Back in February, the band Barbara made some waves on Hype Machine with their cover of Kid Cudi’s song ”Pursuit of Happiness.” They popped up a few time between February and April with this cover but what happened? They’ve faded to obscurity it seems. If you visit their website (http://www.wearebarbara.com), it’s pretty much empty… Just two pictures and a stream of this cover.

Barbara, where are you? I really dig your take on this song and want to hear what else you can produce.

Yes, I have posted this song before but Val’s recent post of Iron and Wine inspired to me to post it again in the hopes of bringing Barbara back out of the shadows…

Barbara – Pursuit of Happiness (Kid Cudi Cover) [YSI]

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So last night at karaoke I was singing Lupe Fiasco’s “Daydreamin’” ft. Jill Scott and when I finished, a friend of mine said, “Nice I Monster remix you did there.” I kinda just looked at him blankly. I had no idea what he meant. So I looked it up when I got home. Turns out Lupe sampled from a song by European electro group I Monster who, in turn, heavily sampled from a 1970 song by Gunter Kallman Choir. But it doesn’t end there. The 1970 song was “Daydream” and was actually a cover of a song that came out in 1968. In other words, it goes kinda something like this:

♫Lupe Fiasco – Daydreamin’ (2006)

♫     I Monster – Daydream in Blue (2004)

♫           Gunter Kallman Choir – Daydream (1970)

♫                   Wallace Collection – Daydream (1968)

So this is not the most likely pairing of artists for a single post but I really do enjoy both of these covers, possibly more than the originals. When Saul Williams paired with NIN’s Trent Reznor to release his last album, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, it was absolutely fantastic. It expressed a new side of Saul and allowed his music to reach more of the mainstream. With the help of his cover of “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” he even began to reach out to the alt rock fans. Fatboy Slim’s cover of the Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker” is just one of the covers that I feel breathed a little new life into the song. It wasn’t a full reinterpretation. It was just a little reintroduction to the world of an already great song.

Saul Williams – Sunday Bloody Sunday [YSI]

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Fatboy Slim – The Joker [YSI]

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So I just heard this morning on the radio that Cake is coming to Philly! I’m so pumped. I’ve been waiting somewhere in the realm of 5-6 years to see them live now. They haven’t had a “new” album since 2004 but they did release a B-sides and Rarities album in 2007. Here’s a great Cake cover of Old Blue Eyes himself off the 2007 album. Oh yeah, and I definitely had to give you a second one today. I like these guys too much not too. Yeah, a video too.

Cake – Strangers in the Night [Sinatra cover] [YSI]

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Cake – Love You Madly [YSI]

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Well it’s Sunday. Had a long Friday and Saturday night so today was all about relaxing. I decided what better way than watching a movie or two. I scanned my DVDs and went with Phone Booth first because I hadn’t seen it in awhile. Then when that was done (it is only 81 minutes), I chose Spike Lee’s 25th Hour, which apparently was still sealed from when I bought it 2-3 years ago. I’d seen it but I guess never watched me own copy.

Anyway, when they got done, I was looking some stuff up online about the movies and it turns out I chose to watch two movies from the same year: 2002. I thought, “Why not post a song from 2002 to stick with this unplanned theme?” So I looked up the charts from 2002 because I can’t remember what was hot from 8 years ago. Turns out the number one song was Nickelback. THERE IS NO WAY I’M POSTING NICKELBACK!!!

So I kept searching my own music collection and justified “Down With The Sickness.” I know Disturbed released in 2000 instead of 2002 but Richard Cheese and The Lounge Against The Machine covered it on their 2002 album “Tuxicity.” Cheese’s cover didn’t really take off until its use as a backing track for zombie killing in the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead.

Anyway, here’s Richard Cheese lounge-ifying Disturb as well as the original. I couldn’t possibly let this go without both being posted.

Richard Cheese – Down With The Sickness [YSI]

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Disturbed – Down With The Sickness [YSI]

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One more thing, here’s one of my favorite lines from 25th Hour:
“Champagne for my real friends, and real pain for my sham friends.” – Ed Norton as Monty Brogan

And check out his rant here.

Slash has quit smoking! …or so he says… Who knows how long this will last? But it doesn’t matter either way because the man has released his solo album. It came out on March 31 and features Slash doing songs with some very special and unique guests from Ozzy Osbourne to Chris Cornell to Dave Grohl. However, it gets even a bit more odd than that. Today, I’m posting his new version of the original Guns ‘n Roses song “Paradise City.” It’s a bonus track which features Fergie and Cyprus Hill. Not exactly the two artists I’d expect to work with Slash but the song is still amazing. POSSIBLY better than the original, which is also posted for comparison.

Slash – Paradise City (ft. Fergie and Cyprus Hill) [YSI]

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Guns N’ Roses – Paradise City [YSI]

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I’ve been listening to these guys since they performed in Old School and for as good as “Total Eclipse of the Heart” is, covering 50 Cent is that much better. They performed “Candy Shop” at the end of The Hangover and it really wasn’t bad. Dan Finnerty is a funny guy and I love that these guys are getting exposure through Jay Leno now. If you enjoy this and get a chance, listen to some more songs off their first album, The Dan Band Live or look up the videos online.

The Dan Band – Candy Shop (50 Cent Cover) [YSI]

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Bonus:

So The Fray covered Kanye’s Heartless and I do honestly think they’ve done a good job with it. It’s definitely worth a listen to hear a real singer take the lyrics, get rid of the autotune and add that bit of soul that the song calls for. I can appreciate Kanye’s original and the whole autotune concept of 808s and Heartbreaks but The Fray have stepped it up just a little more with this cover.

The Fray – Heartless (Kanye West Cover) [YSI]

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Alice In Wonderland needs a song as trippy as the movie/book. Here’s a 1967 Jefferson Airplane song based very strongly on Lewis Carroll’s novel. I’ve also posted the new cover of the song by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals released this year for Tim Burton’s newest reinvention of the story. The new compilation album released with the film, “Almost Alice,” is available here.

Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit (1967) [YSI]

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Grace Potter and the Nocturnals – White Rabbit (2010) [YSI]

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Found this cover online and having already fallen in love with the original, I figured I had to give this a listen and yes, I liked it just as much. What’s next? The Steve Aoki remix to this cover? That could be fantastic.

Here’s a write-up from TheMusicNinja:

The band is comprised of classically trained lead singer, Derek Stephens and hip-hop/electronic influenced producer Frank Eybsen.

The cover of Kid CuDi’s Pursuit of Happiness began as a joke after a long night of drinking, and is their introduction song to the world. They plan “leak” a couple more tracks our way from their upcoming EP so be sure to check back!

Barbara – Pursuit Of Happiness (Kid Cudi Cover) [alt]

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