Stars, they're just like us—stuck in their homes and probably pretty bored.
Here in the states, we're going on a month and a half of practicing social distancing. We could very well go the rest of 2020 without being able to safely attend large gatherings like concerts, which is a huge bummer for both musicians and their fans. Thankfully, plenty of singers have turned to the magic of the Internet to help us get our live music fix, and there's nothing that spices things up quite like a good cover of somebody else's song.
Here are just eight of our favorite covers we've heard over the past month or so to help make your quarantine a little less bleak.
The Offspring - “Here Kitty Kitty,” made famous by Tiger King
<p>Just about everyone and their mothers have tuned in to Netflix's <em>Tiger King </em>since quarantine started, including the members of the Offspring. The band came together (six feet apart from each other, of course) to perform a rendition of "Here Kitty Kitty," the modern classic made famous by <em>Tiger King</em>'s instantly-infamous Joe Exotic.</p>
Now that we're all stuck at home, musicians are turning to livestreams in order to share their art with the world. Here are some incredible livestreams to check out this week and next:
Friday, 3/27: Half Waif, the dreamy electro-pop outlet of Pinegrove's Nandi Rose Plunkett, is performing her ethereal new album "The Caretaker" this Friday at 7:30 PM. Tune in here. Plunkett also recently wrote a column for NPR about how she's staying sane during quarantine—which involves spending a lot of time on her couch.
Benjamin Gibbard - Life in Quarantine (Official Audio)www.youtube.com
Saturday, 3/28: Bands including indie outlet WD-HAN will be gathering for a festival called Doomed Fest on Saturday, March 28th and Sunday, March 29th, starting at noon EST daily. Tickets are $10 and all proceeds go towards supporting performers.
Sunday 3/29: Elton John is bringing Billie Eilish, Mariah Carey, and Alicia Keys (all in the safety of their own homes) together for the iHeart Living Room Concert for America, airing 9PM Sunday.
Sunday 3/29: Jay-Z's streaming platform Tidal will be bringing a coterie of illustrious artists together this weekend for free livestreams, including Beyonce and Rihanna for their Sunday R&B sessions.
Wednesday 4/1 (and every Wednesday and Friday): Indie band San Fermin is doing IGTV livestreams every Wednesday and Friday at 3PM EST. They also just released the second installment of their dual album, The Cormorant, along with a new video for "Freedom (Yeah Yeah Yeah)." Tune in to the livestreams here.
Thursday, 4/2: The musician Mike Broussard is doing livestreams every Thursday at 1PM EST. Experience his rollicking, expansive ballads by tuning in here.
April 4th: Actor and musician Michelle Creber will be performing a livestream concert on April 4th. She also just released a new music video for "Storm" and dropped a moving, cinematic new single called "False Empire."
Ben Gibbard's hometown of Seattle has been hit especially hard during the coronavirus outbreak.
The Death Cab for Cutie frontman is just one of many well-known public figures who've been posting videos and livestreaming as the pandemic keeps us all indoors. There are a lot of bad celebrity responses out there, but Gibbard's is not one of them. He shared a message with his city today, performing a song he calls "Life in Quarantine." Recorded humbly in front of his multiple RIAA certification plaques, the tender acoustic song depicts days that look empty "like Christmas."
"The streets are empty, the bars and cafes too / The streetlights only changing 'cause they ain't got nothing better to do," Gibbard sings as he strums. "The airports and train stations are full of desperate people / Trying to convince the gate agents that not all emergencies are equal / But no one is going anywhere soon."
Furthermore, Gibbard signs off the video by encouraging his fellow Seattleites—if it's within their means—to donate sleeping bags and tents to the Aurora Commons, a community center for "unhoused neighbors." "Let's all get through this together," Gibbard adds.
This is just the first of many videos to come from Gibbard as he practices social distancing. He'll be streaming on YouTube and Facebook at 4 PM Pacific Time until further notice.
Lana Del Rey has brought tons of incredible guests out on her Norman F**king Rockwell tour, and she's only just getting started.
For her only East Coast date, a performance at Long Island's Jones Beach, Del Rey brought out Sean Lennon for a version of "Tomorrow Never Came" and Adam Cohen, the son of the late Leonard Cohen, for a rendition of "Chelsea Hotel No. 2."
Lana Del Rey & Sean Lennon - Tomorrow Never Came (Live at Jones Beach Theater 9/21/19)www.youtube.com
Lana Del Rey & Adam Cohen - Chelsea Hotel #2 (Live at Jones Beach Theater 9/21/19)www.youtube.com
For her stop at LA's Hollywood Bowl, Del Rey brought out Zella Day and Weyes Blood to sing a version of Joni Mitchell's "For Free."
Lana Del Rey with Zella Day & Weyes Blood | For Free (Joni Mitchell) | Hollywood Bowl 2019www.youtube.com
Joan Baez appeared when Lana hit Berkeley, and they sang Baez's hit "Diamonds and Rust."
Lana Del Rey & Joan Baez, "Diamonds and Rust" & "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" - Oct. 6, 2019www.youtube.com
On November 5th, Del Rey brought out Benjamin Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie to sing a stunning cover of "I Will Follow You Into the Dark."
Lana Del Rey & Ben Gibbard perform "I Will Follow You into the Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie (Full)www.youtube.com
She also covered "Don't Know How to Keep Loving You" with Australian indie star Julia Jacklin, introducing a legion of fans to a new artist. Jacklin's songs are less performative and flashy than Del Rey's, but they share a core of cool apathy and mournfulness, so their collaboration felt natural, their voices sounding almost like one.
Lana Del Rey & Julia Jacklin perform Don't Know How to Keep Loving You @ Bellco Theatre in Denverwww.youtube.com
Del Rey has a history of collaborating with artists alive and dead—and one of her music's strongest suits is the way that it incorporates so many different styles and influences, finding the shared themes and emotions at the heart of each of them.
Recently, she joined Miley Cyrus and Ariana Grande for their song "Don't Call Me Angel," which appears in the Charlie's Angels soundtrack. She also collaborated with Stevie Nicks, A$AP Rocky, and The Weeknd for tracks on her album Lust For Life. She's made duets with Børns and Cat Power, worked with Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys on Ultraviolence, and produced all of Norman F**king Rockwell with Jack Antonoff.
Del Rey seems to have a strategic knowledge of the icons of the past, present, and future, and the way she winds revolutionary stars of the 60's with modern themes and 21st century innovators is simply a testament to what we already knew: It's Del Rey's world, and we're just living in it.
Brazilian singer, songwriter and drag performer Pabllo Vittar tapped Charli XCX for a new song called "Flash Pose," a fun and clubby cut about looking really hot and posing for pictures––and feeling confident while doing it. As was to be expected coming from two of pop's biggest icons, "Flash Pose" sounds instantly infectious. The last time Charli XCX and Pabllo Vittar put out a song together, it was for Charli XCX'S 2017 excellent album Pop II on the song "I Got It"––you know, the one that goes, "I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it" ad infinitum.
2. Chance the Rapper - "Do You Remember" (Feat. Ben Gibbard)
Reader, the day is here. Chance the Rapper just dropped his long-awaited official debut album, which features a whole host of guest appearances from Bon Iver to Nicki Minaj to Death Cab frontman Ben Gibbard. As a veritable Death Cab fanatic and Chance the Rapper enthusiast, this is the collaboration I never asked for but absolutely needed.
"Do You Remember," is a nostalgia trip of a groove where Chance wistfully raps about past summer memories and features Ben Gibbard's distinct, melancholic voice on the chorus: "Do you remember how when you were younger / The summers all lasted forever? / Days disappeared into months, into years / Hold that feeling forever." At this point, I will forgive BG for never putting out the other Postal Service album he promised. Some ideas for a future supergroup include: Chance Cab For Cutie. Alternatively, Death Chance The Rapper.
3. White Reaper - "Real Long Time"
White Reaper is gearing up to put out their fourth album after recently signing to Elektra Records. A few months ago, the Louisville rockers shared the forthcoming album's first single "Might Be Right," which marked the band's first new music since 2017's The World's Best American Band, and this week they unveiled a new power-pop track called "Real Long Time."
While the guitar tones on the new songs can lean into '80s rock revivalism, both "Might Be Right" and "Real Long Time" show White Reaper continuing to hone their instantly recognizable brand of flashy, energetic power-pop—both vintage and novel—by blending together garage rock scuzz and Thin-Lizzy-approved riffage.
4. Rico Nasty - "Time Flies"
Hot on the heels of her latest project with Kenny Beats (Anger Management), Rico Nasty is back with a new track, and this time she's adopted a (slightly) pared-down vibe from her usual rapid-fire style verses. Her new song, "Time Flies," is a little less incensed and shows off a more melodic approach, with Nasty waxing introspective on a sing-songy hook: "I don't wanna be on the ground when the time flies / Had so many friends goin' / Wonder when it's my time / I live every day like I'll die by the night time / It took me so long getting back to my right mind."
5. Loving - "Vision"
This week, Canadian indie rock trio Loving unveiled a new single called "Visions" via Last Gang Records. Loving is made up of David Parry, Lucas Henderson, and Jesse Henderson, and together they create lovely, easy-going tunes that pair well with the sunny stretches of late July afternoons or aimless drives. On "Visions," drowsy guitar slides and warm acoustic strumming take shape around soft percussion as Jesse Henderson muses about the "strange prison" of how we envision our futures.
6 + 7. Caroline Polachek - "Parachute" and "Ocean of Tears"
Last month, Caroline Polacheck (formerly of Chairlift) shared "Door," the first single she's released officially under her name, marking both a return and a new beginning. Polachek previously put out songs under the moniker Ramona Lisa and went on to explore more ambient territory in CEP before shifting to her latest project. This week, Polachek followed up "Door" with two new songs: the sparse slow-burner "Parachute" and the pulsating, R&B-tinged "Ocean of Tears."
8. Palm Haze - "Almost Soon"
Vancouver-via-Brazil shoegaze duo Palm Haze released a new track today called "Almost Soon," which comes off of their upcoming album Rêve Bleu (out August 30th via YHS Records). With a sound that's reminiscent of gaze-y heavyweights like My Bloody Valentine, "Almost Soon" is a stunning display of control of texture as the band strikes the perfect (maybe even Lynchian) balance between sounding heavy and dreamlike. Vocalist/bassist Anna Wagner's cool-toned voice curls around waves of anesthetic, foggy distortion as she assures the listener: "Whatever you do, whatever you say, it's okay."
9. Germano - "Lost Crowd"
Brazilian-born pop artist Germano isn't sure of what the future may hold, but he's taking it in stride. Today he's sharing his first single, "Lost Crowd," a moody electro-pop tale that reckons with feeling lost and finding comfort in the unknown and celebrates the beauty of contradiction. The song kicks off with Germano's magnetic vocals and eases into a lush swirl of electronic instrumentation and settles into a laidback chorus that perfectly balances Germano's introspective lyrics with the song's wistful melody. The song is accompanied by cinematic visuals featuring Germano and three others dressed in matching white t-shirts and jeans as they go through synchronized acts of hanging out in empty loft apartments and parks. Germano's debut EP is expected out later this year.
10. Alexander Noice - "Affectation"
Alexander Noice wears many hats; the LA-based composer, guitarist, producer, and bandleader is known for his experimental, often genre-defying compositions that dip into minimalist art-rock and jazz. His latest, "Affectation" welcomes you into Noice's eclectic menagerie of sounds through a flurry of layered of vocals and eerie harmonies—the result is wholly mesmerizing. Alexander Noice's forthcoming LP, Noice, is out August 23rd.
