RYAN ADAMS - Shake It Off
Of all the career choices Ryan Adams has made, rerecording Taylor Swift's 1989 in its entirety, in the style of The Smiths, ranks... well, somewhere around the middle. (The former Whiskeytown singer has previously recorded a blues version of The Strokes' Is This It.) As several commentators have noted, however, his brooding, downbeat version of the album's perkiest, most upbeat anthem owes far less to Morrissey and Marr than it does to Springsteen's I'm On Fire.
FATHER JOHN MISTY - Blank Space
Right, this is where it turns into an indie version of Jimmy Fallon's Wheel of Musical Impressions. Father John Misty here responds to Adams' efforts by recording Taylor Swift's Blank Space in the style of the Velvet Underground. And his Lou Reed impersonation is astonishingly accurate. Not being the most avid Swift fan in the world, I'm unfamiliar with the source material. So if you'd told me this track was a lost Velvets outtake, honestly, I'd probably have believed you. Unfortunately, the tracks have since been taken down by Father John, who says he was visited in a dream by Lou Reed. Read more about the strange visitation here.
THE RADIO DEPT - This Repeated Sodomy
The release of The Radio Dept.'s first single in five years couldn't be better timed. "Establish equality," pleads Johan Duncason. "Instead of this repeated sodomy." David Cameron, are you listening?
MARY BURKE - Fool For Loving You
Finally, the matriarch behind country n' Irish YouTube sensations Crystal Swing has ditched the dead weight and gone solo. Mary Burke's debut video finds her home alone, skulling vino and poring over video highlights of a relationship gone bad. Why did the relationship fail, Mary? Was it your penchant for bizarre ice-cream eating rituals? Your habit of laughing maniacally at odd moments? Or the fact a third party was stalking you both, recording camcorder footage of the entire awkward courtship?
