Tears For Fears cover Arcade Fire and seven other songs you may have missed

A semi-regular round-up of songs on the internet, of which there are many. These are a mere few that caught my eye (ear?) this week.

1) Tears For Fears - And I Was A Boy From School
1980s sweater enthusiasts Tears For Fears were best known for big pop moments like Shout and The Seeds Of Love, but their music was generally more experimental (and pompous) than those stadium-sized choruses would suggest. After an acrimonious break-up in the 1990s, the band reformed in 2005, and are currently back in the studio.

They're limbering up with a few covers, and their taste is impeccable. Here's Hot Chip's ...Boy From School, and Arcade Fire's Ready To Start, like you've never heard them before.







2) Lorde - Everybody Wants To Rule The World
And, in an act of synchronistic reciprocity, Lorde has covered Tears For Fears' Everybody Wants To Rule The World for the Hunger Games soundtrack. Bombastic doesn't begin to describe it. Volcanoes have erupted with less fuss.




3) Sia - Elastic Heart
Pop's most in-demand songwriter is clearly keeping all the best material back for herself. This song, a duet with The Weeknd, is punch-the-air fantastic. Shame the video's so pointlessly lacklustre.




4) The Killers - When You Were Young (live on Later)
The Killers' Direct Hits is a perfect Christmas present for your mum. To persuade you to part with that tenner, the band played their second-best song on Later... With Jools this week. 

After all these years, the minor shift into the last chorus still gives me shivers.




5) Madonna - Ray Of Light (LEAF remix)
Forget Britney's new album, William Orbit's finest moment will always be his work on Madonna's Ray Of Light album. The man formerly (and ill-advisedly) known as "Willy-O" made a new mix of the title track for last weekend's London Electronic Arts Festival, and he has generously put it on Soundcloud for everyone to enjoy.

Less generously, he's disabled embedding - so you'll need to click on the above link to hear it. In the meantime, here's an outtake from Mario Testino's cover shoot for the album. Sadly, they've photoshopped out the burger Madonna was enjoying at the time. 

6) Charlotte OC - Hangover
Manchester's Charlotte "OC" O'Connor describes her music as "spooky gospel". The 22-year-old was discovered by the team who snapped up Lana Del Rey (Stranger Records), and she's equally intriguing. 

Hangover is my favourite track from her forthcoming Colour My Heart EP, although you should check out the title track, too.




7) Little Mix - Move (dance version)
This "dance edit" of Little Mix's video is a curate's egg. The choreography is great - but the editing is all over the place. They're singing! Now they're not singing! Now they're singing the wrong bit! And now they're in the dark for no good reason! Weird. 

Oh, and if you haven't read it, here's my interview with the band, which went up on the BBC earlier this week. 




8) Metronomy - I'm Aquarius
I'm Aquarius is a low-key launch for Metronomy's fourth album, Love Letters, which is due next March. 

Available through a star-gazing iOS app, you have to scan the night sky for the constellation of Aquarius to make the song magically appear on your phone. Or you could just, er, stream it below.

Right, that's quite enough for one week - and I didn't even have time to mention Rebecca Ferguson's ferocious cover of Roar, or Haim teaming up with Lorde to do Sheryl Crow's Strong Enough. There literally aren't enough hours in the day.

Have a great weekend.
mrdiscopop

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