Stream: Death Cab for Cutie: “Rocking Chair" (The Band cover)

My Morning Jacket + The Band = good combo.

Death Cab for Cutie + The Band = the sadness.

Ben Gibbard slathers his sappy voice on this deep cut from the Band's self-titled second album (where it was called "Rockin' Chair"); the resulting DCFC hit-and-run is set to appear on the forthcoming Endless Highway Band tribute compilation, out via 429 Records on January 30.

It's a shame that Death Cab don't do much more with this song than make it sound like a Transatlanticism B-side, and Gibbard's disinterested lullaby croon does no justice to the lived-in feel of a song with the lyric, "I'm pushing age 73." Even more depressing: the other songs on Endless Highway.

MP3: Rock Plaza Central: "SexyBack" (Justin Timberlake cover)

Our pals over at Cokemachineglow had the rather brilliant idea of soliciting folks like David Thomas Broughton and Rock Plaza Central to perform the unlikeliest of covers for their forthcoming "CMG Fantasy Podcast Vol. 1". And yes, by some devilish machinations, they managed to get the latter to cover Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack"-- you know, the one that divided the JT ranks until "My Love" sailed in and brought everybody together again.

Slowing things down to a trot, pulling out some woozy horns for the second verse, and wisely dumping all of Timbaland's bridge-barking, RPC imbues what was a sleazy come-on track with the same sense of foreboding that colors much of the Pitchfork Recommended Are We Not Horses? Or consider it this way: if Timberlake's beckoning you back to his place for a little whoopy-makin', RPC's Chris Eaton sounds like he's luring you back for some serial killin'. Yikes.

Plus you can practically see him rolling his eyes as he spouts quips like "V.I.P." and "Look at those hips." CMG kindly lent us the track to share with y'all, so have a listen by clicking below.

The covers podcast goes live next week. Swing over to cokemachineglow.com then to check out "SexyBack", along with Broughton covering Cat Power's "The Greatest", new Anticon signing SJ Esau doing (God help us) another cover of "Crazy", Ned Collette taking on TV on the Radio's "Hours", Shugo Tokumaru handling Peter Bjorn and John's "Young Folks" and Daniel Johnston's "To Go Home", and offbeat selections from the Red Giants, Monster Bobby, Flying Lotus, Emperor X, and more surprises.

Sufjan, Witmer Are Friends of Rosie Thomas

Sufjan alert! Our banjo-plucking, States- songwriting, Christmas-boxing stealer of hearts hooked up (in a purely musical sense, you gutter-dwellers!) with pals Rosie Thomas and Denison Witmer in New York earlier this year to record a batch of songs by Rosie, who sought to escape the pressures of worldwide fame and acclaim and make music the old-fashioned, on-the-fly, inspired way.

Seems these sessions proved fruitful enough to warrant the release of an album, Rosie's fourth, titled These Friends of Mine. It's out now in digital format and should have a physical release in March 2007, courtesy of Rosie's own label, Sing-a-Long Records, partnered with Nettwerk. Sufjan sings backing vocals and plays instruments on a number of These Friends' ten tracks, which include covers of R.E.M.'s "The One I Love", Fleetwood Mac's "Songbird", and Witmer's own "Paper Doll".

Best of all, you can stream a pair of songs from Rosie's new disc right now at her website and MySpace: "Much Farther to Go", which features a prominent Sufjan backing vocal, and "Kite Song", an innocuous ballad touched with strings and piano. They're pretty coffeeshop-ripe and a bit Jesus-y, which is great if you're into those things. Even if you're not, you may enjoy them for their pleasant nature and competent arrangements and production. And because you love all things Sufjan. Admit it, you do. [MORE...]

Stream: TV on the Radio Covering They Might Be Giants
Plus: "Province", "Wolf Like Me" Napster Live Sessions

Wow, remember Napster? Because there simply aren't enough websites offering exclusive live sessions these days, the resurrected file-sharing giant-- now doing things the legal, boring way-- has stepped to the plate with the (subversively?) redundant "Live NapsterLive" series, according to their rawked-out logo.

Boasting exclusive live sessions and/or interviews from luminaries like Papa Roach, Teitur, Rick Ross, Sandi Thom, Default, and Barlowgirl (and okay, the Walkmen, Herbert, Sparks, Akon, Magneta Lane, and Earlimart), the series promises "raw, acoustic, intimate" music-making, and recently tapped none other than TV on the Radio, who shared an offbeat cover and two Cookie Mountain jams with the headphone-wearing cat alien thing.

Unlike their recent AOL Interface session, these aren't the least bit "acoustic." TVoTR tackle They Might Be Giants' "Dead", floating the quirky yet strangely profound ditty about reincarnation and expired groceries over a warm, fuzzy bed of looped guitars and such, harmonizing and overlapping vocals in a manner that might make a choral director cringe while an indie kid squeals with delight. They also contribute a blandly faithful version of Cookie's "Province" and an inspired, rough-edged take on "Wolf Like Me".

You may download the tracks from $0.99 each or $2.95 for all three-- or stream them whenever you like for free by pimping your e-mail address to Napster. Just click on the song titles.

In other TVOTR news, their video for "Wolf Like Me" is up for the MTV2 show "Subterranean"'s best videos of the year list. You can vote for it by going here on MTV's godawful website and clicking on "vote". The top ten vote-getters win the fantastic, orgasmic prize of...airing on the December 17 episode of "Subterranean"! What good fortune!

Neko Case, Jim James, Howe Gelb on M. Ward Single
M. Ward single?? Fellers, lock up yer women!

It's just a big ol' boot-stompin' hootenanny all the time with these alt-country types, I tell ya. Just look at that M. Ward character. Greenhorn's only been around a few years now, and he's already covering Jimmie Dale Gilmore and hooking up with the most respected urban cowboys and cowgals in the game: Neko Case, Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Howe Gelb (Giant Sand), Nels Cline (Wilco), and even the grandson of banjo legend Earl Scruggs.

The proof's in the pudding, and the pudding here is a new single Ward has rounded up for release on February 20 via Merge. It collects "To Go Home", from this year's quite lovely Post-War, an epic cover of Gilmore's "Headed for a Fall"-- featuring Case (vocals), James (guitar/vocals), Cline (lead guitar), Saddle Creek handyman Mike Mogis (pedal steel), and ex-Thermal Jordan Hudson (drums)-- and new jams "Human Punching Bag" and "Cosmopolitan Pap". The latter showcases Gelb's piano skills and Chris Scruggs' lap steel chops. Mogis mixed both of the star-studded selections.

Ward goes to the land down under this winter, where it will be summer, a season more conducive to his six-shootin', rough'n'tumble ways. [MORE...]

MP3: Casiotone for the Painfully Alone: "Graceland"

Casiotone's Owen Ashworth (who found his cat, praise the heavens) manages to turn Paul Simon's buoyant travelogue into a painfully lonely journey from one dark bedroom corner to another on this mopey cover of "Graceland".

Forgoing all that tribal-y stuff, Ashworth instead intones at us exasperatedly from the left speaker channel over a fuzzy drum machine and some droning synth chords, hits us with a slightly jarring noise breakdown, and effectively swaps the original's bold hues for dour grays. Come to think of it, despairing, chubby Elvis might dance to this, slowly and awkwardly.

This loving cover appears alongside a Xiu Xiu remix of CFtPA's "Casiotone for the Painfully Alone in a Yellow Shirt" and B-side "Sunday Street" on the limited edition "Graceland" 7", available now. Only 500 copies exist, so take one home with you today via Chicago's Rococo Records.

Grandaddy's Jason Lytle Covers Beatles With Kids
MP3: Jason Lytle: "All You Need Is Love [ft. kids]"

See, not all indie kids are shy, insular, socially-awkward basement-dwellers. A few of them get out from time to time, even talk to one another, and on exceptionally rare occasions, fall in love. And then: they make babies. Babies who aren't quite ready yet for Joy Division, or latter-day Scott Walker, or even undiluted Beatles songs.

Fortunately for these lovebirds, new V2 offshoot Little Monster Records has just the thing to ease little bundles of joy into the magical mystery world of the Beatles. It's called All Together Now, and like Kidz Bop's significantly less obnoxious step-sibling, Baby Rock Records' non-narcoleptic playmate, or See You on the Moon!'s more straight-and-narrow cousin, the disc takes a kid-friendly approach to some grown-up favorites. In this case, all Beatles songs, as sung by kids-- with a little help from some very special friends.

These friends include ex-Grandaddy mastermind Jason Lytle, Chicago-bred piano-pop chanteuse Rachael Yamagata, 80s Egyptian-walkers the Bangles, mainstay Marshall Crenshaw, and New York Dolls guitarist/Contes dude Steve Conte. Hear Lytle join some youngins for a tasteful rendition of "All You Need Is Love" by clicking the mp3 link below.

Not simply kid-friendly on the ears, All Together Now also comes joyously bundled with a colorful storybook full of poems and illustrations. The whole kit and caboodle arrives everywhere in May 2007, but savvy moms and dads may purchase it now exclusively at Barnes & Noble.

Little Monster Records launched early last month and has quite a few kid-tested, mother-approved releases in the works, including a Medeski, Martin & Wood disc to help prepare your little ones for middle age, and a record by Robert Bobbert and the Bubble Machine-- aka Robert Schneider of the Apples in Stereo. [MORE...]

Jens Lekman, AIH on Ladybug Transistor Covers EP

Those indie pop kids, they love to share, and today we find them sharing songs, sharing personnel, and poised to share a brand new EP, that perfect-sized morsel of indie pop goodness. More specifically, Brooklyn-based Merge popsters the Ladybug Transistor will hit us with-- no, make that politely pass us-- a four-song covers disc next week, featuring some very special guests.

Here Comes the Rain rings your doorbell on October 31 in all your favorite digital formats. Buy it direct from Merge or any of those other guys on that date, or, if you're lucky/cool enough to live in Europe, scoop it up in tangible CD format on November 1 via Seville, Spain's Green UFOs imprint.

All covers, the four Rain tunes include takes on John Cale ("Empty Bottles"), Trader Horne (title track), Grin ("Everybody's Missing the Sun"), and Kevin Ayers ("Girl on a Swing").

The Gary Olsen-fronted Ladybug Transitor get by with a little help from their friends on this EP, including the Aislers Set's Alicia Vanden Heuvel (who lends vocals to the Trader Horne track), Currituck Co.'s Kevin Barker (guitar), Architecture in Helsinkians Kellie Sutherland, Gus Franklin, and Isobel Knowles (vocals/horns), Lambchop/Calexico gent Paul Niehaus (pedal steel), and Swede pop posterboy Jens Lekman ("additional singing" on title track).

Yeah, we done got you all excited about some "additional singing", but it's Jens, so deal with it.

The Ladybug Transistor are putting together their latest LP, to see release in early 2007 via Merge. Catch them live as they rock an afternoon CMJ show, or as they infest Europe next month with their tasty pop confections. [MORE...]

Scarlett Johansson Recording Tom Waits Covers Album

Haha you Pitchfork jokers, what a hilarious hoax headline. Next, you'll tell me Sufjan Stevens is pregnant! Like, JK LOL, right dudes? No. Not kidding, and certainly not laughing. This is 4 SERIOUS, guys. According to a recent report on FOXNews.com (yes, that was the sound of a kitten dying) and confirmed by Waits' publicist, aesthetically pleasing and indie-savvy film starlet Scarlett Johansson is not only singing, but recording an album of Tom Waits covers.

Scarlett Sings Tom Waits, as it's called, will tentatively see release next spring via recently-revived Rhino offshoot Atco. It's not Scarlett's first vocal foray-- she recorded a version of Gershwin brothers standard "Summertime" for this year's corny Unexpected Dreams: Songs From the Stars charity compilation.

That's pretty much all the info we have right now, but stayed tuned to Pitchfork, your one-stop ScarJo rumor shop, for more details and the latest hot pix. Oh, and according to Fox News' Roger Friedman, Waits is "one of the premier singer-songwriters in the business." So, best respect-- because lord knows this is, first and foremost, a business.

Luna's Dean & Britta Cover Donovan, More on EP

Indie rock's sexiest couple? They're certainly in the running. With Luna officially out to pasture, Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips now have plenty of time to focus on the important things, like being sexy, recording covers, and readying the follow-up to 2003's lovely L'Avventura. Today, October 17, Rounder/Zoë Records releases a brand new Dean & Britta EP, collecting four covers and a track from the forthcoming full length, due January 30.

The Words You Used to Say EP features the title track-- an original Wareham/Phillips composition set to appear on the new record-- and a quartet of covers: Donovan's "Colours", Bobby Darin's "Distractions, Pt. 1", folkie Michael Holland's "Since I Lay My Burden Down", and yes, Adam Green's "We're Not Supposed to Be Lovers".

Wareham has been getting around, co-producing an album by Holland's alter-ego Jule Brown, and playing on a recent record by Australia's the Sand Pebbles. The Best of Luna compilation dropped earlier this year. [MORE...]

Video/Stream: Wilco, Cave, Orton Cover Folk Classics

As previously reported, renowned musicologist and filmmaker Harry Smith gets the box set tribute treatment later this month with the October 24 release of The Harry Smith Project: Anthology of American Folk Music Revisited. The four-disc CD/DVD set collects turn-of-the- millennium performances by Wilco, Beck, Sonic Youth, Lou Reed, and more covering tunes from Smith's seminal 1952 folk music anthology.

For a taste of what that's all about, check out the four streams below: video footage of Nick Cave performing Blind Willie Johnson's "John the Revelator", audio of Wilco tackling Richard "Rabbit" Brown's "James Alley Blues", and video and audio of Beth Orton's take on Mississippi John Hurt's "Frankie". Score the complete tribute box later this month, and while you're at it, pick up Smith's anthology to hear the originals-- no music lover's household should be without it.

String Quartet Tackles Radiohead's OK Computer
Beats Thom Yorke over the head with cello case

This week in People Covering/Interpreting/ Recontextualizing/Maiming Radiohead we have the Section Quartet, four stylin' Los Angeles string musicians who have already bowed their way through an album and an EP full of arrangements of tunes by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Clash, the Darkness, Jeff Buckley, Iron Maiden, KISS, and more.

This time around, armed with a mere pair of violins, a viola, and a cello, the Section Quartet takes on Radiohead's mighty opus OK Computer in its glorious entirety. It all goes down at two live coastal concerts this month: the first at Los Angeles' Spaceland on October 15, and the second at New York City's Merkin Concert Hall on October 19.

The Section Quartet just signed to Decca/Universal and recently played the main stage at the Coachella Music Festival. They've contributed to albums by Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, James Blunt, A Perfect Circle, and Dokken. You can hear their versions of Radiohead's "Just" and "No Surprises" on the 2004 release No Electricity Required.

Half of the current Section Quartet also performed as "The Section" on the 2001 disc Strung Out on OK Computer: The String Quartet Tribute to Radiohead. That same tribute series also took a stab at the Smiths, the Cure (twice), Tool (twice), Pink Floyd, Nine Inch Nails, and egads, Incubus.

Click below for a ridiculously hokey promo video of the Section Quartet performing bits from a few tunes, including Radiohead's "Just" and "The National Anthem".

White Stripes Get Orchestral Treatment

If Aphex Twin and Metallica can go symphonic, why not everybody's favorite coed, color-coordinated guitar-and-drums duo the White Stripes? XL Recordings founder Richard Russell didn't just ponder the possibilities-- he done did it, recruiting British film and television composer Joby Talbot and "many of the UK's finest young classical musicians" (according to a publicist) to record an entire album of orchestral interpretations of White Stripes songs.

Russell and Tablot christened their project Aluminium, in reference to the Stripes song but with a British spelling to emphasize their place of origin, a good ocean and a half away from Meg and Jack's native Detroit. Aluminium's self-titled debut arrives (for pre-order) November 6 and features ten Stripes covers, including "Aluminum" (retaining the original spelling), "The Hardest Button to Button", and more.

This ain't your prance-y Mozart shit either. These orchestral renditions have a decidedly modern bent, incorporating plenty of odd percussion, dissonance, and jarring tempos-- particularly the almost-title track. Listen to a few tunes from Aluminium's album on their MySpace.

Aluminium will be available exclusively through the band's website, and limited to 3,333 CD and 999 vinyl copies. It features artwork by long-time Stripes designer Rob Jones, and vinyl LPs come with an original Jones silk screen print. In addition, a special Aluminium toy will be available for purchase on the same date the album arrives. [MORE...]

Christopher O'Riley Tackles Nick Drake

Keeping with his trend of covering indie kid favorites (both Elliott Smith and Radiohead have now received the black-and-white key treatment on record-- the latter twice), classical pianist and "From the Top" radio host Christopher O'Riley will once again interpret the work of a beloved and decidedly non-classical act: the late English folk singer Nick Drake.

As part of UCLA's Artists Without Limits series, O'Riley will premiere "Time Has Told Me: A Nick Drake Tribute" live on February 16 at the university's Royce Hall theater. While there is presently no official word of a Drake covers album release from O'Riley, given the man's track record, we certainly wouldn't rule out the possibility.

Do you have a news tip for us? Anything crazy happen at a show you attended recently? Do you have inside info on the bands we cover? Is one of your favorite artists (that's not somebody you know personally) releasing a new record you'd like to see covered? You will remain completely anonymous, unless we are given your express permission to reveal your identity. (Please note that publicists, managers, booking agents, and other artist representatives are generally exempt from this rule, but will also be granted anonymity if requested.)