We love her enough to keep posting her amazing covers.
This Inuktitut (the languange, not the album Inuktitut, although, now that we mention it, that also applies) cover of a Metallica classic - that's right. Metallica - is both bold and beautiful, and I like it. fair bit more than the original.
Also, Elisapie's Katajjaq - throat singing - is absolutely incredible.
Jimmy Sommerville was a member of two bands - Bronski Beat and The Communards - who were known for having an energetic lead vocalist who was at least supportive of the LGBTQ+ community and had a hell of a faslsetto.
So, when he went solo, it's no surprise he turned Sylvester's enduring classic into a big hit song around the world in his own right.
Sommerville, who is gay, recorded that pride anthem in the 1980s - and it fit in with the enduring theme of LGBTQ+ activism he carried throughout all his musical projects.
This recording is from 2019 and it's like it was recorded the same day. Jimmy is a fantastic talent. Also, horns.
And, I ended February with a cover of this song. Supergroup boygenius also covered the song for BBC1 Radio - and they did so beautifully enough that this was almost the cover I posted that day.
I'm completely captivated by Elisapie's album Inuktitut, which is all covers. Is this my favorite one? Nope. But it's a beautifully done version of a Cyndi Lauper classic, so, yeah.
The Beaches are an all-girl rock band from Toronto, formed in 2013.
In 2019, they did a cover of the 1982 Juno Award winning Single of the Year by Loverboy. Jordan Miller channeling the spirit of Mike Reno is a sight to behold. They have a complete understanding of the shred rock - with the classic guitar solo and iconic bassline - and still manage to put their own style in the song.
This is the best cover I've ever heard - of the hit song by The Beaches.
The Glorious Sons are a band from Kingston, Ontario.
The lead vocalist of The Glorious Sons is a man named Brett Emmons.
You know where this is going, I'm sure.
Brett Emmons used to date a woman named Jordan Miller..... who, funny enough, is the lead vocalist for a band from Toronto called The Beaches and who happens to be a co-writer of this song.
That's right. He's Brett. He's the Brett you need to blame.
This is some next-level trolling, but also, they don't do a bad job on the song.
Last night's Juno Award big winner (we're writing this weeks before the Junos so we have no way to know if we're right, but we are) covering last year's Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee?
Gordon Lightfoot is a goddamn Canadian treasure and it good that the next generation of musicians from Canada recognize that.
Diana Krall, the famed jazz musician from Nanaimo, British Columbia, was a bit of a pop/jazz sensation in the 90s, but she's still releasing music. In 2015, she released an album called Wallflower, which was a bunch of folky and not-really-jazzy covers. The album was a hit in the US and Canada - and there's a reason for that. It was really good.
One of the covers she did for the album was of one of Gordon Lightfoot's best known songs, and she enlisted then-future Canadian Music Hall of Famer Sarah McLachlan to sing it with her.
Which brings me to my 2nd reason for posting this today. Diana Krall is NOT in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, despite her 30 year career of bringing jazz to a broader audience, unparallel by any jazz artist in her success worldwide. Seriously. She's had more #1 jazz albums than anyone, and she continues to make music.
Avril Lavigne pays tribute to fellow Canadian Shania Twain at the ACM Honors in 2022 (where Twain received the Poet's Award), while wearing her best Shania cosplay.
It's way better than you expect it to be.
By the way, not a one-off. She frequently covers this.
There are few Canadian artists bigger than Alanis Morissette. "Reasons I Drink" is one of her more recent songs.
If you have not noticed, I'm trying to feature Canadian artists over here, too. I am doing a Maple Leaf March of covers, too. This week, I was especially driven to cover the artists on WGP over here.
Today's post is a special treat for me. You see, if you don't live in the greater Winnipeg area, you have likely never heard of Blue Monkey Overdrive. I hadn't. And, when I saw that little thumbnail illustrating the band was clearly on Zoom doing this cover, I was concerned it would suck.
It doesn't. These guys are amazing. The emotion and power that lead vocalist Christine brings could level a corn field. That's not just us saying that. Their official bio literally says "Blue Monkey Overdrive is a unique group of veteran performers fronted by a fiery redhead with a voice so powerful it could level a corn field."
With a bio like that, there is no way they were going to suck.
Also, I love finding local artists out there just killin' it.
Thankfully, they are also out and performing again, and if we are ever in Manitoba, we are going to check them out. Guys, they're playing the Rec Room (696 Sterling Lyon Pkwy.) on May 3rd, and you can see their other dates here.
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I will absolutely feature these guys again. I'm a fan now.
Nowadays, Alex Porat does original music pretty much exclusively, but before she did that, she was a YouTube channel owner who got her eyeballs there and it was THAT channel that caught the attention of record executives.
She's also from Toronto, and she covers fellow Ontario native Alessia Cara here in this cover from a few years ago.
A little note: the Westerlies are a brass quartet, bred in Seattle, based in NYC, and not Canadian, but I wanted to make sure they got their credit here as well.
Elisapie Issac grew up in extreme Northern Quebec as part of a First Nations community. She is nominated for two Juno Awards this year - both for her album Inuktitut....
...which, not coincidentally, is the language in which she is singing this Queen classic. The whole album is covers that have been translated into her native Inuk language. Guys, she covers a LOT of diverse artists and you can bet your ass I'm posting her a lot this month.
So, this is where I am starting to get excited for March. On the other blog, I dedicate the entire month of March to Canadian artists - and I say I do it for no reason, but I do it for good reason. They are a country with two official languages (English, French), a third widely spoken (Punjabi) and a 4th widely recognized and supported (Inuktitut). It's truly a multicultural country, and there are a LOT more languages spoken there than the four I mention.
Today, though, I'm talking about one of those four. Elisapie is a native Inuk, and grew up in a First Nations community in northern Quebec. Her music embraces the traditions and language of her people - and she sings in three languages. She chose just one for her 2023 album Inuktitut - but she also chose to translate English-language songs from a wide variety of genres - from disco to metal, pop and classic rock, and yes, even Metallica. It is easily one of my five favorite albums of 2023.
She also covered this postpunk classic by Blondie, and it's delightful.
