Project 35: Playlist Challenge 2024

We're going back to classic Basement Sketches project format, a playlist challenge. It's pretty straight forward.

  1. Create a playlist of 5 songs you think could be interesting to cover. Please provide YouTube links for the songs, as not everyone has Spotify.

  2. Email your playlist to info@basementsketches.com by Monday, September 2, so we can post them all that night. (see below)

  3. Listen to the playlists and pick a song or songs you'd like to cover.

  4. Record it.

  5. Submit your song(s) along with any pictures and text you'd like to include on the posting. 

  6. Songs are due by October 5th. the deadline was extended to October 12.

Bill Fricke

Golden Hours – Brian Eno

Eno has been one of my musical heroes for a long time.  I’m more partial to the Ambient side, especially “Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks”.  But I do also appreciate his solo albums post Roxy Music.  Especially “Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy).”

I listened to the original and felt it might be fun to cover it.  I had no particular musical direction in mind when I started, but my love of 80’s synth bands (Ultravox and Numan) reared up and it kind of went that way.

There was no way to cover Fripp’s guitar solo, so I made do with synthy things and some e-bow guitar.  And at least Eno sings in a range that it suited for my limited vocal range.

Great Atomic Power – Louvin Brothers

If you ever get the chance, check out the podcast “Cocaine & Rhinestones” about the Louvin Brothers.  It is a great story and how they (particularly) Ira Louvin kept sabotaging their career.  Also, it had some very interesting sections about their harmonies, which I love.

I grew up in the era of Hee Haw and all the TV specials with The Statler Brothers or Oak Ridge Boys and over-produced country music.  So, I went big and over the top. Mariachi horns, honky tonk piano, and tons of harmonies on the chorus.  I struggled with the verses. I can’t sing that high, and I was limited to a bassier voice.  Still, it was fun to do. I can see all of the polyester suits, giant shiny white teeth, big hair and a garish stage set with barrels of toxic waste.

Mike Bettison

Mike Bettison - Insects Oingo Boingo Cover

Man this was a hard one to get into. But I'm so glad I attempted it. Thanks Bill for bringing it! I had a ton of fun (and wasted a ton of time) on getting the vocals to reasonable.

As always, I dove deep into the Komplete Kontrol library for the majority of the instruments and sounds.  This included liberal use of the Butch Vig drum sample library, Prime Bass, and Session Horns. And I got to mess with the newest upgrade of Ableton (12) with built-in auto tune and other bells.

David Cox

No Fun - The Stooges

Hey, hey! It's my first song for Basement Sketches. I covered No Fun by the Stooges (excellent choice, Jacob). A big thank you to Neil for all his encouragement and help with recording. And, thank you to Brian for laying down an awesome drum track. Hopefully folks enjoy it and more songs follow.

Kelly Duclos

Sign of the Times - Harry Styles

I love some Harry Styles. Thanks to Neil for joining in with bass and vocals on this rendition. 

Neil Fasen and friends

As It Was - Harry Styles

Kelly and I were discussing how we both wanted to cover Harry Styles songs, so we decided to collaborate on them. But that was only the beginning of the collaborations. Kelly recorded amazing guitars, Casio sounds and beats, and backing vocals. Chris Danforth shared some crazy metronome beats. Matt Rahaim contributed some awesome synth lines. Jon Hart even played some vibraphone. These are some of my favorite musical friends, so this song is really special to me.

Jacob Sharff and Brian Eveslage

Gone Daddy Gone - The Violent Femmes

The rush of highschool memories...

it was fun to collaborate on this one. 

Recorded drums at the studio space. It worked out great! 

Some hiccups by the drummer, but happy with the result.  

Thanks Neil, David, Jon and for sitting through and tracking the drums. 

It's awesome to have that option again and just play some loud music!

Randy Dever

Golden Hours - Brian Eno

The original Golden Hours is an absolute thing of beauty made by a genius/master. I prominently used my two oldest and crustiest keyboards, the Bontempi MusicPartner MS40 and the Casio VL-1. Drums are a looped sample the rhumba beat from the Roland CR-78 (the same from Blondie's "Heart of Glass").

Once again I didn't break out any stringed instruments. I did the very slightest approximation of Robert Fripp's god-like guitar solo -- only with a cheap monophonic keyboard. I had some good fun experimenting with vocal harmonies. There was lots of rehearsal happening in the car. 

Ian Royal

I chose to cover Pixie's "Cactus" under my parody XI PIES and made the lyrics about ice cream. 

Originally it was gonna be for the Albini one, but studio space has been too hot to work in, so lyrics are from then. For only the second or third time, I played the whole thing in one go(bass), instead of stitching it together, so that made me happy. Guitar and bass through Guitar Rig, Midi drums. Word.

Colby Heston

Jon Hart

Cactus - The Pixies

Neil’s Playlist

Lee Moses: Bad Girl Pt. 1
Pixies: Cactus
The Martinis: Hung Over
Del Shannon: Runaway
Belle Sebastian: The Fox in the Snow

YouTube Playlist

Bill’s Playlist

Johnny Mathis’ Feet: American Music Club
Camper Van Beethoven: Oh No!
Mike Doughty: Busting UP a Starbucks
Oingo Boingo: Insects
Ultravox: Rockwork

YouTube Playlist

Kelly’s Playlist

Harry Styles: As it Was
ABBA: Does Your Mother Know
Bob Dylan: The Times They Are A-Changin’
Daniel Johnston: The Sun Shines Down on Me
Brian Eno: Golden Hours

YouTube Playlist

Czahr’s Playlist

I am quite ill at the moment so that was my inspiration for this playlist of peppy negative songs. Enjoy

Harley Poe: I Wanna Die
The Decemberists: Everything is Awful
ParticleMen: When Will You Die
Bob Urnham: Shit
The Mountain Goats: No Children

YouTube Playlist

Mike B.’s Playlist

Colby’s Playlist

The Breeders: Saints
Todd Rundgren: I Saw the Light
Unbunny: Landscape Typing:
Ween: The Stallion (Pt. 3):
Sybille Baier: Forget About

YouTube Playlist

Troy’s Playlist

Ozzy Osbourne: Crazy Train
Harry Styles: Sign of the Times
Prince: When Doves Cry
Violent Femmes: Gone Daddy Gone
Pretenders: The Wait

YouTube Playlist

Shelly’s Playlist

The Sugarcubes: Motorcrash
Sinead O’Connor: Nothing Compares 2 U
Madonna: Lucky Star
Blondie: Dreaming
The Indigo Girls: Kid Fears

YouTube Playlist

Brian’s Playlist

Randy’s Playlist

“Custard Pie”  by Led Zeppelin 
“Still Loving You” by Scorpions 
“The Zoo” by Scorpions 
“Song Sung Blue” by Neil Diamond
“Tusk” by Fleetwood Mac

YouTube Playlist

Andrew’s Playlist

Sonic Youth: Eric’s Trip
ZZ Top: Blue Jean Blues
The Police: King of Pain
Neil Young: Words
Pink Floyd: Careful with that Axe Eugine

YouTube Playlist

Ian’s Playlist

Jacob’s Playlist

Louvin Brothers: Great Atomic Power 
Cupid Car Club: Grape Juice Plus 
Gary Numan: M.E.
The Stooges: No Fun
Jimmy Buffet: Cheeseburger in Paradise

YouTube Playlist

Tom’s Playlist

ABBA: Does Your Mother Know
Roy Orbison: I Drove all Night
The Sonics: Psycho
The Rolling Stones: Waiting on a Friend
Merle Haggard: Mama Tried
Wreckless Eric: Whole Wide World

YouTube Playlist

Next

Project 34: Cover One Another