SHREYA BOSE
5 best
covers of
Covers are an interesting business. Superficially, they are a tribute to an
artist and their work. The performer expresses open adoration, but no cover
is worth the exertion if the performer does not leave their artistic fingerprint.
A great cover combines both recreation and vision. The best become
independently acclaimed pieces in their own right. You don’t love The Iron
Maidens because they are copying Dickinson and Harris. You love them
because they are adding to beloved favourites.
2018 saw some pretty incredible covers bloom. From reorienting Tool
to a brass band to adapting the year’s biggest Korean pop hit to highly
respectable heavy metal standards, covers spanned the sonic spectrum in
reckless and unexpected ways.
Stay (Rihanna cover) - Cat Power:
I always preferred the Thirty Seconds
to Mars cover to the original, but
Jared Leto and his lot have nothing
on Power’s unassuming resonance.
While the original is upfront about it's
passive-aggressive and dysfunctional
distress, the cover understates the
need and builds compulsion. Seduction
lies in the fact that Power sings it as a
curious exploration of her own need.
She sings for no one as ardently as she
does for herself.
Right in two (Tool cover) - Beard of
Harmony ft. Yann Phayphet:
Two guitars and an upright bass
ferment one of Tool’s most powerfully
crafted pieces into a pared down,
sparse, almost minimal avatar.
Historically, Tool is known for
excessive soundcrafting that never
fails to bewilder a listener. To
transplant that sensibility into a few
strings and a set of brooding vocals is
a feat of artistic engineering worthy of
repeated applause.
Fake Lover (BTS cover) - Lies Behind Your Eyes:
The biggest boyband on the planet released one of the biggest songs on the
planet in 2018. And it was so good that a Korean pop group managed to get
prime spots on Ellen, Jimmy Fallon, America’s Got Talent even the American
Music Awards (first K-pop band to appear on any of those shows). BTS leaves
in their wake millions of screaming fans, intense visual appeal and pop-rap
that never fails to go full earworm.
All that deconstructed and regrafted with a few choice shreds, a sinewed
drumline and competent vocal accompaniments - and you behold a result
immune to criticism. Additionally, the thought that K-pop can go metal gives
us faith for all kinds of harmonious unity, even that of pineapple and pizza.
Heart Shaped Box (Nirvana cover) - Ramin Djawadi:
The eerie psychographics of Westworld emerge from
depictions of questionable humanity. Most often, that
which appears human is the opposite, and yet all too
familiar. The human perpetrates immense brutality, and
then claim superiority on the virtue of their ostensible
“humanity”. That which is least human is most oppressed,
and most deserving of the humanity it is denied.
An orchestral rendition of Nirvana’s gashing classic
reflects this predilection towards the uncanny. Composer
Djawadi sandpapers the growl of grunge, and translates
the minor third riff into voiceless exhilaration. Cobain’s
characteristic frenzy is not lost, and the whole things
builds as quickly as it falls, terminating with the quiet
beauty of lifeless peace.
The Pot (Tool cover) - Brass Against: A collective of artists
intending to question and disrupt political and social
complacency, Brass Against initially became noteworthy
for their Rage Against The Machine covers. With good
reason too, since very little on the internet matches their
percussion game.
Taking trumpets, saxophones and stormbringer drums
to the prog-psychedelic abundance of Tool turned out
exactly as vision-shifting as it sounds. Sophia Urista’s
voice is the clarion call to revolution, and she could
rouse entire parades and rallies to protest hypocrisy and
deception with Maynard James Keenan’s gut-wrenching,
bone-clawing lyricism. The track is a wonder, compelling
adrenaline-laced spasms driven by righteous rage.
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
19