Heads We Dance on Rewind 2

Heads We Dance have consistently impressed me over the last 2 years. They ride such a fine line between retro kitsch and serious musicianship, you’d think they would tip over one way or the other. I think their secret is that they’re reverential without being dogmatic – they acknowledge the past without feeling shackled by it.

Considering their affection for early electro, you might think the idea of them covering Kraftwerk would finally remove one block too many from their Jenga-like existence, and bring the whole thing crashing down. You would be so incredibly wrong though. So wrong I’d never stop making fun of you, even when we eventually share a room in a nursing home. 

The Leeds-based band have brilliantly covered ‘Computer Love’ for Buffetlibre’s second entry in their Rewind series. Basically, they assign a 70’s/80’s/90’s cover tune to a dozen or so up-and-coming bands as well as some established outfits, and then let the madness commence. The first Rewind was good, but I felt like some of the covers were hit-and-miss. Not so this time around! There are many original spins on the old and familiar here, including Good Books covering Yaz’s ‘Only You’, Division Day taking on Japan’s ‘Ghosts’ (have they met a cover they couldn’t pulverise into something new and interesting??), Sportsday Megaphone redesigning The Buzzcock’s ‘Ever Fallen In Love’ and We Have Band making Pet Shop Boys’ ‘West End Girls’ sound even more 80’s than the original. There’s also a lovely, delicate cover of XTC’s ‘Making Plans for Nigel’ by Headlights. 

Oh, and that aforementioned take on Kraftwerk by HWD? Fabulous. Pete’s croon is played off of (I presume) Becky’s breathy vocal to create an updated and decidedly sexier brand of electronic lovin’. 

Heads We Dance – Computer Love (Kraftwerk Cover)

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