Weekend Web Review: Unusual

The buzz on the net this weekend was a bit different than the standard fare. Sure, it was about leaked tracks and interesting cover versions, but the hype extends beyond that this week, specifically because of their owners. One of the two tracks spotlighted here was highly anticipated, while one wasn’t at all.

Probably the most highly-anticipated single cut in some time, “Another Way to Die” is the theme song by Jack White & Alicia Keys for the newest installation in the James Bond empire, Quantum of Solace. The recording at the bottom of the page was ripped from a Spanish-language radio program, so there is some talking at the end and it is a low-quality recording. What I find rather interesting, besides the Bondian horns and strings, is the call and response bridge. I saw it as a terrible attempt to do the Led Zeppelin, blues guitar line/vocal response, Jimmy Page & Robert Plant thing. And it came out laughably bad. Besides that, the song is stock Bond theme, and will do fine. I’m sure it will sound epic when they perform it onstage at the Oscars or Grammys or Superbowl or wherever things like this are performed onstage.

The other song for this week could be seen as the complete antithesis of the White & Keys duet. “All is Full of Love” was on Bjork’s landmark 1997 album Homogenic. So, who better to do a cover of a revolutionary Icelandic IDM song that made people rethink how string arrangements fitted in electronic music? Bitone, that’s who. Bitone is a Ugandan children’s center that provides hope for kids, many of the orphans. The way Bitone reimagines the electronic sound textures in “All is Full of Love” is quite impressive. They even maintain the same haunting sadness of the original. Watch the video from the original, then go listen to the cover.

Jack White & Alicia Keys – “Another Way to Die”

Bitone (covering Bjork) – “All is Full of Love”