For his debut recording as an artist, producer/engineer Robin Danar assembled a distinctive group of musicians (both known and emerging) to help him reimagine a set of mostly well-known songs. Inspired by rapidly blurring lines between musical genres and roles (i.e., fans creating their own re-mixes mash-ups), Danar is attempting to reinvent songs rather than just cover them on Altered States. For example, check out the surprising collaboration between Pete Yorn and Kinky doing an electro-rock reconstruction of Bill Withers’ funky “Use Me.”

MP3s:
Pete Yorn & Kinky - “Use Me”
Bill Withers - “Use Me”

Madonna was inducted into the Music Hall of Fame over the weekend with the bizarre assistance of Justin Timberlake and Iggy Pop. In his induction speech, Timberlake related how Madge personally gave him a B-12 shot while the pair were working on her forthcoming album Hard Candy. Madonna opted out of performing at the ceremony, instead asking Iggy Pop and The Stooges to perform on her behalf. The group obliged Madonna’s request with covers of two of her legendary singles - “Burning Up” and “Ray Of Light”. The induction of Madonna Louise Ciccone Ritchie was so strange, it’s almost easy to over look that this year’s inductions also included John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen and the Dave Clark Five.

MP3:
Iggy Pop & The Stooges - “Burning Up / Ray of Light”

VIDEO:
Iggy Pop & The Stooges Perform “Burning Up” & “Ray of Light”

Before releasing her double Grammy-grabbing single “No One,” Alicia Keys explained that the song was about her decision to retreat from the obligations of stardom when she found out a loved one was in need of care. Backed by just his acoustic guitar, The Honorary Title’s Jarrod Gorbel recently recorded an emo-folkie cover of the song. Obviously recognizing the fine line between his painful R&B source material and emo, Gorbel goes all earnest on the track and amps up the original’s sore heart lyrics. What? You wanted another cover of “Umbrella”?

MP3s:
The Honorary Title - “No One” (Alicia Keys cover)
Alicia Keys - “No One”

VIDEO:

Check it out - Hypeful has a shiny, new logo!!! With both Spring and Hypeful’s one-year anniversary fast approaching, this site is going to be undergoing some exciting changes. The first order of business was giving Hypeful’s logo a much-needed revamp and freshening up. I owe a tremendous bucket of thanks to the always-awesome and über-skilled BittBox in the creation of Hypeful’s new logo!!! It’s absolutely ace to have the help of such an incredible design-ninja/ocular-architect like BittBoxx - if you’ve not visited his site, you most definitely should.

MP3:
The Vines - “So Fresh, So Clean” (Outkast cover)

Lightspeed Champion performed a cover of “Thriller” this week to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the classic album. Although he subsequently offered an open apology to the King of Pop through a MySpace bulletin claiming he “butchered” the song, Dev still would’ve been a more exciting inclusion on Thriller 25 than, oh say, Fergie. You can hear the performance below and watch the filmed performance on the BBC’s Culture Show on Saturday (February 16).

MP3:
Lightspeed Champion - “Thriller” (Michael Jackson cover)