There are musicians and then there are musicians who can pull off a faithful and original live performance of a complex song.

I can’t tell you how much it pains me that he’s not coming through TX. There are few performers who I would pay top dollar to see and Jónsi is one of them.

Jónsi’s solo album Go is the musical equivalent of watching Spring burst forth in fast-forward. Stream the album in it’s entirety on NPR.

This morning we’ve been listening to the new Gorillaz album Plastic Beach. A coworker sent me a video for one of their singles, “Stylo”, and happily enough it turned out to be for one of the tracks that caught my attention the most. Unfortunately embedding has been disabled for this video (BOOOO!!) so visit the video in HD on YouTube and be amazed by the beat, 3D, storyline, and Bruce Willis!

Incidentally, I’m in love with the the typeface used on the word “Stylo” above. Anyone know which one it is or is it custom?

This week my meetings have been low and interruptions at a minimum, so I’ve been spending a good amount of time working and listening to music. Several months ago my brother sent me another mix of songs for me to listen to and I haven’t really been giving them much attention until recently. They’re all great and it’s hard to nail down which ones to share, but here are a few tracks that stood out to me:

Flunk – “On My Balcony”

Flunk – “Six Seven Times”

Frou Frou – “Hear Me Out”

Lali Puna – “Bi-Pet”

Thievery Corporation – “The Mirror Conspiracy”

Red House Painters – “Void”

I can’t wait to watch this DVD. To have been at that concert in Hyde Park would have been absolutely incredible! This article on Pitchfork shows the set list from the show, which looks just fantastic.

The other day Joshua Blankenship tweeted a link to Jamie Cullum’s cover of Rihanna’s “Don’t Stop The Music”. He was impressed by the cover. I had never heard of Jamie Cullum and I’m somewhat familiar with Rihanna’s catalogue (”Under my umbrella…ella…ella…eh…eh…eh), but I do enjoy cover songs when they’re done by an artist who’s music is substantially different from that of the original.

Watching Jamie’s version got me thinking about other cover songs I’ve heard that were equally impressive, especially for their creative interpretation. Here’s Jamie’s video for “Don’t Stop The Music” plus 3 others that I enjoy. I’d also love to hear of any that you enjoy, so leave me a comment.

“Don’t Stop The Music” – Jamie Cullum (original by Rihanna)
After hearing this song I’m inclined to check out more of Jamie’s stuff. I hear his style is jazzy, which is alright by me. Plus he’s British, so double bonus!

“Hey Ya” – Obadiah Parker (original by Outcast)
I love the fact that this is acoustic and sung by a guy who looks about as far removed from Andre 3000 as you could get. Obadiah (if that’s his name) sings this song with such heartfelt conviction that it truly feels like he’s the one who wrote this song to begin with.

“All is Full of Love ” – Death Cab for Cutie (Original by Björk)
This video is a fan-made video. There is a video of Death Cab performing this song live in 2001 (back when I saw them perform it in a total dive of a venue) but the quality is poor and I prefer this album version. Let it be know that I still prefer Björk’s original, but Death Cab’s cover is great, especially the drumbeat.

“Mad World” – Gary Jules (Original by Tears for Fears)
I became familiar with this song when I heard it used in Joseph Kosinski’s (who I’ve written about before) brilliantly directed video for Gears of War. It’s mood is melancholic, but paired with a beautiful video directed by Michel Gondry. When I first heard this song I didn’t know it was a cover, but recently found out that Tears for Fears wrote it in the 80’s. Their version is nowhere near as emotional and in my opinion total crap.