Crushes (The Covers Mixtape)
B (or One Solid-Gold Pink Elephant and One Grey Failed Attempt at Angst)
A quick background on Mates of State, for those WGTB readers who have been living in a hole beneath the scope of all popular music for the last ten years and have chosen this very moment to surface: Mates of State have, since 1997, otherwise been known as Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel. They have also otherwise been known as husband and wife for that same amount of time. Does that not make you want to throw up? Oh, they've just been making music together for over thirteen years, and they're actually quite good at it, and they're still together. Barf. (Just look at the album cover!)
Mates of State's most recent release is an album called Crushes, a mixtape of sorts made up only of cover songs––a bold move, admittedly, for anyone in the music industry, but it's safe to say Gardner and Hammel have earned their keep and are more than capable of pulling it off. Interesting that they would call the album "Crushes"––I, too, have been head-over-heels for songs time after time, and feel like it is the only sentiment with which you can safely pull off a cover. The right balance of loving the original and boosting it with your own flavor in has to be in effect––and, even more importantly, there has to be a shred of empathy in your cover, a little note to the original, that says "this song was yours before, but now that I've done it, it's a little bit mine, too, because somehow, we speak the same language." These three influences make or break the covers––where did Mates of State succeed, and where didn't they? A handy guide for the eager yet lazy listener:
