Random Music Detritus (Part II)

This is what I get for skipping my column this week: I end up writing even more about music. But I just wanted to carry over a couple conversations -- both here and elsewhere -- into a new post.

First off, soul: As I was saying in the comments of the last post, soul's the sort of thing that can't be faked. I really don't want to pound on Eliza Doolittle or Duffy or any of the current wave of British faux-soul singers, because they're actually quite talented, but I find most of them to be a bit hollow when held up to their predecessor, Amy Winehouse, whose immense talent and personal troubles collided and spurred record labels to find their own (more manageable) version. Still, she's still the queen of that particular genre:



Out of the current British neo-soul wave, my particular favorite has been Paloma Faith:




I've heard a couple different recordings, but I've got the original cut at home, and it remains my favorite. The tendency to overproduce these days gets a bit maddening. Still, I understand the impulse for emerging artists to perfect what they feel are their best tracks. One of my favorite bands, Coto Normal, has newer, dancier versions of their songs out relatively recently, and I have to admit, I quite like them:





The other subject that's been of much discussion in our household lately has been cover songs. There's a real art to a good cover song. The gold standard, for me, is Richard Thompson's rendition of the Britney Spears pop song "Oops, I Did It Again," which he reinvents without irony, unveiling something new and engaging:





A good cover both becomes the artist's own, and says something new in the process. My most recent favorite has been Jenny Owen Youngs' version of Nelly's "Hot in Herre":




Much, much fun.

ETA: I have no idea why my spacing's blowing out. Will try to fix when I have time.