Soundcloud-bound

This post is written as a shout out to one of genius tools which exist in our music industry today: Soundcloud! 

A music start up which was formed by two Germans - and now has offices across continents (London, San Fransisco, Berlin, Sofia) - has become our main choice when it comes to discover new sounds or bands. We choose them over Youtube because we want to only enjoy the sound. When we want to see the visual, we go straight to Youtube. 

We were playing Wet's EP tonight, and when all four songs had been played, Soundcloud gave us non-Wet songs (which means other artists' pieces). This time, all the songs succesfully brought glee to our faces. More over, via their "Recommended" bar, we listened to many new sounds which we never heard of before. 

We found some strange band names - there was a little hard time upon reading that. But as the saying "Don't judge a book by its cover" goes, we think the same principle apply for this matter. "Don't judge the songs by its band's name".

We're gonna post some of the tunes which caught our ears hard below. Some tunes which we picked here deserve more plays. Another note is, couple of them are available for free download! Happy listening! 

Cathedrals - Unbound 

Sir Sly - Miracle




CruiserCruiser - Kidnap Me

BROODS - Pretty Thing

 

Chelsea Lankes - GHOST




Blood Cultures - Indian Summer




Say Lou Lou - Feels Like We Only Go Backwards (Tame Impala Cover)




Francis and the Lights - If They Don't Come Tomorrow

#13 Stranger in Moscow (Tame Impala cover)

Although it's definitely past midnight here, we feel the urge to write this post!

Guess what, we're giving you another cover (again!). And the bad news: we're undeniably (four days) late for this. We discovered Tame Impala's take on "Stranger in Moscow", one of the King of Pop's single which was included in the album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I.

We were about to read the news on SPIN, when our eyes glued to the player upper bar on its site. We then proceeded to play the 7-songs playlist and began reading. The first song is "Stranger in Moscow" and ever since we heard it, we got hooked.

The Australian psychedelic unit successfully change the song's vibe into them. It's like they're putting away the MJ's touch in original version and replace it with Tame-Impala-sound. Also, at the same time, those who were kids in 1990s probably could remember what the song actually was.

To put it in the simplest term: we LOVE it! This is a great example of what cover songs should be like. Up until this post is being written, the 'play' button is repeatedly being clicked, too.

#12 Feels Like We Only Go Backwards

What happens when one of your favorite band cover another your favorite band's song? Ecstatic, it is! That's the feeling we have when we found out Foster the People covered Tame Impala's Feels Like We Only Go Backwards, earlier last month. Yada, yada, again, sorry for the lack update, we just have the time to post it today, that's why.

Foster the People did an acoustic version of the song, and we're okay with that. The vibe doesn't differ far from Tame Impala's take, but Mark's pronunciation make the song more ear-friendly. Plus, you'll hear Mark's recognisable high voices.

#10 Say You'll Be There (MØ's Cover)

We forgot to post this cool cover of Spice Girls' "Say You'll Be There" from MØ. The thing is, we've heard this about two weeks ago. Yes, it is - again - our fault, but we still write it though. You'll no longer find the fast-spelling part and the scream like in original version, instead there are dreamy vocals and soothing sounds. The beat's still there, but it's covered in modern vibe.

Haven't we told you that the track is available for free download? Because it is!



P.S.
MØ does it with full heart because, look at the cover title art! Very 90-ish and reminds us of Spice Girls. We swear, lovin' her work!

#9 Do I Wanna Know?

Being a music listener these days, we are served with wide-range of music and various ways to access it - 8tracks, Youtube, or Spotify - it all depends with where you live and what music streaming application that is able to operate in your country. 

In other way, it becomes easier for us to listen to more interpretations of a song from other musician or artist - not the original performer. Yesterday, we stumbled upon an NME's article of Chvrches' cover of Arctic Monkeys' "Do I Wanna Know?". Quoting NME, the Scottish trio performed it during Triple J's 'Like A Version'. 

Frankly, we never heard any of Chvrches' song. Yep. We were, in a way, hadn't tried to listen to one or two tracks from 'em. That's why we have no idea what they sound alike - till we saw them playing this song. However, we were aware of them, some publications about them and the singer, Lauren Mayberry.

Our reaction? We like it, actually! Despite the familiar Arctic Monkeys' original heavy sound, our ears don't think Chvrches' version is ugly. We even had better understanding through Chvrches' version than Arctic Monkeys' (sorry, guys). NME also wrote Chvrches is "the latest act to cover an Arctic Monkeys song after Jagwar Ma, Katy B and Miley Cyrus in recent months." 

Learning and listening to Chvrches' songs is definitely on our homework list for the following days.

#4 The One That Got Away

Urusan cover meng-cover lagu dari satu musisi bukanlah hal baru dalam industri musik, terutama zaman sekarang, di mana setiap orang bisa dengan mudahnya membuat cover dari lagu yang mereka suka lalu meng-upload-nya ke dunia maya (alternatif media: Soundcloud atau YouTube). Saya sendiri bukan termasuk golongan orang yang menggilai versi-versi baru dari cover lagu tertentu, karena saya sering lebih menyukai versi aslinya. Meskipun harus diakui, ada beberapa lagu yang jadi terdengar jauh lebih menyenangkan dibanding versi aslinya. Selera kembali berbicara di sini, karena preferensi tiap orang berbeda-beda.

The One That Got Away merupakan salah satu lagu berirama ballad dari Katy Perry yang telah beredar di radio sejak awal tahun 2012. Lagu ini sempat menjadi favorit stasiun-stasiun radio Ibu Kota, memiliki frekuensi pemutaran yang kurang lebih sama dengan Someone Like You milik Adele. Saya sendiri belum pernah berinisiatif mencari tahu versi cover dari lagu Katy Perry yang satu ini, namun versi yang dinyanyikan oleh Rivananda Tieshadiona di akun Soundcloud-nya menurut saya bagus dan menyentuh (emosinya dapet, bikin pengen garuk aspal jalanan. Serius). I'm not usually into covers, but this one is an exception. Akan lebih baik jika Katy mendengarkan cover versi Nona ini. Tidak rugi, soalnya bagus (diulang lagi).

Sila dengar di sini, dan biarkan telinga Anda menikmati alunan suaranya. :)



PS. Ey hello! First post after a looong time hiatus! Promise I'll be spending more time to write another music and songs thingy. It feels GOOD to be back, yayness!