The Dead Weather, “Treat Me Like Your Mother” [Diplo Remix]
Has Jack White heard this yet? And does he even like remixes? The whole thing seems antithetical to what we like to call “essential Jack-ness.” We’d like to think a Jack White version of a remix is simply setting his turntable to the wrong speed. Diplo completely reconfigures this Dead Weather track, reducing it to a handful of shrieks and groans over some particularly menacing keyboard lines.

Melanie Fiona, “Cupid” [Sam Cooke Cover]
For every half-baked, flash-in-the-pan R&B star, there’s a Musinah or a Kissey Asplund or a Melanie Fiona who’s at least ten times as worthy of the attention. Covering Sam Cooke is usually about as good an idea as a bacon cheeseburger and Windex milkshake or casting Rob Schneider as a romantic lead, but Melanie Fiona does it right, keeping it spare and aching and minimal.

Jordan Galland, “Hungy Like the Wolf” [Duran Duran Cover]
New York filmmaker/musician Jordan Galland reimagines this Duran Duran classic as a jazzy two-step, the doot-doot-dooting sounding more like scatting than singing. Can we propose a video featuring leisure-suited, cigarette-puffing dapper dans cavorting in exotic locations?

The Gossip, “Love Lockdown” [Live Kanye West Cover]
Beth Ditto is gradually emerging as one of our finest R&B singers, and while this version of Kanye’s heartbreak ballad could be a bit tighter, her laser-beam pipes maintain a strong center even when the rest of the performance seems to be coming every so slightly unglued.

Coldplay, Viva La Vida Demos [Unreleased Demos]
This batch of nine early voice-and-piano versions of songs that ended up on Viva La Vida provide a fascinating glimpse into the creative process for the rabid Coldplay fan. (Chris Martin screws up more than few times on “Lovers in Japan,” which is charming in its own way.) You have to go through some trickery to get these, including submitting your email address to a download site in order to have a link mailed to you. Rock Daily is looking forward to the onslaught of Bavarian fetish porn and free Cialis offers that will follow.

July 24th, 2009 | Category: 4 | Subscribe to comments | You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed