Candy Flipping Strawberry Fields

Probably sacrilege to some people, but I really like this cover of the Beatles "Strawberry Fields Forever", by 90's duo Candy Flip.  (Who?)

Labyrinth Ear

Labyrinth Ear are synth-pop duo hailing from South East London.

An amazing electronic cover of a Disney song was what turned me onto them, but because they're such a new band (formed last summer) there wasn't much info out there... So I dropped them a line to see what I could see.  (Interview after the tracks)

You can get their Oak EP free off their site.

"Snow White" (video is taken from the Betty Boop film of the same name)


"White Gold" (Video features puppet work of the late Czech animator Jiri Trnka)


"Wild Flowers"

"Navy Light" (video taken from the David Bowie film "Labyrinth")

Morning Parade - Under the Stars (Labyrinth Ear remix)

- How did "Labyrinth Ear" come together?

Tom had made music for a while but hadn't really shared any of his music with anyone before, I'd never planned to be a singer and was applying for university to study fashion design, then Tom played me a couple of his tracks he had made several years ago and I was stunned, they were really good and no one had ever heard them before, I encouraged him to start producing again and to look for musicians and vocalists to produce for, he was unable to find people, so I reluctantly offered to do some vocals for a couple of tracks he had produced, we uploaded 1 or 2 onto myspace and the response we got was amazing. We haven't stopped since then! I never knew how satisfying it was to produce music and to finish tracks, I now feel like this what I should have been doing all along! All I can say is if you think you can't do something, just try it and see.

- What are your influences (musically and otherwise). 

Our influences are very varied and vast, my taste is quite odd sometimes, most of my music collection is made up of film soundtracks, Tom has quite a big music collection, a lot of electronic stuff. A few influences we both agree upon would be Arthur Russell, Joanna Newsom and John Maus.

Non musically, we're both very much into art and film. I'm into fashion, you also might have noticed that we like cats.

- How did "Snow White" come about?

This was our first track, I'd never written lyrics or songs before so we decided to do a cover. It was my idea to do 'I'm Wishing' from Snow White, it seemed a bit silly at first, but we were delighted with the result and completely amazed at the response we had to it.

- You're a pretty new band - what are your hopes for '11?

Yes, we are quite new. We're really excited about 2011 - we have a lot of aims for the year. At the moment we're working on lots more tracks, remixes, music videos, and playing plenty of shows.

"You've Got the Love" - Candi Staton

I suppose one good thing came from hearing 'The XX's murderous cover of "You've Got the Love" last night.  It motivated me to educate myself about one of the greatest house tunes of all time.

It's been covered many times (most famously by 'Florence and the Machine'), but the original single came out in 1986.  It was a soul/disco/gospel track by a band called 'The Source' (actually just an alias for Source Records), with vocals from an overlooked single by Candi Staton, "You got the love".

Staton, an American gospel singer, had recorded the tune for a 1980s documentary about an obese man who was trying to lose weight.  The film went straight-to-video, Staton forgot about the song, and didn't even know her vocals had been sampled until she was told that she had a number 1 single!

"They were calling my house saying I had a number one record in England, and I said, 'What song? I haven't released any song.' When they told me it was "You Got the Love", I said I'd never made a record called that. Then I got off the phone and realised - it was the one from the diet video - which was never supposed to be put on a record at all!"

The most well-known house mix (released in 1991) layered the vocal track over an instrumental version of Frankie Knuckles and Jamie Principle's "Your Love".

Ravers everywhere assume the track is about romantic love, but actually the lyrics are about Jesus.  Praise the Lord for Candi Staton and dieters everywhere!  Without them we'd be missing one beautiful piece of music.

Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air
I know I can count on you

Sometimes I feel like saying, "Lord, I just don't care"
But you've got the love I need to see me through

Sometimes it seems the going is just too rough
And things go wrong no matter what I do
Now and then I feel like life is just too much
But you've got the love I need to see me through

When food is gone, you are my daily meal

When friends are gone I know my Saviour's love is real
Your love is real

You've got the love, you've got the love, you've got the love

You've got the love, you've got the love, you've got the love

Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air
I know I can count on you

Sometimes I feel like saying, "Lord, I just don't care"
But you've got the love I need to see me through

Oh, it gets so rough sometimes
Oh, the going gets so hard
But I know:

You've got the love, you've got the love, you've got the love

Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air
I know I can count on you

Sometimes I feel like saying, "Lord, I just don't care"
But you've got the love I need to see me through

It's all I can do sometimes to keep it together
But I know you've got it; you've got the love

You've got the love

Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air
I know I can count on you

Sometimes I feel like saying, "Lord, I just don't care"
But you've got the love I need to see me through.

Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen turned 76 last week, so I decided to do a homage to the man who is, to me, the most talented songwriter within living memory.

He doesn't resonate with some people because they find his songs and voice depressing. I would argue that he's meloncollie rather than morbid - his lyrics full of a spiritual romance towards pain. He finds beauty in the dichotomy of life, and for me his music is sad, but hopeful.

I recently watched a documentary about him called "I'm Your Man", which had an interesting feature: several eminent musicians (including.... Bono...) do covers of his songs.

Anthony from Anthony and the Johnsons does a masterful version of "If it be Your Will" (one of my personal favourites). If you're not a Lenny fan, it's worth listening to it, and to Jeff Buckley's version of "Hallelujah", to ascertain whether it's Cohen's music or voice that doesn't agree with you.

And for something a little different, musician / DJ / friend Dance Pig did this awesome remix of "Here it is". (Check out more of Dance Pig's stuff at www.dancepig.com)


Here are the Lenny originals, and a few more favourites:

"If it be Your Will" (1984)
"Hallelujah" (1984)
"Master Song" (1967)
"Who by Fire" (1974)
"A Thousand Kisses Deep" (2001)
"Alexandra Leaving" (2001)
"In My Secret Life" (2001)
"In the Chelsea Hotel" (1974)
"Here it is" (2001)


It's probably clear by now that I'm a fan ;)