Were the Pet Shop Boys covering Elvis or Brenda Lee when they sang “Always on My Mind”? And other paradoxes of cover songs. Continue reading
October 20, 2022
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Tag Archives: covers
September 5, 2019
by Aesthetics for Birds
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Artist-Philosopher Interview: Matt Lindauer
Musician and philosopher Matt Lindauer interviewed by Alex King Matt Lindauer is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Brooklyn College, City University of New York. He specializes in moral and political philosophy, moral psychology, and experimental philosophy, and has published work in Philosophical Studies, Journal of Moral Philosophy, Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, and Oxford Studies in Experimental Philosophy, among other venues. He is also a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His band Myrna recently released their debut EP on Kitty Wizard Records and a full-length release is coming soon. His solo project Utena also produced a recent album that was recorded almost entirely on his iPhone between Australia and Brooklyn. He also played in the banjo-key-drum group Sugarbat and in Daphne Lee Martin’s band as guitarist and banjo player, and has recorded a number of other projects. Some of his music was recently featured in an ad for Joe’s Jeans.
September 6, 2014
by Aesthetics for Birds
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AFB Covers Contest WINNERS!
The AFB Cover Month Philosophy Contest tasked philosophers with providing (in 50 words or fewer) an answer to the question “Can a Band be its own Cover Band?” I received nearly two dozen entries, which were anonymized and sent along to independent judge P.D. Magnus (Albany). Below are the results, followed by a nice summary from the honorable Judge Magnus. 1st Place: BP Morton (Winner of an AFB T-shirt & Sticker Packet): 2nd Place: Eric Wiland (Winner of an AFB Sticker Packet): Honorable Mentions: Roy T. Cook, Jim Hamlyn, & Jonathan Weinberg ******************************* Judge’s Report The contest grew out of a conversation between Christy and me about whether musicians adopting different personas might do a cover of a song they had recorded earlier. It would have been easy to get caught up in how to define a ‘cover’, but we quickly realized that the meatier philosophical question was about the identity conditions … Continue reading
August 1, 2014
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August is Covers Month at AFB
The Cover Song is a wondrously magical yet terribly fickle alchemical creature: just as it may resurrect an otherwise lifeless subject, so too might it destroy all that’s good in it (or even worse, leave it seemingly altogether unchanged). To pay tribute to this mysterious being, for the month of August Aesthetics for Birds will feature nothing but cover songs in its weekly music posts Musical Mondays & Fall Fridays. ****************************************************** As an extra bonus, AFB is holding a PHILOSOPHY CONTEST related to the philosophical issues surrounding the Cover Song. Here’s what you need to know: Background: Cover bands (also known as tribute bands) aim to faithfully reproduce the music (live performances) of the bands they cover (e.g., Fan Halen is a Van Halen cover band, BC/DC is an AC/DC cover band from British Columbia, Iron Maidens is an all-female Iron Maiden cover band). Assignment: In 50 words or fewer, … Continue reading
December 16, 2013
by Aesthetics for Birds
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Historian-artist Interview: Matt Kadane
Historian and Musician Matt Kadane interviewed by Christy Mag Uidhir for AFB Matt Kadane is a founding member of the bands Bedhead, The New Year, Overseas, and Consonant and played for five years with Silkworm. He is currently chair of the history department at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and the author, most recently, of The Watchful Clothier (Yale UP, 2013).
