For the past few years Norwegian singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche has been sharing covers of his favorite songs of the year with Stereogum. While his previous selections — like Animal Collective’s “Bluish” and Owen Pallett’s “Lewis Takes Off His Shirt” — have skewed more indie, this year his song of choice is a bit more surprising: Beyoncé’s “Countdown.”
“Obviously, a significant part of this song’s appeal and ecstatic energy comes from the dizzying vocal performance and the mind-blowingly cool production work — elements and talents useless to even attempt replicating (especially not in my father in-law’s basement),” he writes. “But as long as there’s a song underneath, there’s a way.” Listen to his paired down version of “Countdown” here, and let us know what you think in the comments.
Last night, after their massive New York debut to thousands at Madison Square Garden with Depeche Mode, Peter Bjorn & John and Stereogum planned a last-minute gig at the very intimate Cake Shop. They pulled most of their set from early work and a few oddly chosen cover songs, but everyone in the very full house was excited be one of the few just feet away from the band. More images after the jump. Read More »
Everyone knew last Friday’s one-off collaboration between NYC art-rock outfit Dirty Projectors and Icelandic pop institution Björk would be epic. The real question was, HOW big would it be?
Brokered by Stereogum’s Brandon Stosuy, the meeting of the (very weird) minds took place after Projectors’ Dave Longstreth composed a piece — an ode to whales and Mount Wittenberg — specifically for the Icelandic singer. The six-song suite got its premiere at the home of Flavorpill friend Housing Works (a charity bookstore working to help homeless individuals living with AIDS) in front of an intimate audience of about 300.
With the likes of M.I.A., David Byrne, Kieran Hebden, Haley Joel Osment (?), and St. Vincent in attendance, the crowd was almost as interesting as the singers on stage. After the jump, ten images of the event followed by ten anecdotes you won’t see anywhere else (including song descriptions and a report on the wanderings of David Byrne, M.I.A., and a freaky Vincent Gallo look-alike).
When we sent Flavorpill’s music guru ANDREW PHILLIPS the link to Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Singers of All Time his initial response: “It’s like they stopped taking promo CDs in 1992. I mean, this list has a lot of good people, but it has, what, one, two things from the last 25 years? Most of this list could have come out in their 1976 edition. And Nirvana doesn’t count as throwing the kids a bone anymore.”
We’re also mad that there are only TWO WOMEN in the entire top 20 — even if ARETHA FRANKLIN did score the number one slot. While we love Aretha, it begs the question: is she tops just because you’re scared of her?
After the jump find the list [thank you, Stereogum!] that has everyone around here so hot and bothered along with a few of our edits.
