Sleigh bells ring kiddies. Are you listening? Seriously, are you listening? Pay attention to me! Christmas is the time of year where we gather with our family, sequester those members we like and force them, along with all our bestest buddies to listen to the music we want to rant about. So that's what I'ma do. Let's start with what might end up being the only holiday themed song of the bunch.
There is no one more festive than Bootsy. True story: this version kills the original.
The way I see it, cover versions mostly pale in comparison (Fig. 1) to the original. If a song was good enough to be super popular then guy who recorded it first probs did an okay job. But then there’s the idea that what makes a song a hit is people's being able to follow along with what’s going to happen up to a point, and then being surprised (Like those were surprising italics. Sneaky devils). You love remixes, when they do something freaky but not too freaky. So something familiar, plus things that make you go hmm equals something you like. Thats how covers keep from being redundant, yes? Maybe? Sure!
All this by way of saying: Cover Duel!
Hot Chip picks up points for hitting on the emotionally busted down core of the song. They’re British, yeah? So they can sound miserable, right?
Also, that video. That’s a whole bunch right there.
But to my mind, that’s just cover as novelty. This here? This is brutally good. This is music that can actually make people feel better about themselves and life. Maybe I’m just a soft touch when it comes to horns and acapella break-downs (I am) but this just kills me. Also, it’s an ass-load sexier than sad robots.
Incidentally Hot 8 Brass Band are all round badass. Check their myspace.
