Artist / Active Child
Track / Voice Of An Old Friend
Album / Sun Rooms EP

Voice Of An Old Friend

The project of a choirboy turned indie-pop musican Pat Gross, Active Child has garnered plenty of  complimentary critical praise of late. This stunning rework of Voice Of An Old Friend by Summer Camp, comes complete with samples from ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’, and although not his most recent work, it is some of his finest. The new EP Curtis Lane was released June 1st. 

Artist / Dr. Dog
Track / Heart It Races
Cover / Architecture In Helsinki

Heart It Races

Our friends over at Music Induced Euphoria describe this as one of their “favourite covers ever”.  Back in 2007 Dr. Dog took on the Architecture In Helsinki smash hit, adding their trademark throwback vibe complete with slide guitar and hand-claps. In our humble opinion, this version is far superior to the original.

Artist / Television
Track / Marquee Moon
Album / Marquee Moon

Marquee Moon

An eight-minute epic with complex key changes that allegedly caused the exit of a band member not skilled enough to master it, ‘Marquee Moon’, had to be divided between the two sides of a 7″ record. Aquarium Drunkard have just released a tribute to Television’s sophomore LP, Adventure featuring Local Natives among others.

Artist / Aloe Blacc
Track / I Need A Dollar
Remix / The Killabits

I Need A Dollar

Fans of How To Make It In America will recognise Aloe Blacc‘s soon-to-be classic ‘I Need A Dollar’ from the show’s intro. There’s been a raft of different remixes, but this one stands out as the best (although this Chrome Remix sampling Wu-Tang comes a close second). Also hear Blacc’s latest 7″ release – an outstanding cover of the Velvet Underground classic ‘Femme Fatele‘.  

Artist / The National
Track / Afraid Of Everyone
Album / High Violet

Afraid of Everyone (live)

The National’s live performance on the Late Show last month was exceptional enough to impress the generally impervious Letterman. Between Matt Berninger’s perfectly strained baritone and Sufjan Stevens’ haunting background vocals, it’s the imperfections that make this live version even better than the original (off their latest release High Violet.)