It’s a damn shame that Titus Andronicus aren’t touring Australia this year. Despite the obvious downside (Aussies missing out on the punk rock outfit) we are also missing out on the band’s opportunity to take out triple J’s best Like A Version for the year with their dirty, stripped back version of The Weeknd’s The Hills.
It is phenomenal.
Patrick Stickles, their loquacious frontman, was on American Radio station Sirius XMU recently when he decided to turn his attention to covering PBRnB artist The Weeknd. Considering he’s the man of the moment right now, what with the mammoth Can’t Feel My Face and last week’s release of his long awaited album Beauty Behind The Madness, Stickles was bang on trend, too.
Some of the lyrics seem to take on a more desperate tone when sung by Stickles’ raw voice, and he has stripped out the production and most of the instrumentation to give us a very different song.
He has since become a cover song extraordinaire, having previously taken on songs from Lana Del Rey, Icona Pop, The Replacements, and They Might Be Giants. We have also been treated to a couple of dirty punk covers on their massive album, The Most Lamentable Tragedy. The album is a 29-track, hour and a half long epic mix of punk, soft sweet songs, pure noise rock and one track, Intermission, is exactly that – one minute and 17 seconds of silence placed right in the middle of the album. While these elements make it tricky to get into, it is immensely rewarding when you do, and it comes across as one of the best punk efforts of the year.
And if you aren’t familiar with the original version of The Hills, it currently sits at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, so come out from under your rock and check it out here.