Cover Me Badd

Vitalic - Warm Leatherette (Live)
Tiga - Louder Than A Bomb

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I’m blaming the 3 W’s – weddings, the lovely weather and the World Cup. Anyway, I’ve got a couple of cover versions for you today, from artists both signed to the French dance imprint Different.

First up is French techno maestro Vitalic’s thunderous live rendition of ‘Warm Leatherette’ by The Normal, which was the first ever single released by Mute Records. The Normal was the work of Mute head honcho Daniel Miller and the original, released in 1978, was a Kraftwerk inspired bedroom produced affair that was popularised when Grace Jones covered it in 1980. Vitalic’s version is sung by aliens and driven by an angry bee of a bassline. The track is taken from a 2CD Collectors Edition of Vitalic’s ‘OK Cowboy’, due for release on July 3rd 2006.

From the sublime to the utterly ridiculous. What to say about this then? Montreal producer Tiga covers Public Enemy’s ‘Louder Than A Bomb’. This is an incredibly bad idea. Maybe I’m being a bit po-faced, but even if it’s supposed to be a joke, it’s not a very good one. It sounds like a limp dollop of hip house from the late 1980s or a track even Snap would have rejected for being too lame, and Tiga delivers Chuck D’s enraged raps like a mildly miffed chartered surveyor. If you saw Louis Theroux when he infiltrated the American rap industry, you’ll know this isn’t a million miles away from that. ‘Sexor’, the album from which it’s taken, isn’t bad though, so do investigate further – just skip past this one if you want to remain on speaking terms with your ears.

Buy 'OK Cowboy' and 'Sexor' from Amazon
Vitalic website
Tiga website

Joe.