Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Tell me: We both matter, don't we?

I'm not sure if it's the fact that the piano-heavy music and experimental vocals of Jenny Wilson and Regina Spektor keep hitting my iPod's shuffle play lately, but last night I was consumed with the need to listen to some Claudia Brücken (formerly of '80s gothy new-wave bands Propaganda and Act). I know I once posted Propaganda's cover of "Femme Fatale," which I love, but Brücken has paid homage to many artists, especially most recently on her collaboration with minimalist composer Andrew Poppy on their 2005 album Another Language—which was one of my favorite nearly all-cover albums of last year. Fans of Siouxsie, Tori, Kate Bush, the Art of Noise and Yoko Ono (and the aforementioned Wilson and Spektor) and the like: Commence to downloading posthaste.

  • Propaganda "Sorry for Laughing" (Josef K cover)

  • Act "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" (Smiths cover)
    I wasn't aware of the existence of Act until a few years ago, but I stumbled on this cover and was duly impressed with its decidedly strange but intriguing arrangement.

  • Claudia Brücken and Andrew Poppy "Lipstick Vogue" (Elvis Costello cover)

  • Claudia Brücken and Andrew Poppy "Running Up that Hill" (Kate Bush cover)
    Claudia already sounds so much like Kate that I wasn't sure what her point of covering this was... until I heard it. Poppy's arrangement completely shakes it up and I'm left a little awestruck by it.
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