MP3 Review: tashaki miyaki "under cover vol. II"

[Name Your Price Download // https://tashakimiyaki.bandcamp.com/album/under-cover-vol-ii]

When I first heard about tashaki miyaki it was because of the first volume of "under cover".   They say that you shouldn't be known for cover songs because then that's all people might see you as, and to an extent that is true.   I feel like there are artists out there living off of songs which they did not write and if I could be so bold as to name one right off of the top of my head I would have to choose the popularity of Alien Ant Farm being owed to Michael Jackson.    On the other hand, someone like Everclear can cover Tom Petty's "American Girl" and live to tell the story with other hits.   This is the second offering of cover songs from tashaki miyaki and the idea of how many originals they have compared to the covers is one I don't want to count.

I think what helps tashaki miyaki not fall into that "cover band" trap though is that as with the first volume, this batch is full of just different songs from different artists and they are all done so well that it doesn't feel like you're ever going to say, "Oh, it's that band who covered that song from Top Gun!" because in a lot of ways "under cover vol. II" just has that complete album feel to it.   And from Buzzcocks and The Kinks to the Velvet Underground and Prince, if you don't happen to recognize some of the songs by artists such as Harry Nilsson, The Flamingos and Ann Peebles then they simply may just become closer to original songs for you than covers, as tashaki miyai begins to own them as their own.

That Mazzy Star feel of laid back gaze with multi-layered vocals is what helped bring tashaki miyaki to the dance and, yes, though this is only my second review of theirs and it once again finds itself on their covers album I still do enjoy their original songs as well so I hope that in listening to this, if it is your first time hearing tashaki miyaki, you would take the time to go through and listen to some of their other songs on their Bandcamp as well.