KILLER COVERS || Exmortus: "Appassionata"

Heavy metal covers of classical songs are a dime a dozen, and in the era of Youtube playthrough videos - where complete unknowns, often teenagers, credibly shred their way through one virtuosic metal classic after another - the market seems as unaccomodating as ever for yet another commercially released Beethoven rendition. But Exmortus approach their appreciation for classical music with an energy and showmanship that is often lost on the Yngwie clones who think it's enough to just show up and flex nuts.

Exmortus are touring early this year with a plethora of other old school-sounding young metal bands, including Enforcer, Cauldron and Warbringer.

Red Pill: "90's Money"

Mello Music Group (not to be confused with the other MMG) keeps both feet planted firmly in the backpack hip hop vein, having released albums by Apollo Brown, Oddisee and L'Orange, among others, and this recent cut by Detroit rapper Chris Orrick a.k.a. Red Pill hardly breaks the mold. As someone who is still very much making the same sort of salary he did a full two decades ago, I can relate wholeheartedly with "90's Money". Probably not what homeboy meant, though.

Yuri Gagarin: "At the Center of All Infinity"

Yuri Gagarin seems like a glaringly obvious name for a space rock band, particularly one that is doing so little to reinvent the wheel as this Swedish export, but what these guys lack in originality they make up for in execution, compounding the droning synths of Hawkwind with the riff-focused intensity of Ufomammut amidst a sludge-like wall of sound that certainly transgresses the average Kluster knock off. At the Center of All Infinity arrived a bit too late in 2015 to make it on any year end best of lists, perhaps, but it isn't for lack of effort.

Stormzy: "Shut Up"

I'm always deeply appreciative when MCs step outside the usual funk/R&B comfort zone when sampling, so when grime up-and-comer Stormzy decides to freestyle over an old, bucolic XTC track you best bet I'm paying attention. The London MC goes in hard given the languid nature of the backing track, but somehow makes it work seamlessly.

Róisín Murphy: "Exploitation"

Unfortunately I can't find the mesmerizing 9.5-minute album cut so this 4:20-friendly single mix will have to do. Róisín Murphy - of the Róisín Bran Murphy's, of course - spent the first decade of her music career fronting the seminal techno-pop UK act Moloko before striking off on a solo career that, thus far at least, has proven more critically acclaimed than publicly lucrative. Murphy's lack of fiscal fortune is our artistic gain, as the entirety of Hairless Toys seems engaged in outdoing even the mighty Björk in terms of flirting with pop conventions while still keeping them stubbornly at arm's length (please extend the similarities no further than similar intent; I could have just as easily compared Murphy to Kate Bush or even a less calculating St Vincent).

Coal Chamber: "I.O.U. Nothing"

I don't know that I'd care to see a permanent Coal Chamber reunion sideline the superior Dez Fafara vehicle Devildriver for good, but as a (presumably limited) reprieve Fafara has arguably recorded the best Coal Chamber album since 1997's self-titled debut. The unnecessary initialing in "I.O.U. Nothing" - for fuck's sake, I.O.U. actually stands for the exact thing you've meant to cheekily pun it with - veritably screams out 90's dinosaur, but the catchy songwriting and Miguel Rascón's insistent pinch harmonics carry the day.

Rivals will be out next Tuesday, May 19.

High on Fire: "The Black Plot"

It's been something like three years since High on Fire had to cancel a tour so singer/guitarist Matt Pike could enter rehab, but the dearth of intoxicants has done little to temper his angrily defiant songwriting. Coming fresh off a reunion tour with his old band Sleep, Pike and co. reconvene for the upcoming album Luminiferous, HOF's first in three years, of which "The Black Plot" is the first taste. Nothing we haven't really heard before out of the trio, but then the band have never been overtly experimental, so given expectations this scratches a proper itch.

STS & RJD2: "Tennessee (Whiskey Revival)"

Emphatically NOT a slightly retitled cover of the old Arrested Development classic, this collaboration between STS and journeyman DJ RJD2 nonetheless has a sympathetic old school, juke joint vibe that has Dixie written all over it. This is underground hip hop so no Alizé or Moët, we're here to discuss whiskey.

Part Time: "Pussy of My Dreams"

Not sure how the title of this one made it past the SJW Shame Police, but suffice to say this cheeky little ditty is one of the more potty-mouthed odes to female empowerment since Nick Cave last opined about blue balls.

A$AP Rocky: "Everyday" [feat. Rod Stewart, Mark Ronson & Miguel]

About that byline: it's pretty clear that Rod Stewart is only present via an old 70's sample, but Mark Ronson and Miguel definitely make their contributions felt (and would Rod Stewart really be any kind of coup collaboration in 2015 anyway?). I'm usually not a big fan of "ballad rap", ie mixing rhymes with weepy R&B vocals, but only because they're rarely done this well. Nothing about this song comes off as overwrought, just introspective and mellow.