Mates of State - Crushes

1. Laura (Girls)
2. Son et Lumiere (The Mars Volta)
3. Sleep the Clock Around (Belle & Sebastian)
4. Technicolor Girls (Death Cab for Cutie)
5. Long Way Home (Tom Waits)
6. Love Letter (Nick Cave)
7. Second Hand News (Fleetwood Mac)
8. 17 Pink Sugar Elephants (Vashti Bunyan)
9. Roller Coaster Ride (Dear Nora)
10. True Love Will Find You in the End (Daniel Johnston)

Crushes (The Covers Mixtape) is the sixth full-length release by husband/wife duo Mates of State. It was released digitally via iTunes as well as from the band's website on June 15, 2010. As stated in the title, the album is the duo's first mixtape. On the band's website, they explained the reason for the mixtape's creation. "We've been talking about doing a covers record for a long time. We'd hear a great song at 2 AM while driving the straight line from one part of Texas to the next, and all we'd want to do is play that song as if we had written it." The album was recorded and produced by Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel, making it their first self-produced record to date. The album was mixed by Peter Katis (The National, Interpol, Frightened Rabbit, Jónsi), a long time collaborator of the Mates of State...www.wikipedia.org

In Flagranti - Brash & Vulgar

01. She Bend Each Leg Alternately
02. Brash & Vulgar
03. A Little Something 'Extra'?
04. I Can Thrill & Delight (Tatiana Ilinas Vocal)
05. A Piece Of False Morality
06. Black & Grey Stripped Trousers (Gabouchka Vocal)
07. Svelte Blonde (Simone Van Dijken Vocal)
08. Pick A Trick
09. It Was Like Nothing Before Or Since
10. I Hadn't Screwed Around Before
11. Ohh, I'll Have To Lose Wait Luv
12. How Did The Affair End?

Another sexy cover by Alex Goor and you know that you're about to be hit with another dose of sleazy disco-porn from In Flagranti. I've been feeling the title track for awhile now with its slow building layers of pulsating synths and dirty drums. If you've been digging anything remotely disco related then this record is for you. "A Piece Of False Morality" reminds of some late night jam with heavy quantities of sweat and slap bass goodness. Things get all torn up on "Black & Grey Stripped Trousers" as Gabouchka spits death disco style over rocking drums punctuated with growling organ stabs. The record takes a turn for the dark disco house sound that's been making dance floors sweaty with "I Hadn't Screwed Around Before." With the quantity of material that In Flagranti has been releasing it's refreshing to see that the quality has not suffered at all. The dirt and the grit are still there and they seem to stretch out their sound with every record. 12 tracks in all...www.turntablelab.com

Iron and Wine - Around The Well

Disc 1
1. Dearest Forsaken
2. Morning
3. Loud as Hope
4. Peng! 33
5. Sacred Vision
6. Friends They Are Jewels
7. Hickory
8. Waitin' for a Superman
9. Swans and the Swimming
10. Call Your Boys
11. Such Great Heights

Disc 2
1. Communion Cups & Someone's Coat
2. Belated Promise Ring
3. God Made the Automobile
4. Homeward, These Shoes
5. Love Vigilantes
6. Sinning Hands
7. No Moon
8. Serpent Charmer
9. Carried Home
10. Kingdom of the Animals
11. Arms of a Thief
12. The Trapeze Swinger

On May 19, 2009 Iron and Wine will issue Around the Well (Sub Pop), a 2-CD/3-LP collection of rare tracks ranging from out-of-print to never-before-released. In support of Around the Well Iron and Wine will be performing ten intimate shows in five cities. Each individual show will be wholly unique, as Iron and Wine will turn the set list over to the fans to create. In addition, Iron and Wine have begun work on the follow-up to The Shepherd’s Dog and plan to release a new album in spring, 2010.

The tracks collected on Around the Well span from Iron and Wine’s earliest sessions which yielded the band’s debut (2002’s The Creek Drank the Cradle) through material recorded for 2007’s The Shepherd’s Dog. The double-disc collection is broken up into two sections. The first half is an assortment of hushed home recordings, unedited and raw, and the second highlights moments captured in the confines of proper studios with the help of other musicians, friends and engineers. The album’s title comes from a line in the song “The Trapeze Swinger,” a fan favorite which was written for and included in the movie In Good Company. Three more songs written and recorded for the film finally make their appearance here as well: “Belated Promise Ring,” “God Made the Automobile” and “Homeward, These Shoes.” Around the Well also brings together hard to find covers such as The Flaming Lips’ “Waitin’ for a Superman” and New Order’s “Love Vigilantes,” along with one of Iron and Wine’s earliest originals, “Sacred Vision,” which appeared on a compilation for Sound Collector magazine...www.ironandwine.com

Cheyenne Mize and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy - Among the Gold

1. Silver Threads
2. Love’s Old Sweet Song
3. Beautiful Dreamer
4. Kiss Me Again
5. Let Me Call You Sweetheart
6. Only a Dream

Collaboration of covers from the years 1874-1913. Pretty cool idea, unique sound too with the blend of old-timey vocal lines and folky guitars.
These older tunes are elegant, focused, and beautifully spun. Like a story that just keeps getting better with age, Among the Gold places us squarely in the past and present — drifting on a hushed sunbeam of song.

Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers!

01 Quasi: "Beautiful Things" (3 Ds cover)
02 Les Savy Fav : "Precision Auto" ( Superchunk cover)
03 The Shins: "Plenty Is Never Enough" (Tenement Halls cover)
04 St. Vincent and the National: "Sleep All Summer" (Crooked Fingers cover)
05 Broken Social Scene: "Complications" (The Clean cover)
06 Ryan Adams: "Like a Fool" ( Superchunk cover)
07 Bright Eyes: "Papa Was a Rodeo" (Magnetic Fields cover)
08 Lavender Diamond: "New Ways of Living" (Destroyer cover)
09 The Apples in Stereo: "King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 3" (Neutral Milk Hotel cover)
10 Laura Cantrell: "Cowboy on the Moon" ( Lambchop cover)
11 Bill Callahan: "Santa Maria" (Versus cover)
12 Barbara Manning: "Through With People" ( Portastatic cover)
13 The Mountain Goats: "Drug Life" (East River Pipe cover)
14 The New Pornographers: "Don't Destroy This Night" (Rock*A*Teens cover)
15 Tracey Thorn and Jens Lekman : "Yeah! Oh, Yeah!" (Magnetic Fields cover)
16 The Hive Dwellers: "My Noise" ( Superchunk cover)
17 Ted Leo & the Pharmacists: "The Numbered Head" (Robert Pollard cover)
18 Okkervil River: "All You Little Suckers" (East River Pipe cover)
19 Death Cab for Cutie: "Kicked In" ( Superchunk cover)
20 Times New Viking: "Neighborhood #1" (Arcade Fire cover)

Merge is twenty years old. Part of the larger "Score!" subscription-based box set, this CD is an amazing collection of songs spanning the label's existence, covered by some of the most popular (non-Merge) indie bands around, such as Quasi, Les Savy Fav, The Shins, Ryan Adams, Bright Eyes, The New Pornographers, Okkervil River, Death Cab For Cutie, Times New Viking, and many more. This collection is the first of only two commercially available pieces from the box set. Limited to 7,500 copies...www.mergerecords.com

War Child presents Heroes

1. Beck - Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat (Bob Dylan cover)

2. The Kooks - Victoria (The Kinks cover)
3. The Hold Steady - Atlantic City (Bruce Springsteen cover)

4. Hot Chip - Transmission (Joy Division cover) 

5. Lily Allen feat. Mick Jones - Straight To Hell (The Clash cover)
6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Sheena Is A Punk Rocker (The Ramones cover)
7. Franz Ferdinand - Call Me (Blondie cover)
8. Duffy - Live And Let Die (Paul McCartney cover)
9. Estelle - Superstition (Stevie Wonder cover)
10. Rufus Wainwright - Wonderful & Song For Children (Brian Wilson cover)
11. Scissor Sisters - Do The Strand (Roxy Music cover)
12. Peaches -  Search And Destroy (Iggy Pop cover)
13. Adam Cohen-  Take This Waltz (Leonard Cohen cover)
14. Elbow - Running To Stand Still (U2 cover)
15. The Like - You Belong To Me (Elvis Costello cover)
16. TV On The Radio - Heroes (David Bowie cover)

So, The War Child International charity asked Bruce Springsteen to pick any song of his and then pick the artist to cover it. Who wants to hear The Hold Steady do “Atlantic City?”I do. The album is called Heroes, it comes out February 24, and has some other things you might wanna hear; Duffy doing “Live and Let Die,” Estelle doing “Superstition,” Hot Chip doing “Transmission,” and TV on the Radio doing Bowie’s “Hereos” to give it the title track...www.mypoprocks.com

Sweetheart: Our Favourite Artists Sing Their Favourite Long Songs

01 Death Cab for Cutie - Love Song (Cure cover)
02 Katy Perry - Black and Gold (Sam Sparro cover)
03 DeVotchKa - Hot Burrito #1 (I'm Your Toy) (Flying Burrito Brothers cover)
04 Department of Eagles - Love Me (Elvis Presley cover)
05 Jessica Lea Mayfield - Words of Love (Buddy Holly cover)
06 Ben Bridwell - Your Love Is Forever (George Harrison cover)
07 Kate Tucker - I'm on Fire (Bruce Springsteen cover)
08 Rogue Wave - Maps (Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover)
09 A.C. Newman - Take on Me (a-ha cover)
10 Jem - Yellow (Coldplay cover)
11 Richard Hawley - Early Morning Rain (Gordon Lightfoot cover)
12 Daniel Martin Moore - I Hear Music (Billie Holiday cover)
13 She & Him - I Put a Spell on You (Screamin' Jay Hawkins cover)
14 Lila Downs - My One and Only Love (Frank Sinatra cover)

For you to be in any way remotely amped about this story, the following things have to not make you want to barf: Starbucks, Valentine's Day, NPR-sounding MOR indie, Katy Perry blatantly grabbing for indie cred, cutesy fake-vintage cover art, the idea of anyone covering Coldplay for anything other than a joke, love in general. 

Still with me? On January 30, Starbucks Entertainment will release Sweetheart: Our Favorite Artists Sing Their Favorite Love Songs. Starbucks already pulled this trick in 2005, and apparently the world demanded a sequel. 
The tracklist includes A.C. Newman's previously reported cover of a-ha's "Take on Me", Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses covering George Harrison, Department of Eagles doing a Leiber and Stoller song made famous by Elvis, Rogue Wave doing the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and that Katy Perry cover of Sam Sparro's "Black and Gold" that lit up the mp3 blogs a few months back. 
Also, both halves of the newly engaged indie supercouple Ben Gibbard and Zooey Deschanel will be represented here via the Death Cab and She & Him selections, and maybe they'll be singing to each other because awww. (They're covering songs which, respectively, 311 and Marilyn Manson have already had their way with. Make of that what you will.)...www.pitchforkmedia.com

Headless Heroes - The Silence of Love

01. True Love Will Find You In The End 

02. Just One Time 

03. Here Before 

04. Just Like Honey 

05. To You 

06. Blues Run The Game 

07. Hey, Who Really Cares? 

08. Nobody's Baby Now 

09. The North Wind Blew South 

10. See My Love

With an under-loved folk singer (Alela Diane), a bunch of top-notch musos (Joey Waronker, Josh Klinghoffer, etc) and a covers album full of lost classics and obscure gems, what could possibly go wrong?

Not much, actually. This is a tasteful and entirely pleasant run-through of great songs from the likes of Vashti Bunyan, Daniel Johnston, the Jesus and Mary Chain and I Am Kloot. The only thing missing is one moment of jaw-dropping, risk-taking audacity...www.indepedent.co.uk

Guilt By Association Vol. 2

1. My Brightest Diamond - Tainted Love (originally done by Gloria Jones)
2. The Bloodsugars - Self-Control (by Laura Branigan)
3. Robbers on High Street - Cool It Now (by New Edition)
4. Frightened Rabbit - Set You Free (by N-Trance)
5. Matt Pond PA - I'm Not Okay (by My Chemical Romance)
6. Takka Takka - In the Air Tonight (by Phil Collins)
7. Kaki King - I Think She Knows (by Justin Timberlake)
8. Francis And The Lights - Can't Tell Me Nothing (by Kanye West)
9. Lowry - Africa (by Toto)
10. The Forms - We Didn't Start The Fire (by Billy Joel)
11. Rafter - If You Leave (by Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark)
12. Cassettes Won't Listen - Need You Tonight (by INXS)
13. Jukebox the Ghost - It's A Beautiful Life (by Ace of Base)
14. Max Vernon - I Kissed a Girl (by Kate Perry)

Cover your faces while you cover your favorites: it's time for a sequel to Guilt by Association, the 2007 comp from Engine Room Recordings that had folks like Will Oldham, Devendra Banhart, and Superchunk totally putting their cred on the line bytaking on an eyebrow-raising bunch of popular tunes.

For round two, the comp seems to have evolved from a collection of covers of guilty pleasures to an unabashed celebration of pop, probably since nobody should ever feel ashamed for liking something (unless that something is Ted Nugent in 2008).

Participants this time around include the My Brightest Diamond, Frightened Rabbit, Kaki King, Rafter, Takka Takka, the Forms, and Matt Pond PA, while the material ranges from 1980s classics such as "In the Air Tonight", "Tainted Love", and "If You Leave" to cuts from Ace of Base, Kanye West, Justin Timberlake, and even Katy Perry.

Guilt by Association Vol. 2 hits stores on CD come February 17, but anxious sorts can actually score the thing right now via iTunes. You can also stream the set here, and download an MP3 of My Brightest Diamond's "Tainted Love" cover below. No really, go ahead, we swear we won't tell a soul. ;-)...www.pitchforkmedia.com