mixtape maestro (2.0)

Nothing more but a bunch of cover songs that have been bubbling around in recent weeks. Enjoy!!

Tanya Morgan “Breakadawn”/ Skillz & Colin Munroe “Baby Phat” (De La Soul Covers)

Two highlight entries pulled from Mick Boogie & Terry Urban’s latest mixtape collabo, a multi-artist tribute compilation to De La Soul’s twenty-year strong legacy entitled Le Da Soul (download the full set here): the MJ-sampling groover “Breakadawn” see the unmistakably DLS-influenced Tanya Morgan cleverly weaving in their own spin to Pos and Trugoy’s script, while Skillz (assisted by longtime MM fave Colin Munroe) gives the curvalicious female sect a nice shout-out (“I like chicks thicker/ Imagine me dating a lil’ stick figure”) in a revamp of “Baby Phat”.

DL: “Breakadawn”

DL: “Baby Phat”

Ellie Goulding & Erik Hassle “Be Mine (Robyn Cover)”

In which two current blog-pop phenoms take a break from their respective on-the-rise careers for an acoustic guitar-backed duet rendition of Robyn’s 2005 single (best known for it’s drama-tastic spoken word bridge and one of the most heartwrenching opening lines ever put to pad-”It’s a good thing, tears never show in the pouring rain/ As if a good thing ever could make up for all the pain”).

Of course, for those who have heard Robyn’s own stripped-down take, Goulding and Hassle‘s re-read won’t be that much of a mind-blower, but oh does their vocals meld beautifully when harmony time comes around.

DL: “Be Mine”

Snow Patrol “Ray of Light (Madonna Cover)”

True, the folk-y swing that Irish alt-rockers Snow Patrol build to on the hook of this Top 5 Madonna smash kind of feels pathetic when compared to the explosive epiphany Maddie brought to the table, but we must be honest with at least this much: hearing “Light”‘s heavy verses under the band’s earnestly melancholy arrangement catches a pleasant lullaby-like mood we wouldn’t mind being soothed with at the end of a long and hard work-day.

DL: “Ray of Light”

VV Brown “Miss You (Rolling Stones Cover)”

Though England-born indie pop-punk/ soul-ster VV Brown was given a major hype push earlier this year when she was recognized as a Top Ten finalist in the BBC’s “One To Watch” poll, Sounds of 2009, she has so far struggled in earning much pop chart love (Out of four singles released, only one has managed to chart in the UK Top 40).

Still, we say keep following her. Not only because her critically-acclaimed debut album, Travelling Like The Light, has plenty of quirked-out, retro-pop/ rock/ soul goodies to offer (contrary to radio support), but also because she’s proven to be a hoot with her on-the-fly YouTube cover creations (check out her renditions of “Crazy In Love”, “Day N Nite” and “Best I Ever Had”).

There’s nothing silly about her take on the Rolling Stones’ 1978 classic “Miss You” though, which trades in the original’s bluesy-disco strut for a despair-drenched Southern-fried soul vibe.

DL: “Miss You”

Mumford & Sons “I’m Not Alone (Calvin Harris Cover)”

Part of the same London folk scene that has birthed the likes of Noah and The Whale and Laura Marling, the four-piece Mumford & Sons caught plenty of ears with their debut single, “Little Lion Man”, an enrapturing cut seething with self-loathing (“I really fucked it up this time/ Didn’t I my dear?”) and an edge-of-apocalypse hoedown rattle.

That same pluck-heavy furor is called upon for their surprisingly decent Live Lounge rendition of Calvin Harris’ ’90′s-dance tribute “I’m Not Alone”, their woodsy slant working wonders in an impressive mimicking of the same soft vocals/ loud music dichotomy that made the original so enticing.

DL: “I’m Not Alone”

Slim Twig “Behold A Lady (Outkast Cover)”

Toronto-based indie label Paper Bag Records turned seven this month (Happy birthday PB!!), and to help celebrate this event, they’ve unleashed the covers compilation, The Seven Year Itch, for free from their site.

Amongst it’s twelve-song tracklisting, plenty of fascinating grabs can be found (including Josh Reichmann’s rustic campfire take on Bat For Lashes’ “Daniel” and CFCF’s ’80′s new wave & vocoder-baked treatment of OMC’s quirky international fave “How Bizarre”), but the one perched atop our highlight picks would have to be a cover of Andre 3000′s The Love Below-housed tribute to the classy female, “Behold A Lady”, as handled by Canadian-born noise-art eccentric Slim Twig.

Sludging up the original’s lean digi-funk with a dense garage stomp and kooky, vampiric vocals that sound like they’re being emitted from a broken-down loudspeaker, Twig charmingly re-brands the song with a brush of his own unique “ice cold” cool, providing belated props to an oft-overlooked Below gem.

DL: “Behold A Lady”

Pixie Lott “When Love Takes Over (David Guetta/ Kelly Rowland Cover)”

Where David & Kelly’s original aimed to split open the heavens from it’s opening moments with all of it’s big dance diva grandeur, this Live Lounge version by English singer-songwriter Lott goes for a more organic lift-off.

Opening on a slow and meditative tip that plants a pleasant spotlight on the grainy squiggles of soul embedded in Pix’ pipes, the remake makes a better play at illustrating love taking over, growing more and more bold with each added layer of (mostly Coldplay-nicked) instrumentation and upgraded tempo notch until it explodes in a fireworks-like display of romantic euphoria.

DL: “When Love Takes Over”

Alicia Keys‘ last single “Doesn’t Mean Anything” delivered all the Grammy-baiting things we’ve come to expect from the singer in terms of poised showmanship and inspirational pop majesty, but it was also kinda boring (and a bit too similar to her last album’s lead single “No One” in it’s plodding piano foundation), so it’s nice to see her quickly moving on with the release of a follow-up jam that at least doesn’t immediately come across as your Typical Alicia Keys Ballad.

Heavily shadowed in this ominous ’80′s R&B slow jam haze that employs some of Bonnie Tyler’s old lightning sound effects and, at times, threatens to swallow the singer whole into it’s dense black hole sway, “Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart” stands as one of Alicia’s most musically enthralling cuts to date. At it’s core, a grand lyric about the post-break-up blues (“Have you ever tried sleeping with a broken heart,” she asks, before quickly adding the devastating “Well you could try sleeping in my bed”) and the self-help strengthening one must go through to break free of it’s debilitating shackles (“Tonight, I’m gonna find a way to make it without you”).

The song’s most appreciated touch? Alicia taking a much-appreciated break from all that top-of-her-lungs belting she’s relied too heavily on on recent material, and opting to bring most of “Try”‘s tear-stained narrative to life in a whispery, smoky vocal that sounds like she’s been up all night trying to gather the inner-courage needed to finally move on past the shattered romance.

Catch the video below, followed by TWO remixes of the tune, one with Brooklyn rapper Maino (“Hi Hater”) solidly tackling the heartbreaker role (“Pushing for commitment/ I’m running from commitment/ Scared to open up/ And you wonder why I’m distant…”) and another featuring…um, Mase (off his new mixtape, I Do The Impossible).

Alicia’s The Element of Freedom arrives December 11th.

DL: “Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (Maino Remix)” (alt)

DL: “Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (Mase Remix)” (alt)

It’s only been three years since Kelis last put a studio album out (2006′s under-selling Kelis Was Here), but it definitely feels like it’s been a lot longer, what with all the TMZ-headlining drama she’s been in the center of the past couple of years. With all the changes that’s went on in her personal life since she had all the ladies chanting up their “bossy” status (filing for divorce, getting arrested, having a baby), you would think her first new solo offering in a while would be something juicy, meta and extremely catchy; maybe a sequel of sorts to her 1999 scream-fest “Caught Out There”, this time directed at cheating ex-husbands who don’t wanna pay spousal support.

Sadly the David Guetta-produced “Acapella” bears little of that gossip rag-gifting goodness, instead positioning Kelis amid a techno kaleidoscope of synth-bass bloops and clubby bottom end to sing the praises of a new man rescuing her of a dreary existence free of any “tune or scale I could play” (“Before you, my whole life was acapella,” goes the hook).

It’s an alright electronic-based tune we guess, though far away from the greatness we were anticipating from the same lady who gave us major gems like the ones mentioned above, plus “Milkshake”, “Trick Me” and the sorely under-appreciated “Young Fresh & New”; but, hey, at least we now know Kelis has begun work on a brand new project, so fingers are crossed that these (hopefully Neptunes or Andre 3000-helmed) sessions will produce the kind of sassy-weird, “I am woman, hear me roar” anthems she’s ruled with in the past.

DL: “Acapella” (alt)

Bonus DL: “Millionaire (featuring Andre 3000)” (alt)

Not to beat a dead horse, but it’s still so amazingly dumbfounding how Nina Sky continually release such great material with none of it ever able to bubble into commercial success. This past year alone they’re unleashed at least two well-acclaimed tracks (“On Some Bullshit” and their heavily remixed Major Lazer/ Ricky Blaze collabo “Keep It Goin’ Louder”) that are deserving of topping some pop single chart somewhere in the galaxy instead of just being the blog-crit/ club sect sensations they are.

Really, what do these girls have to do to score another over-ground hit? Could nicking an old hook from the Hall & Oates’ platinum-lined catalog be the answer? Probably not, but if it’s any consolation, “Here He Comes”, the “Maneater”-biting third single from B-more club hero Tittsworth‘s 12 Steps, has quickly risen up the rankings of our own personal Hot 100.

Tailor-made for a club-set scene in a CW tween soap, with Tittsworth’s light R&B-house thump carrying a distant bump as if to illustrate it’s source being outside the central camera shot, “Here He Comes” hones in on the inner-thoughts of Nicole and Natalie Albino, who are quietly going nuts as their crush casually brushes past them. “Tense up my body/ Can’t talk about it/ These feelings got me, got me…”, their forlorn harmonies trail off, the breathtaking appeal of their favorite boy so overwhelming, they’re rendered speechless.

The track carries such an alluring overall mood, that the fact that it breaks no new ground for the twins stylistically (these girls have managed to successfully marry every single human emotion possible to a “in the club” setting over the years), or that fellow featured guest Pitbull somewhat mars things with his needless misogyny (“I spread legs like a gynecologist”), don’t even begin to matter…all of which only makes it a bigger shame that “Here He Comes” likely won’t ever reach the massive audience it deserves.

You can sample the original below (in addition to a bonus Tittsworth remix of a beloved ’90′s R&B classic), but don’t forget to also cop the complete single EP, featuring remixes from AC Slater, Nadastrom, Stretch Armstrong & Jaimie Fanatic and Rico Tubbs & Will Power.

DL: “Here He Comes” (alt)

Bonus DL: “Poison (Tittsworth Remix)” (alt)

After sugar-coating our ears with the endlessly fascinating Afro-trop-pop lullaby “Horchata”, ever-polarizing indie rock prep boys Vampire Weekend move on to the official first single of their well-anticipated Contra set with “Cousins”, a rambunctious ball of ska and surf rock-tinged energy stuffed in an utterly perfect running time length of two-and-a-half-minutes.

“You were born with ten fingers and you’re gonna use them all”, sings Ezra, and he wasn’t kidding judging by the varied bag o’ rapidly spun musical tricks that are on display on this contagious “A-Punk” sibling, including speedy dual guitar festivities that burst to life out of nowhere, drummer Chris Tomson’s tireless back-and-forth contribution of swift drum rolls and double-time poundings, and a stomping finale anchored in jinglin’ bell-assisted jubilance that whould get the biggest Scrooge you know overcome with holiday spirit.

Oh, how this album can’t come fast enough…

BONUS DL: “White Sky (‘Live with Jimmy Fallon’ Performance)” (alt)

There are times when Beyonce goes on one of her overly-flamboyant, “tomorrow’s R&B”-soundtracked tangents that modern pop/ R&B brilliance emerges. We’ve experienced that with “Upgrade U” and “Single Ladies”, two tracks that tested the limits of our comfort with sultry vocals being lain atop the most oddly-constructed, mechanized-hip hop-soul grooves, and ultimately won out by having sturdy enough hooks and themes at their core.

But for every one of those gems, there’s a handful of others within that same style that largely fail at justifying the point in her trying so hard to go against the grain. Latest I Am…Sasha Fierce single “Video Phone” falls in this camp.

Over co-producers Bangladesh and Sean Garrett’s weird, cacophonic hip hop-styled homage to Trent Reznor, Beyonce takes on a slinky, exaggerated Southern drawl to indulge in a little burlesque-y “I know you want me; I want you to” preening. “You sayin’ that you want me/ So press record/ I’ll let you film me,” she teases betwixt the track’s eerie recipe of pinball machine plinks, finger snaps and two-ton drums, sounding probably a little too delighted in being some random guy’s via-iPhone jack-off accompaniment.

Like “Diva”, Be’s catchphrase-riddled “A Milli” for the ladies, “Video Phone” would work best as a brief album interlude, since it’s only for about a minute and a half that it manages to be an intriguing curioso cut. After that, it starts to feel like a meandering mess, unable to latch onto a strong hook or cool musical-based deviation to make it’s multiple elements gel into an satisfying whole.

Throwing in Lady Gaga as a duet partner for the Deluxe Edition remix doesn’t really help matters either, as what should be this amazing event quickly grows sour, with Gaga sounding a bit lost trying to mimick the gully sass of Destiny’s Favorite Child and proving, as she did when playing hook girl to Wale, that she’s not as captivating when relegated to the side car role (The video, embedded below, is kinda hot though).

If there is one “Phone” one should attach themselves to, we say go for B & L’s other recently released collaboration, the far catchier “Telephone”, or the Pitbull-assisted remix of “Video Phone” featuring the “I’m The Shit” beat and the Cuban-American emcee giving a couple seconds long karaoke shout-out to the old DC nugget, “Survivor”.

DL: “Video Phone (Pitbull Remix)” (alt)

The fourth release lifted from The Noisettes‘ excellent (and nowhere near as big as it should be) Wild Young Hearts album, “Every Now & Then” sees the London band staying in line with previous singles “Wild Young Hearts” and “Never Forget You”, doling out another magnificent fusion of ex-lover nostalgia with a ’60′s soul-pop-inspired musical frame.

But whereas those tracks hid frontwoman Shingai Shoniwa’s regrets over past romances behind perky arrangements, illustrating a sensibility that she had for the most part healed with the passing of time, “Every Now & Then” follows an opposite route, finding her still handicapped by an enormous heartache with moody guitar and swirling strings depicting her inner despair with a moving dramatic flair.

“You see we were never through/ I never said I loved you/ Even when we said goodbye/ I never thought it was the last time,” a down-in-the-dumps Shingai recalls, a single moment of solitude or a certain song being played on the radio instantly filling her mind with tearjerking memories of secret kisses in a certain former love’s bedroom and the postcards he would send inked with “stories (that) would excite me”.

With her yearning for a gust of wind to bring him back into her life and light up “this empty room” she dubs her current depressing existence, Shoniwa’s sorrow cuts so deep, you can’t help but be pulled into the doldrums alongside her, especially once the arrival of a stunning Bond theme song-like climax of swollen orchestration and piercing cries of being “down, down, down” come into play.

Catch the song’s music video below, then take a listen to one of our favorite cuts from Mick Boogie and Terry Urban’s must-have Noisettes vs. Kanye West mash-up mixtape Wild Young Heartbreak: “Saturday Night Paranoia”, Chicago production duo Christian Rich‘s metallic-sleek marriage of the Noisettes’ revenge fantasy “Saturday Night” with West’s whip-crack heavy, new wave jaunt “Paranoid”.

DL: “Saturday Night Paranoia (Christian Rich Remix)” (alt)

Call us losers, but since “Meet Me Halfway” started getting endless spins through our earbuds, we’ve been scouring the World Wide Web daily hoping to come across some amazing remix that’ll only deepen our undying adoration towards the Black Eyed Peas single.

There haven’t been many to emerge (which is strange, seeing as though “Boom Boom Pow” and “I Gotta Feeling” inspired what felt like a million revamps between them both), but we did come across a couple that earned at least a couple repeat listens:

Rokuro’s Tidy Club Mix:

Helmed by Japan’s DJ Rokuro, this one follows a relatively simple remixing formula, accenting the original track with some catchy synths while giving that vocoder-assisted bridge (the track’s best non-Fergie moment) a well-appreciated repeat spin.

DL: “Meet Me Halfway (Rokuro’s Tidy Club Mix)” (alt)

Anna & Ruby’s Intergalactic Booty-Shaker Remix:

This second (and sadly, MP3 link-less) one was created by the same girls who delivered that cutesy acoustic cover of Drake’s “Best I Ever Had”. And like that treat, this one is equally impressive in a lo-fi, “let’s throw something together during a sleepover” kind of way, replacing Fergie’s laborious wails with a surprisingly effective Cassie-like featherweight vocal while it’s beat bypasses state-of-the-art Y3K-aiming production complexity for a simple electro throb.

Denmark-born newcomer Nabiha makes a strong first impression with her debut single “Deep Sleep”, a spunky ditty about (no kidding!) trying, and failing, to get some good rest.

“BLAM!/ Who’s knocking on my door?/ The pounding is so raw/ It’s hurting my head,” she growls, her vocal packing such a soulful wallop, you fear for what unfortunate fate awaits the person waiting on the other side of the door if she so chooses to answer the rap.

Yeah, the lightweight topic makes for a curious choice for one’s premiere to the world, but A) it’s something we can all relate to, and B) it beats the bazillionth slant on over-tired “matters of the heart” themes (something we’ll surely get plenty of doses of once the album arrives). Plus, it’s damn near impossible to resist the sugary contagiousness captured in the song’s Gnarls Barkley-gone-bubblegum production bop, especially when it’s being topped by punchy pipes such as hers (and not the needle-thin peep of some waif-sized teenybopper, the type of artist tracks like these usually support).

“She won’t be waiting/ You’re lost but she’s found”? “Helpful is hurtful when life’s inside out”? “Know what you’re building will fall to the ground”?

With cryptically depressing lyrics like these, Portland, Oregon indie-folk band Weinland‘s “I’m Sure It Helps” may not seem to be the most uplifting song choice, but damn if the melancholic beauty brought forth in the song’s gorgeous, woodsy twang and the hushed, plaintive delivery spewing from behind the thick beard of lead singer/ guitarist’s Adam Shearer aren’t the most soothing marriage of sounds to chill back to when hiding away from the autumn cold.

Pair those elements up with a visually stunning, and quite tender, semi-computer animated video that finds them stare down a herd of buffalo (who they eventually befriend and share a campfire with), and this 2009 break-out band triumphantly succeed in stealing away our hearts.

From their latest album, Breaks In The Sun.