Earlier this year, popular music website Stereogum culled together artists to cover all the songs from Radiohead's landmark OK Computer, being that this is the album's tenth anniversary. At first, the project sounded ludicrous. There are just some songs so great, why even try to touch them, right? And pretty much every song on OK Computer arguably falls into that category. Surprise surprise, then, when, despite some missteps, most of the artists did the songs justice. Marissa Nadler's take on "No Surprises" and the Twilight Sad's version of "Climbing Up the Walls" in particular...wow. Somehow more gorgeous than the originals?
Following up on that project, Stereogum today (October 2) presents Drive XV, a track-by-track take on R.E.M.'s Automatic From the People. If you remember your Roman numerals, you'll know it's been 15 years since that record's release. Follow on after the jump to find out what bands are covering what songs, and how they fare...
Let's start with the album's biggest songs. In what's possibly Drive XV's most interesting move, the Meat Puppets take a swing at "Everybody Hurts." The always fun-loving Kirkwood Brothers can only get through about half of the song seriously before it dissolves into strained singing and histrionics. Shout Out Louds do Peter Buck's riff on "Man on the Moon" via a capella harmonies, and the song stays minimal throughout, with only some glitchy electro percussion, bongos, and feint acoustic guitars underneath. And the Veils keep "Drive" dark, with lead singer Finn Andrews sounding not unlike Michael Stipe.
Elsewhere, Figurines add vocals to "New Orleans Instrumental No. 1," Catfish Haven's George Hunter channels Springsteen on "Monty Got A Raw Deal," and Blitzen Trapper actually make "Star Me Kitten," Automatic's most boring moment, fun. As for the rest of the songs, Dappled Cities does "Try Not to Breathe," Rogue Wave "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight," Sara Quin (feat. Kaki King) "Sweetness Follows," the Forms "Ignoreland," the Wrens "Nightswimming," and Dr. Dog "Find the River."
Stereogum also provides commentary from R.E.M.'s Mike Mills about the original inspiration behind the songs as well as each band discussing why it was drawn to the particular track it tackled. And the site promises alternate covers for some songs from other bands in the days to come.