The now defunct indie rock duo The Format recorded a great cover version of The Kinks' 1971 classic song, "Apeman." Listen closely to the lyrics - it's just another example of many that demonstrates the genius songwriting of The Kinks' Ray Davies. Also included is the original version for comparison. Check back in a few weeks because we're going to publish a playlist of cover songs of The Kinks' songs from artists and bands like Stereophonics, Of Montreal, Frank Black, Elvis Costello, Sonic Youth, The Jam and more.

Also featured in this mix is a fantastic cover by Ruby Weapon of Grizzly Bear's "Two Weeks," plus cover songs from Radiohead, Broken Social Scene, Au Revoir Simone, Band of Horses, Pennywise, Dr. Dog, Venice is Sinking, and Her Space Holiday. Thanks to CaptainObvious and CoverMeSongs blogs for some of these musical rarities.

"Apeman" (The Kinks) - The Format
Original: "Apeman" - The Kinks

"Two Weeks" (Grizzly Bear) - Ruby Weapon

"The Rip" (Portishead) - Radiohead

"Love Will Tear Us Apart" (Joy Division) - Broken Social Scene

"Oh You Pretty Things" (David Bowie) - Au Revoir Simone

"Your Love Is Forever" (George Harrison) - Band of Horses

"We're Gonna Fight" (7 Seconds) - Pennywise

"Heart It Races" (Architecture in Helsinki) - Dr. Dog

"Compass" (Okay) - Venice is Sinking

"I'll Believe In Anything" (Wolf Parade) - Her Space Holiday

Listen to all the Cover Songs playlist mixes.

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Labels: Cover Songs, Indie Cover Songs, The Kinks

Kicking off volume 10 of the Halloween Indie Rock Songs playlist mix series is the demonic rocker Jay Reatard. Following Reatard is a new Halloweenish song from the Montreal super group Clues. Not all of the songs are necessarily dark or spooky, but each are so awesome in their own way that any association with Halloween is a good enough excuse to include them in this mix series.

For this installment, the second published today alone, we've unearthed tracks and treats from MGMT, Spoon, Iron & Wine, Headlights, The Kinks, Motion Turns It On, Black Lips, Conor Oberst and the Mystic River Valley Band, My Teenage Stride, As Tall As Lions, The Rattles, and a stunning Radiohead-esque track, "Danse," from LA alternative rockers Lemonwilde.

"My Shadow" - Jay Reatard

"Crows" - Clues

"Of Moons, Birds & Monsters" - MGMT

"The Beast and Dragon, Adored" - Spoon

"The Devil Never Sleeps" - Iron and Wine

"Death of a Clown" - The Kinks

"Skeleton Man" (Evangelicals) - Headlights

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner: Mountain Man [Part 2 of 14] from Ray ConcepcioñVimeo.

"Give Up The Ghosts" - Motion Turns It On

"Lean (I Saw A Ghost)" - Black Lips

"Big Black Nothing" - Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band

"Ears Like Golden Bats" - My Teenage Stride

"Ghost of York" - As Tall As Lions

"The Witch" - The Rattles

Extra Treat: "Danse" - Lemonwilde

What did you think of this playlist? Leave a comment or click the Share This button to spread it around, bookmark it, email and so on.

You can view all the Halloween indie rock playlists from one page.

Labels: Conor Oberst, Indie Halloween Songs, MGMT, The Kinks

Indie rock pioneer Beck and his Record Club is now well into their recordings of cover songs honoring the great Leonard Cohen as seen in the video above for "Sisters of Mercy." The Record Club is a collection of musicians, lead by Beck, that include Devendra Banhart, MGMT, Wolfmother and Little Joy, who set out to highlight certain artists and bands that have influenced their musical careers. During the summer, the Record Club's first series featured covers of Velvet Underground songs.

To kick off this playlist of cover songs, the Record Club present the first classic VU song the recorded, "Sunday Morning," followed by another VU track, plus cover songs by other artists of Vampire Weekend, Pavement, Radiohead, The Strokes, The Smiths, MGMT, Bob Dylan, LCD Soundsystem, John Lennon and Oasis.

"Sunday Morning" (The Velvet Underground) - Beck and the Record Club (2009)
Double-shot: "All Tomorrow’s Parties (The Velvet Underground) - Beck and the Record Club (2009)

"Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" (Vampire Weekend) - The Very Best with Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit

Steel and Glass (John Lennon) - Alberta Cross

"Take It Or Leave It" (The Strokes) - Arctic Monkeys

"Big Black Smoke" (The Kinks) - Patch Up Boys

"Box Elder" (Pavement) - Pet Ghost Project

"Karma Police" (Radiohead) - Flunk

"Mr. Blue Sky" (ELO) - The Spinto Band

"Panic" (The Smiths) - Spoon

"Kids" (MGMT) - The Kooks

"Oh Sister" (Bob Dylan) - Andrew Bird

"All My Friends" (LCD Soundsystem) - The Main Drag

See the other cover songs playlists.

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Labels: Cover Songs, MP3s, The Kinks

Everyone has their picks for the best songs of 2008, even if the songs were not released in 2008. For example, the established advertising publication, Ad Age, has released a list of the top ad songs of 2008.

Interestingly, the selection includes a long-forgotten Kinks' song - "Everybody's A Star" - that is now a rock classic thanks to its being featured in a popular Converse ad series by the same name.



Whenever I have a chance to write about The Kinks, I try to do it. For those of you who know ALL of the spectacular music they made - not just "You Really Got Me" and "Lola" and "Come Dancing" - you know just how vastly under appreciated The Kinks were.

The past decade has seen a long review of The Kinks' legacy by the press, fellow rockers and music historians. Pretty much, the conclusion is always the same: The Kinks were one of the most important and influential rock bands ever. Rocker and music mogul Bob Geldof, a long-time Kinks' fan, once said the band's song "Waterloo Sunset", an unquestionable classic, is one of the best pop songs ever written.

The Kinks were my first real personal favorite band partly because not everyone knew who they were like they did The Beatles (even though almost everyone has heard at least one Kinks' song). After buying and listening to something like 30 of their albums, I was hooked, and never got unhooked.

No wonder they were among the first group of rock bands inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. While their place in rock history is now well established, it never ceases to amaze how vastly under-rated The Kinks were for so long. And, I am still in awe time and again by the brilliance of so much of their music that most people have never heard. It's like belonging to an exclusive, honored kult. Kool!

MP3: "Wicked Annabella" by The Kinks from The Village Green Preservation Society

Yet I do have a bit of a thorn in my ass by the commercialization of The Kinks' music in recent years. Yet at the same time, I am happy that they are getting the attention because it has opened up their music to an entire new generation that may have only known them for one or two songs.

Unquestionably, a good part of The Kinks resurgence in popularity in recent years has been driven by the commercialization of their music. It really started during the past decade when "Nothing in This World is Gonna Stop Me Worrying About That Girl" from the soundtrack of the movie Rushmore and "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" from the blockbuster In The Name Of The Father.

Then, back in 2003-04, the wildly popular HP ad series in which people held up frames that magically caught their images and froze them to the danceable and memorable song "Picture Book" hit the airwaves. You could actually hear people humming it or singing to it at the time. It was a huge hit and drove sales for their now considered classic LP, The Village Green Preservation Society (1968) on which "Picture Book" debuted.

One of the more recent Kinks' songs to be used in a TV commercial was released originally in 1976 on the album Soap Opera, which was widely considered a flop in the music press and at the cash register.

"Waterloo Sunset" - The Kinks. Widely considered one of the best songs ever written.
"Days" - The Kinks. One of the band's best songs ever, but known to only a few.

Other Kinks' songs featured in TV advertising campaigns and in movies include:

IBM - "I'm Not Like Everybody Else"
Cingular - "Strange Effect"
Tide - "All Day and All Night"
The Sopranos - "Living On A Thin Line"
The Parent Trap - "Victoria"
Click (movie) - "Do It Again"
Juno (movie) - "Well Respected Man"

And, "You Really Got Me" everywhere else.

Labels: British Invasion, Kinks Videos, The Kinks

Labels: Best Rock Bands in History, The Kinks