French band Nouvelle Vague do great covers of 80's music. I like them a lot, I loved a lot of the originals first time round but the covers are so very different (usually a breath of fresh air, and sometimes I prefer the new version).

Here's a cover of a song I didnt know: Eisbär from the Swiss neue deutsche welle group Grauzone (1980).
Wonderfully clicheed sixties-Bond/French style video


Lyrics are basically:
I want to be a polar bear,
then I wont have to cry [cry out] any more,
Polar bears never have to cry [tears]

Original here

In a very different style, I like this cover from Oomph too:

@tomos - re: Nouvelle Vague. 

Salut Salon : really great !  Thanks for the find.

Do you already know the Salut Salon?

Awesome! And nice LBDs too!

Can't believe I missed this gem when it first came out.

This is the Zurich Chamber Orchestra's ad for their live streaming performances at the 2011 Davos Festival. Brilliant!

Taylor Davis (you might remember her from the earlier video of the Angry Bird Theme performed by the band Critical Hit) here performing the song An End, Once and for All from the videogame Mass Effect 3


An interesting and talented young violinist. And also a composer. This is Nebulous, one of her originals.

Dont think I've posted anything by Lissie before (a search didnt come up with anything). I like her music a lot, so here goes -
she does a lot of covers - this one "Go your own way" from Fleetwood Mac, guitar inspired by U2, nice combination:


here's a good original "They all want you"


and maybe my favourite - another great cover ("Pursuit of Happiness" by Kid Cudi - text NSFW I guess)


(and respect for knowing how to drink *a* shot from a bottle of tequila)

and in case that aint enough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUmw2iYgFbs

I'm just after buying a live album by this guy.

Paolo Nutini - Coming Up Easy - Montreux

he's especially good live imo - very passionate singer, great voice.
I love the music he writes/play - lots of older influences but still new.

@tomos - Nice! Some older influences to be sure. And all the better for it I think. Refreshingly honest and real performance for a change. (No twerking dancers or other distractions either!) 

Yeah, the only distraction was the big screen slide-show. That was there because it was a tribute concert (to the guy who was the founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival; I used always think that was somewhere in French speaking Canada - seems it's in French speaking Switzerland )

I think it might be Superboyac's cup of tea as well. Looking forward to getting my live CD anyways

The guy is fantastic, I'm buying this live album for sure.

tbh I just 'discovered' him - I dont know do any of his albums have quite that sound. The live one I ordered is a different concert - that vid above was a one-off track with that band. He does seem to use a brass section a lot, but often play just himself + acoustic guitar. Check out his stuff on www.amazon.co.uk - they have previews for some (but not all) of his albums. (They only available as imports in the US.)

Here's one for fans of the more unusual musical instruments - a virtuoso solo performance on fretless piccolo bass by Jeff Schmidt.

Most things like this have a tendency to be studies in self-indulgence rather than genuine musical performances. This bass solo is one of those rare instances where soloing on the bass is musically valid. It doesn't get much rarer that that AFAIC.   Check it out!

He had my immediate attention when I saw that his bass was strung upside-down, even though he has a left-handed bass.

Huh! It is weird that his Pedulla bass is a lefty - but the P-Bass style split pickup on it is installed like it would be on a right-handed model with the top half (for the low strings) towards the neck. So that makes me think this isn't a standard lefty bass (see below) he strung backwards - it's actually a custom build. Most interesting...

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I wonder if he started out using TAB notation and just got used to having the strings run that way.

*Agree. It's an unusual playing technique he has. All the classic and correct positioning - but with those reversed strings...

But he is a brilliant player. He demonstrates about 5 different "right-hand" (i.e. plucking hand) techniques during that solo, Great command of harmonics too - although they are easier to get to chime clearly on a piccolo bass. At least they were the few times I got to play one.

However, when it comes to the absolute master of harmonics, that title has to go to jazz guitarist Jody Fisher. That gent can do 16th note chromatic harmonic runs. Anybody that ever played (or tried to play) "false" or "artificial" harmonics knows how hit and miss it can sometimes be. Jody doesn't seem to have any problems on that score. He just does those glissando-y sweeps like he's playing a harp. And he does it so naturally that half the time people don't realize it's harmonics they're hearing rather than fretted notes.


Jody is also a phenomenal instructor. He was a mainstay at the now sadly defunct National Guitar Workshop. I was fortunate to get the chance to sit in on some of his clinics and classes when he was in CT at the workshop.

Here's some examples of what you could expect when Jody was showing you how something worked:



BTW, Jody's guitar is a (Steve) Klein in case anybody's wondering "What in the name of all that's holy is he playing???" (Most guitarists do btw.  )

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Awesome!