Have you heard about what Beck is up to these day? It’s super cool. He calls it Record Club: “is an informal meeting of various musicians to record an album in a day“. He brings together a wide variety of artists to record a classic album in its entirety, all in one day. Beck is the coolest. For real.

I love the creativity involved in this project. And the musicians involved! The collaborations are pretty neat. Beck even put together little videos for each of the tracks. Check out a sampling of my favourite offerings from the 3 albums worth of material Beck has released through Record Club.

The Velvet Underground & Nico

For the first album of the project Beck brought together Nigel Godrich one of Radiohead’s producers, drummer Joey Waronker, Beck’s keyboardist Brian Lebarton, Bram Inscore, and Thorunn Magnusdottir, among others to cover the 1967 album The Velvet Underground & Nico.

Heroin (Alt version)

All Tomorrows Parties

Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico “All Tomorrow’s Parties” from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Songs Of Leonard Cohen

Beck brought together Devendra Banhart, Ben, Andrew and Will from MGMT, Andrew from Wolfmother and Binki from Little Joy, among others to cover every song from the 1967 album The Songs of Leonard Cohen.

Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye

Winter Lady

Record Club: Songs Of Leonard Cohen “Winter Lady” from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Skip Spence’s Oar

Wilco, Jamie Lidell and Feist came together with Beck and others to redo Alexander “Skip” Spence’s 1969 album Oar.

Books of Moses

Little Hands

Record Club: Skip Spence “Little Hands” from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

If you are left wanting more, head over to Beck’s Record Club!

Check out this video of Mumford & Sons rendition of Vampire Weekend’s Cousins they did for BBC Live Lounge.

And a rip of the audio for your portable pleasure:
Mumford & Sons – Cousins

Florence & the Machine hit up Ibiza this year… I wasn’t there, but I can say that it was bloody beautiful!

Check out this recording of the powerful songstress belting out her version of You go the love at Glastonbury this year.

And don’t miss this cover/remix hybrid of the Florence & the Machine cover by The XX, because it’s pretty neat.

True love will find you in the end
You’ll find out just who was your friend
Don’t be sad, I know you will,
But don’t give up until
True love finds you in the end.

This is a promise with a catch
Only if you’re looking will it find you
‘Cause true love is searching too
But how can it recognize you
Unless you step out into the light?
But don’t give up until
True love finds you in the end.

True Love Will Find You in the End by Daniel Johnston

The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered (2004)

True Love Will Find You in the End by Headless Heroes (my favourite)

True Love Will Find You in the End by Jeff Tweedy & Jay Bennett

True Love Will Find You in the End by Beck

I’m completely against bottled water, as it’s a waste, and the tap water where I come from is delicious! Still though, this ad from Evian is pretty neat:

Those crazy babies are getting down to The  Sugarhill Gang’s 1979 classic track redone by Dan the Automator, featuring Chali 2 Na, & Domino & Casual from the  Hieroglyphics.

Download here: Rapper’s Delight 2009 – Dan the Automator

Buy @ Amazon:

For more info on the track, check out the RappersDelight09 mySpace page, yes, the song has a mySpace page.

Way Down in the Hole – M.I.A. with Blaqstarr

This has been out for quite a while, since late last year actually. M.I.A. recruited Blaqstarr to do this very respectable Tom Waits cover. With Tom Wait’s words, M.I.A.’s style and Blaqstarr’s vocals, this track is well-worth posting after the fact!

Apparently the video cost them a whopping $9.95!

The Wolves – Ellie Goulding

Ellie Goulding

Ellie Goulding is an electro-pop darling who is coming  quick on the heals of La Roux and Little Boots. At the tender age of 21, the singer/songwriter from London finds herself working with Frankmusik, and has an eagerly awaited debeut album rumoured to be released sometime this summer.

I absolutely adore Goulding’s version of Wolves by Bon Iver. Her beautiful and unique vocals are layered on top of each other with the accompanyment of a single acoustic guitar, paying tribute to the haunting words of Justin Vernon.

For more on Ellie Goulding, check out the Ellie Goulding tagged posts over at her label’s blog: Neon Gold. She is also pretty active on Twitter (@elliegoulding) if you are into that sort of thing.

In anticipation of their next full length release, Battle for the Sun, Placebo are giving away the title track on the official Placebo website.

Battle for the Sun – Placebo

The new song sounds like classic Placebo, with the unmistakable vocals of Brian Molko over top of slick indie-rock riffs and rhythms. If you are a fan of Placebo, or are looking to get into a new alternative artist, check out Placebo’s new track, and their back catalog.

To contribute to my Cover-licious category a bit here, I’ll post my favourite track by the London trio:

Running Up That Hill – Placebo

Placebo took Kate Bush’s 1985 track and made it raw and full of emotion (not to say Bush’s version wasn’t emotional). The heartbeat sounding baseline that follows Molko’s unique vocals that cry:

And if I only could,
Make a deal with God,
And get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
With no problems

Watch for Placebo on the European festival circuit this summer!