Wow. It’s really happening.

Great remixes of King of Limbs tracks. Wish I could find it on vinyl.

If you look at the posts here on Station 18 1/2, we’ve seem to, more often than not, talk about covers.  Covers can be hit or miss.  If a band plays a cover note for note, the line begins to blur between homage and karaoke.  If a band veers too far astray, they can be hailed as geniuses for the direction that they took or pariahs for flat out butchering a song.  That said, I present to you “She’s Not There”, the Neko Case-Nick Cave duet of The Zombies’ classic for the upcoming season of True Blood.  This cover strips away Rod Argent’s keyboard sound (the hook in the original) until a piano solo at around the 1:40 mark.  Using the lazy music journalist’s “sound like X meets Y” technique, this sounds like Grinderman goes to New Orleans.  I think that’s a good thing.  Neko Case does not vocally overpower the verses while Nick Cave provides some much needed Nick Cave creepiness to the chorus.  Count me in the “DIG IT!” camp!

Stream “She’s Not Here” by Neko Case & Nick Cave here!

This past weekend, I had the honor of attending the wedding of two of my friends in Roscoe, Georgia.  During dinner, my wife and I were assigned to the same table as the wedding DJ and the wedding band.  The wedding band happened to be Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, fresh off of their appearance at Bonnaroo.  Sallie and I talked about Deer Tick and their Deervana alter ego, Middle Brother, and Wye Oak.  Her drummer, Ford, and I geeked out over mathematics.  The guitarist, Jeff, and I talked after the show about his channeling of John Prine on one of their covers.  They also covered Tom Waits’ “God’s Away on Business.”  Talking with Tyler, the bassist, after the show, I made him take my money and had a CD for the road!  This is the video to the first single off of Dirty Radio - “I Swear.”  I dare you to not find yourself tapping your toes, bopping your head, and dancing in front of your computer screen.  You can’t do it, can you?

Radiohead debut a brand new song in their latest From The Basement recording session. Entitled Staircase, it features a jittery back beat from Phil Selway and guest artist Clive Deamer underneath a steady build of synths and simple staccato lyrics from Thom Yorke, ultimately ending in a head-bobbing jam with Yorke Ooh-ing and Johnny Greenwood supplying some very In Rainbows-esque guitar licks. I wouldn’t be surprised if this one winds up as a B side on a future single, since the band is already set to release a series of 12″ remixes from The King of Limbs throughout the rest of the year.

Their last Basement session, following 2007′s gorgeous In Rainbows, was a real treat and from the look and sound of this video, we’re in for some more sweet fan service.

Via Pitchfork and Dead Air Space.