Sorry for the unannounced break in programming folks; I'll make it up to you with some FREE STUFF! 10 years on from the seminal release of 'Is This It' (still just about my favourite album of all time), Stereogum have released an intriguing package; 'Is This It' covered by (mostly) obscure up-and-comers. As is to be expected, several of these songs are sacrilegiously appalling- avoid Owen Pallett's Vitamin String Quartet take on normally-stunning 'Hard to Explain', as well as Computer Magic's cheap 'n' cheerful 'Take it or Leave it', a neutered take on a song which, in its original form, sums up all that is great about The Strokes: their aggression, concision and undeniable cool.
The Greatest Live TV Performance Ever?
In truth, you'd be hard-pressed to say that any of these tracks improve upon the originals, but some do stand up to close inspection. Frankie Rose's gentle, pulsing cover of 'Soma' is kept fresh by use of Caribou-esque chillwave synths. Just as good is 'Last Night', by the- let's face it- hilariously named Morning Benders, which benefits from a bizarrely effective Jamaican-LCD Soundsystem arrangement. Best of all, however, is Real Estate's take on 'Barely Legal'; the song's anarchic, self-flagellating lyrics become an ode to laziness in the haze of heavily-reverbed vocals and guitars that can only faithfully be described as "woozy".
The compilation is worth downloading for that track alone: it can be found available for free download here.
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