I’ve never been her biggest fan, I haven’t always disliked her.

I actually didn’t mind “Love Story” or even “You Belong to Me” when they first came out. Catchy and cute, even if the lyrics didn’t have a lot of substance. But then I worked at a bookstore where we listened to Taylor Swift ALL DAY, EVERY DAY, and after that, I screamed whenever I heard one of her songs. Me + country = not the perfect combination (I must confess to having a soft spot for Carrie Underwood though).

That being said, it still hurts my heart a little that I like one of her songs. It’s hella catchy, though, and there are some good lines (i.e. the title of this post is one of the best lyrics I’ve heard in a straight-up pop song in a long time).

Luckily, the post-hardcore band Our Last Night released a cover a couple of days after I first listened to “Blank Space”.

So I’ll probably just listen to this version all the time and pretend like I didn’t download 1989 and I certainly haven’t spent the last two weeks sporadically listening to the original…

It’s like I’m sleepwalking

I have one more week of this publishing course and then, once I’m done, I’m going to try and make Music Mondays a little more in-depth (the way they were before).

In the meantime, I would like to draw your attention to This Wild Life’s fabulous cover of “Sleepwalking”:

For those who aren’t sure, this is Bring Me the Horizon’s original version:

Incredible, isn’t it?

I’ve been hearing about This Wild Life for the past few months through the various music news channels I follow (absolutepunk, Property of Zack, idobi radio, etc). Then the band randomly started following me on Twitter and – because I had heard so much about them – I followed back. They were on my Warped list but I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to check them out.

Last week, when I was avoiding applying for internships, I decided to finally look them up…and that’s when I discovered this video. It’s my favourite BMTH song, so naturally, I was curious to hear a cover – an acoustic cover, no less.

It actually gave me chills for a minute because it’s so different than the original but it’s absolutely gorgeous. I haven’t listened to their album yet, but if this cover is any indication, it’s going to be a fantastic experience.

I’m wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn

If you were around in the 90’s (and I’m assuming anyone reading this grew up is older than 14, but I could be wrong), there is no way you avoided the song “Torn” (performed by Natalie Imbruglia). It was EVERYWHERE. It’s not a terrible song, but you know what made it fantastic? When Hands Like Houses covered it earlier this year:

Hands Like Houses is an Australian band. After hearing this cover, I immediately downloaded their two albums. I haven’t really listened to them yet (I have a bad habit of collecting music but not listening to it right away), but once I do, I’ll write a separate post.

In the meantime, please enjoy this oddly addictive cover. So good.