#Soko is just way too naive

[raynereplays]

Gonna do a quick one cause I can’t sleep

The theme for this one is...covers I really like!

1. Tonight, Tonight by Passion Pit

The Smashing Pumpkins are a hit or miss band for me and while I like the original, Passion Pit made this song into something that feels like pure magic and fun.

2. Honey Moon by Mac Demarco

I honestly don’t even know the original or how I feel about Mac Demarco singing in japanese but it’s just gorgeous and beautiful, the instrumentals remind me of being somewhere like an empty mall, or driving really slowly at night with the windows down on a long stretch of highway in the desert, maybe also playing animal crossing late at night. The feeling I get listening to this reminds me a lot of a cassette of store background music called Watering a Flower that Haruomi Hosono did in 1984.

(Upon literally googling this song 2 seconds ago I realized the reason it reminds me of that is because the song is originally by Haruomi Hosono. Check him out too, my favorite song of his is probably Platonic, but I haven’t done a deep dive on his music)

3. This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) by Kishi Bashi

This is originally by the Talking Heads and I love it as well but it’s a little more subdued and evokes a totally different mood than the Kishi Bashi version, which has some incredibly gorgeous orchestral instrumentation and his voice just swells when he sings it in a way that feels triumphant. I would compare the 2 to like, dancing in a living room quietly with someone you love vs walking down the aisle at a wedding.

4. Wicked Game by Widowspeak

Orginally by Chris Isaak, this song is one I love in general that I think is hard to do badly but I think the vocalist just nails this song and makes you feel the quiet hopelessness of it whereas Chris Isaak’s version doesn’t make me feel like he’s literally thinking of someone while he sings it. They also make it their own by playing up the twangy guitar and somehow making it feel more stripped down than the original though it’s not really. I don’t have much to say about it, it’s a good song to absorb while you just lay in the dark and stare at the ceiling.

5. Love Will Tear Us Apart by Fall Out Boy

It’s Fall Out Boy, y’all know why this is here.

Really though, Ian Curtis’s voice can be kind of an acquired taste and his vocals are more droning in a way that’s like “I’ve been sad about this so long I can barely work up any other emotion” which goes very well with the instrumentation of the original version but this cover is pretty much just acoustic with some moments where the drum kicks in and it just builds while Patrick fucking wails the lyrics and it’s more like “I am so sad about this and simultaneously a little angry.”

A few honorable mentions that I might expand on at some point...

1. Somebody Else by Totem (Originally by The 1975)

2. Blue Moon by Chromatics (Originally by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart but there are a million versions of it)

3. Girls on Film by Soko (Originally by Duran Duran)

4. Time after Time by Iron & Wine (Originally by Cyndi Lauper)

5. Brand New Colony by Handsome Ghost (Originally by The Postal Service)