12th
Solange Knowles - “Stillness is the Move” (Dirty Projectors)
This cover does a lot of things good covers do:
- reminds you of what makes the original interesting (the way the DPs’ singers approach notes like a kid approaches stepping stones - each jump to the next an excitement and a risk.)- puts its own stamp on it (Solange on the other hand takes stillness, and the zen ninja song title, seriously as an idea, gliding across the song with an Aaliyah-like poise)
- points up the virtues of the covering artist (I’ve seen a couple of Twitter comments muttering that she “turns it into a typical R&B song” - well, she’s an R&B act, but this is cloth-eared: the genre is rarely this detached. The song is a good match for her art-n-B approach, off kilter enough to attract a few new listeners in to her particular niche)
Oh man, great cover of one of the best songs of the year. Beyonce’s sister tweaks it just enough to make it her own without flipping it entirely.
{stream via p4k, where you can also snag the .mp3 and stream the original}
