Cool Covers: The Shins, Owen Pallett And More

Andrew Youssef

Owen Pallett at Coachella

​[via Pitchfork]
There's been a slew of cool cover songs floating around the interwebz lately; I especially like the A.V. Club's web series "Undercover" and Levi's Levi's Pioneer Sessions. Yesterday I watched Owen Pallett perform a watered-down version of Guided by Voices's "Game of Pricks" on "Undercover", which features bands covering songs chosen by those purveyors of taste at the A.V. Club. And while I said "watered-down," I actually found myself humming Pallett's version in my head today. Watch the video after the jump.


Owen Pallett covers Guided By Voices
The Levi's Pioneer Sessions is another online series that hosts free mp3s of acts covering classic songs. The Dirty Projectors, She & Him, and Nas have all been on the site; today, the Shins' cover of Squeeze's "Goodbye Girl" is on the site. It's the first Shins song that's been out since singer James Mercer reorganized the lineup last year; you can download it on the Levi's site.

I started mucking around the internet for more interesting covers; here's a Kyp Malone (of TV On The Radio) cover of one of my favorite songs of all time, the Talking Heads' "Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place). I want to like it more, but I don't. Which leads me to believe that there aren't many covers that are actually better than the originals, even when it's by really great musicians.