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The Flaming Lips - “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” featuring Miley Cyrus and Moby
The Flaming Lips are a psychedelic rock group from Oklahoma City, formed in 1983. In 2014, they released an album titled With A Little Help From My Fwends, on which they covered every song on the classic Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Each song was completely rearranged and reimagined as a trippy, noisy and sometimes unsettling piece of experimental psychedelic rock, and it provides an interesting take on some familiar songs, and a unique experience overall.
My favorite song on the album is their cover of an extremely recognizable Beatles classic, “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.” The original “Lucy” was notable for its lush instrumentation, its catchy chorus and, probably most of all, its incredibly strange and surreal lyrics. It is a great song and has become one of The Beatles’ biggest hits.
In my opinion, The Flaming Lips’ version does exactly what any good cover is supposed to do; it preserves all of the elements of the original song that made it great, and improves upon all the parts that could be made better. In this case, the lush and serene atmosphere of the verses is kept intact, and even expounded upon with some added instrumentation and ambient noise, while the chorus was completely flipped on its head, made noisy, psychedelic and abrasive but in all of the best possible ways. I recommend this cover to any Beatles fan, but really any music fan, as it is probably the best cover I have heard in quite some time.
Vampire Weekend - “Step” remix featuring Danny Brown, Heems and Despot
The original version of “Step” was one of the more successful singles from Vampire Weekend’s third studio album Modern Vampires of the City. It was released to much success and radio play, which was much deserved, as it is a catchy, fun and well-composed song, as many Vampire Weekend songs are. This remix brings three rappers onto the track for a reimagining of the original, blended with a totally different style, and each rapper offers a quality verse. Danny Brown delivers uncharacteristically personal lyrics on the first verse, and on the second, Heems, a rapper who I did not know prior to hearing this song, really impresses with his flow. Overall, the song is an effective blending of two different styles, and I recommend giving it a listen.
Jet - “Are You Gonna Be My Girl?”
Exonians may recognize this track as the second of the three songs that was played at the halftime show of the E/a football game, and the song that was subsequently stuck in the heads of the entire student body for the next couple of days. Tommy Song and the gang graced the rival schools with a powerful, commanding performance of a song that was already very powerful. The song seems designed to get stuck in your head, with its catchy bassline, commending guitar riffs, fun lyrics and energy-filled vocal delivery. If this song has not already found its way to your playlist after Saturday, it should.