If It's Too Loud...

NOVA ONE just released a cover of Robyn's 2010 song "Dancing on My Own." This one goes into the completely reimagined covers side of things. While the original is the type of dance music that was huge in 2010, NOVA ONE's version sounds much more like NOVA ONE. It's a dreamy, lo-fi cover much more chilled out and atmospheric than a club jam. Unless you're very familiar with Robyn's work or read that this was a cover song, you'd assume this was a NOVA ONE original.  You can listen to NOVA ONE's version of "Dancing on My Own" below. The song is available now via Bandcamp with all proceeds going to Roz Raskin's friend Martha's ongoing treatments for ovarian cancer. For more on NOVA ONE, check out the artist's website . dancing on my own by NOVA ONE

Lots to cover this week. Album of the Week : Artist : Cherry Glazerr Album : Apocalypstick Quick Description : Great, hooky alt-rock. Why You Should Listen : Best release this week and will scratch that traditional alternative rock itch. Overall Thoughts : I fell in love with this band thanks to "Had Ten Dollaz" from a few years ago. The new album builds on their sound while showing a lot of musical improvements throughout, and there's a good deal of fun to go along with it, too. "Nurse Rached" is a highlight, but their crazy " Nuclear Bomb " video shows where they're coming from. Overall? Best of the week, for sure. Recommendation : A must listen. Artist : Foxygen Album : Follow the Leader Quick Description : Retro rock band with another fun, puzzling effort. Why You Should Listen : Foxygen definitely keeps me on my toes. Overall Thoughts : I don't ever think I like Foxygen until I listen to them with an absurd, goofy smile...

We kick off our Best of 2014 coverage today with a look at my favorite EP releases of the year. I'll count down a few highlights and leave a few others: The Red-Headed Indian - Honey : I was really, really excited about this EP when it was first released, and I'm still really into it today. Every time I listen to it, whether in full or to the individual songs, I find something new to love and a new favorite song on the release (today it's "January"). Overall, this is my favorite non-album release this year by a wide, wide margin and I'm really excited to see what Caroline Kingsbury has coming up next. Robyn & Royksopp - Do It Again : "Do It Again" might be one of my favorite songs of the year regardless of anything else, but this whole EP is a great mix of electronica and pop music that hopefully sets up more great collaborations like this. A great little dance EP that is just long enough to boot. Lewis and Leigh - Night Drives : Every...

Some of the albums we missed over the last few months... Mr Little Jeans - Pocketknife : Mr Little Jeans has been a blogosphere favorite for a while, largely due to her cover of Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs" a few years back. I loved "Runaway" when she released it as a single a while back, and we finally get a full length that is very techno-aligned along with the songs that have put her on the map. If there's a downside to the album it's that some of these songs have existed for a very long time now and thus the album doesn't feel terribly new from start to finish, but it's still a minor complaint for what is really a solid listen from top to bottom. Future Islands - Singles : Chances are you've probably already heard of this album, or at least the single "Seasons (Waiting on You)" via their fairly incredible David Letterman performance . While the sort of dark new wave thing doesn't always do it for me, this album is rea...