A Few Crazy Covers: My Morning Jacket, Hall & Oates, Foreigner

I didn’t know much about the female-led indie pop quintet Lucius before coming across this cover a few weeks ago.

Then I stumbled across the band at ACL and was really impressed by their track “Until We Get There”.

It’s on their debut album “Wildewoman”, released nearly one year ago, and they put out the cover of My Morning Jacket’s beautiful ballad “Wonderful” to celebrate the occasion.

Crazy 80’s Flashback: Ryan Adams Covers Foreigner

If there’s ANY artist who should tackle the epic 80’s balled “I Want to Know What Love Is”, it’s Ryan Adams. I mean, the man knows “heartbreak and pain” like no other.

He takes the track by Foreigner seriously and takes his time, slowing it down so every word hits. And without the bombastic instruments (oh, the 80’s…) behind him, it resonates in an entirely different way.

FUN FACT: Ryan will be releasing his live session for KCRW on Spotify on October 22!

Actor Turned Rapper Crazy: Martin Starr Covers Hall & Oates

When actor Martin Starr (Silicon Valley, Knocked Up, Freaks and Geeks) visited KCRW last week to tape an episode of the Guest DJ Project (airing next month!), I found out that he also moonlights as a rapper, performing alongside a LA trio Common Rotation, featuring fellow actor Adam Busch, Jordan Katz and soul man Eric Kufs.

He mentioned covering “Rich Girl” and since Hall & Oates are headed to SoCal, I thought we would celebrate the occasion by sharing this.

Stream it here: https://soundcloud.com/m-starr-and-co

H&O will be at the Greek on October 26 and the Santa Barbara Bowl THIS Sunday, October 19.

A few other recently released covers that deserve a listen:

SXSW favorite Young & Sick released an excellent cover of Telepopmusik’s “Breathe”.

Puss n Boots (featuring Norah Jones) take on the Wilco classic “Jesus, Etc”

Alt-J cover the Bill Withers classic “Lovely Day” as a bonus track on their new album. You can hear it streaming on Spotify.